So today is Father's Day. And a happy one to all of you dads out there.

First thought - I'm reading a book at the moment which is quite relevant and quite good. And quite short. St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood: Reflections on the Miracle of the Sun. I think the name pretty much says it all.

Secondly, on the definition of fatherhood. There was a really interesting article in either First Things, Touchstone, or Crisis a month ago or so about adopting children from Russia and the meaning of fatherhood. It occurred to me today that my definition of fatherhood is far too biological. If God is my Father, and St. Joseph was really and truly the father of Christ, then the meaning of the word must be much different than I think. Perhaps I was assigning the word progenitor to father or something like that. Another tip-off should be the calling of respected men (eg priests and village elders) "father" as a term of respect. I've certainly felt the term quite appropriate on occasion after comming out of a session with a certain Dominican.

I feel like if we sat down and digested the true meaning of "father" as a culture, there woulnd't be such a big push to things like IVF, and adoption would be more of the in thing. Which would help create a healthier society, I think.

Just some thoughts.