Membership is purely voluntary and currently free. We are in the early stages of forming our fraternity and so are still figuring things out. I thank you for your patience during this period. Contact us if you’d like to get involved as a volunteer.

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS/DUTIES

• Most importantly, you have and cultivate a desire to grow in your own sanctification and to be a better father and priest of your household.
• Be a Catholic in good standing, that is, you fulfill the minimal precepts of the Church and are not excommunicate or otherwise under ecclesiastical censure.
• Pray daily. Recommended Prayers:
• The Rosary, of course!
• A prayer for your fellow Faithful Fathers–this mutual prayer will do wonders for us all, especially if you offer your rosary for us. A prayer to St. Joseph would not be out of place.
• One or more offices of the Liturgy of the Hours. There are online versions available as well as print editions.
• Pray with your family! If you don’t already, start a tradition of prayer before bedtime or after dinner or breakfast–whatever works for your fam.
• Attend mass as often as you can, not just when you’re obligated. Aspire to daily. Find a mass time by your work or home.
• Go to confession, at least once a month. This sacrament is hugely important for your spiritual growth.
• Join a group for study and community and participate.

JOINING

The intent of Faithful Fathers is to be as minimally prescriptive as possible, following the principle of subsidiarity. The purpose of the fraternity itself is primarily to support our local, specific groups–to provide advice, communication tools, mutual enrichment, and resources.

1. The first step is to locate a group to join.
2. Reach out and contact the group leader of the group you’d like to join.
3. Start praying and studying!

Membership Q&A

CAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS JOIN?

We are definitely open to this as an aspect of fatherhood and, e.g., considering parishes as families. Certainly there is a lot of potential overlap. Another great idea would be to team up with a lay leader and serve as chaplain–just be sensitive that this is supposed to be a lay peer group, that is, try to let/get a layman lead and assist them. Contact us with your thoughts or suggestions.

At a minimum, you are welcome to use all of the resources available and we would love your prayers!

CAN CATHOLIC WOMEN, NON-ORDAINED RELIGIOUS, NON-MARRIED MEN, ETC. JOIN?

We encourage any faithful Catholic to start study-prayer groups modeled on Faithful Fathers. All of our resources are freely available to all. It is just that our focus in this ministry is on fathers.

One outgrowth that we would love to see is Faithful Fathers members starting up study-prayer groups modeled on Faithful Fathers/Dominican spirituality for other purposes/target groups. Or even just getting involved in parish catechetical formation in general.

If anyone wants to start a sister organization following this model, please do contact us. We will gladly do what we can to assist.

CAN CHILDREN JOIN?

We recommend against children joining particular groups as the study and discussions are intended to be addressed at forming adult fathers, which means doubtless subjects will come up that are not appropriate for children, and the level of study and discussion should be at the adult level, which means children would probably be bored.

We recommend that fathers get involved with their children’s formation in groups such as the Troops of St. George, American Heritage Girls, or even an informal gatherings of Catholic families.

CAN NON-CATHOLICS JOIN?

While Faithful Fathers is Catholic, we welcome those of other faith traditions as guests who feel that their personal spiritual journey may be strengthened, with the understanding that our discussions, prayer, and study will often have a distinctly and non-apologetic Catholic character. We are faithful to the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, so discussions specifically geared to explain or defend the Faith to non-Catholics would be out of place in the group setting. However, joining could be a way to learn about the Catholic Faith and get to know other faithful fathers to support you in your vocation to fatherhood.

We defer to the particular group leader to say if he feels it is appropriate for their group to have non-Catholic guests.