Fatherhood is in crisis because of gender warfare and the degradation of the family, the Bishop of Portsmouth has warned.
In a pastoral letter Bishop Philip Egan said that the abandonment of the traditional religious model of family and marriage had brought about a devastating “revolution” characterised by a rise in divorce, cohabitation and single parenting.
He contrasted this with the example of fatherhood provided by St Joseph, foster-father of Jesus, and pointed to statistics that said that over a million children now grow up without contact with their fathers, 42 per cent of marriages in the UK end in divorce and nearly 50 per cent of children are born outside marriage.
The poor and vulnerable were the worst affected, he said, adding: “In other words, the ‘gender wars’ are causing poverty! We need a new human ecology.”
The bishop looked ahead to the October Synod on the Family in Rome and prayed that it would inspire new ways to witness to a Catholic understanding of family.
In order to prepare parishioners for the Synod, the Bishop revealed that the relics of the parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux, Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin, would tour the diocese in May. He also suggested that Catholics affirm their support of fatherhood by reciting the Litany of St Joseph after Mass, or sticking a magnet of him to their fridges.
In a separate message on Twitter the Bishop announced that he was to launch evangelisation teams in the 22 pastoral areas of the diocese in 2015.
In a video last year he said that these “evangelisation strategy teams” would be composed of clergy and lay people and would replace pastoral councils.
“It’s all about vision. The purpose is to sponsor mission projects across the area, to dream up and to enable simple mission projects,” he said, giving as examples leafleting a new housing development with Mass times, running a stall on a market, organising a bring-a-friend-to-Mass campaign and using social media.
In the pastoral letter Bishop Egan said: “A great battle is being fought between two very different understandings of what it means to be a human being.”
The Martin relics will arrive in Southampton on 20 May and will travel to Portsmouth and Reading.
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