Faith and Family / Sean Gallagher

Even if a dad can’t fix a faucet, he can turn on his children to faith

It was common in the past for sons to follow in the manual labor or profession of their father. This, of course, was in times when most who worked outside the home were men.

This longstanding trend in labor in society led to a whole series of surnames tied to lines of work. Here are some of the fairly obvious examples in English: Baker, Brewer, Gardiner, Mason, Miller, Shepherd and Weaver.

Others might come as more of a surprise today. The surname Kellogg referred in the medieval England to butchers (bringing together Middle English words for “kill hog”).

That we live today in a society where the next generation’s occupation isn’t tied to that of the former has been brought home to me quite clearly.

Three of my sons are quite proficient in skills related to plumbing, electrical, carpentry and HVAC work. They’re handy around the house and are either making a living with these skills or are considering work in one of those fields.

My son Raphael, now 21, works as an apartment complex maintenance technician, handling a wide array of tasks, from HVAC work to plumbing and electrical work. Victor, 19, is considering work as an electrician. And Philip, 16, is confident in taking on lots of jobs around our home. He’s thinking about going into carpentry in the future.

None of these young men have been inspired to go into these fields by watching dear old Dad do similar work around the house. Why? Because I’m about the least handy person there is.

My dad, God rest his soul, was the handiest person that I’ve known. But he wasn’t a great teacher. He’d try to show me how to do different jobs around the house. But if I had any trouble with it (which was often), he’d quickly take over and I’d end up as a spectator.

Maybe Raphael, Victor and Philip were better students than I was because they did learn some skills from their Papa and are still learning ways of working around the house from my father-in-law Steve. And, like many people today, they have also turned effectively to YouTube to learn how to install or fix lots of things.

All of this might leave me feeling inadequate in my life as a father. But that’s not the case, even when I read these words of our Lord: “A son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing for what he does, his son will do also” (Jn 5:19).

He’s referring here to his relationship with his heavenly Father in explaining to the Jewish leaders of his day the miracles he was working.

While my sons haven’t seen me install a new lighting fixture or clean out a clogged drain, they’ve hopefully seen me seeking, with the help of God’s grace, to embody my faith in many little and sometimes big ways in the life of our family that we share.

Now I’m quick to confess that I fall short in this in various ways every day. But what’s most important is that my sons over the years have seen me make faith a lived priority every day. I pray daily that they make it a priority in their own lives.

God calls parents to teach their children lots of things. At the top of that list is forming them by word and witness to be disciples of our Lord in prayer, service and sharing the faith with others.

That may be a taller task than teaching a young person how to fix a leaky faucet. But God gives grace to every parent to lead their children every day into an ever-closer relationship with him and his Church. †