Happy Father’s Day! You have a call from…

Here’s an interesting piece of trivia.What day of the year has the highest number of collect calls? Take a guess…

If you said Valentine’s Day, you were close. Valentine’s Day is third, Mother’s Day second. The correct answer is… Father’s Day!

It’s true. I snoped it.

Here’s another little known fact about Father’s Day. Whereas Mother’s Day is one of those days when church attendance increases, on Fathers’s Day, church attendance tends to decrease. I did not snope that one.

One thing I owe to both my parents is thanks for raising me in the Catholic faith. I will never forget the day before my first confession, as a step toward receiving first communion, when my Dad made sure I had memorized the act of contrition.

He actually rehearsed all my prayers with me that evening, the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Hail Holy Queen, and so on, until I could recite the Apostle’s Creed by heart.

I remember complaining about the Apostle’s Creed, because it was not the one we recited at Mass (i.e., the Nicene Creed) so I did not think I needed to know it. He insisted that I did need to know it, because I was Catholic.

My Dad taught me how to play football, practicing blocking and tackling drills in the back yard, with a makeshift dummy he made out of thick foam wrapped around a 5 foot post. He taught me algebra, when I was too dense to pay attention in school. He taught me to work, by chopping wood with me in the backyard, planting things in the yard, remodeling the basement into a recreation room, spending time with me on his off days while doing odd jobs around the house.

Dads are often referred to as providers and protectors. We often overlook their influential role as teachers. One of the most powerful roles a father has is the natural ability to teach by example.

If my father taught me to pray, and it stuck, it was because I saw that it was important to him and it made a deep impression. I may still be able to call myself a Christian today, because of my Dad.

Thanks Dad!