According to a study, these are some of the typical experiences of a person who grew up without a father:

• Father-absent children have issues with self-esteem and relating with other people
• 71 percent of high school dropouts are fatherless
• 85 percent of youth in prisons have an absent father
• Girls are more susceptible to exploitation by adult men because of the search for a father figure. Boys may have to have same-sex preferences in search of a father figure in life. 
• Fatherless children are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and abuse drugs in childhood and adulthood
• 90 percent of runaway children have an absent father
• Fatherless children are five times more likely to have experienced physical abuse and emotional maltreatment
• Father-absent children are consistently overrepresented in a wide range of mental health problems, particularly anxiety, depression, and suicide
• As adults, fatherless children are more likely to experience unemployment, have low incomes, remain on social assistance, and experience homelessness
• Father-absent children are more likely to have children outside of marriage or outside of any partnership

While the well-known Gospel parable of the prodigal son is about unconditional forgiveness, it is also worth reflecting on the difficulty of fatherhood. The youngest considered his father dead when he asked for his inheritance. The older one held a grudge due to the father being too stingy.  

As we celebrated Father’s Day last weekend, three things we remember about fathers.

1. They are not perfect. Their fatherhood is mostly based on how they themselves experienced their own father, both good and otherwise. 
   
2. They always have to be strong. They are to provide for the family, they are to secure the family, and they have to be strong for the family. What we often forget is the pain, the sacrifice, and the pressure they have to endure for them to do this role. 
   
3. They can also hurt as they get hurt too. Many of us grow up with father wounds. The father’s wound is all about experiencing grief and loss. It is about yearning to feel love but instead feeling the absence. It’s the absence of love that makes the wound so profound. The absence of love doesn’t just come from physical or emotional absence either.
   

• Pray for our fathers as part of the ten commandments – honor your father and mother. May we not take for granted all their love, sacrifices, giving, and forgiving.
• For those who would become a biological father or a spiritual father, continue the good you have experienced and eliminate the ones that are not helpful. 
• Typically the father is the first hero of any son. In the situation where a father was not present in their lives, we pray for healing.