Secretary of State Calls St. Joseph History's Greatest Male Role Model

No, I am not talking about Hillary Clinton. In this case I am refering to an article that Iain Duncan Smith, the UK Secretary of State for Work & Pensions wrote about St Joseph for the Daily Mail on Tuesday. In a sense, the title says it all: History's greatest male role model and a humbling lesson for feckless fathers today.

Smith starts out by pointing out how familiarity with the image of the Nativy has lead us to overlook St. Joseph. Talking about the image he says that "it’s an image that I believe runs the real risk of overlooking the most important character of all, an ­individual whose vital role in shaping the Christian message is downplayed and yet whose story couldn’t be more important, or more significant, in today’s society."

He calls St. Joseph a vital character. "Joseph’s extraordinary contribution to the Nativity story and to Christianity itself has been underplayed for centuries but it is my hope that it will be overlooked no longer, for his importance hinges on the critical decision he took, which holds such a powerful message for our own time."

He goes on to look at what the Gospel story does or doesn't say about what St. Joseph went through. Like Fr Tim Finigan in the post he put up where I discovered the story, I too have trouble with Smith's "hermeneutic of suspicion in the story of Joseph". & there a few other things that Smith got wrong as well. (See post at link below for the problems so I don't have to repeat them.)

While Smith gets some of the reasoning wrong, he does get the consequences of St. Joseph's decision right. "This quiet and skilled man bravely stepped out into the unknown — deliberately choosing to protect, provide for and raise Jesus as his own. He mentored him and taught him and even gave him the trade — carpentry — that Jesus would use until the time came for him to embark on his ministry. Joseph must have given Jesus so much as a father and Jesus must, in turn, have learned so much about life from Joseph.
Later, during his ministry, when Jesus spoke of God as being like a loving father, surely he must have been drawing from his own upbringing, drawing on his intimate knowledge of this extraordinarily good man, Joseph."

Smith goes on to point out that there is a lesson for today. "In parts of our society, too many young men and women grow up without the experience of a loving father. And we seem to have forgotten what an important role a father plays. It’s about far more than earning enough money to provide shelter and place food on the table; it’s about nurturing, support and loyalty, it’s about providing the best male role model that a man can.
But we seem to have forgotten that or wrongly come to the conclusion that we can somehow get by without it. The result is that in too many communities, there are deep-rooted problems now shared by ­generations of young people that stem — directly or indirectly — from the absence of fathers in the vital early years.
I have seen how family breakdown, which often begins with fatherlessness, can lead to high levels of truancy, anti-social behaviour, youth crime, street gangs and teenage pregnancy."

The need for a father is a message that has been undermined over the past 40-50 years in too many ways. The abortion mentality in the USA has made it clear fathers are not wanted. Fathers have been told they have no rights before birth. Abortion has also made it easier for men to avoid those responsibilities by enabling them to pressure women into haveing an abortion. Our welfare system hasn't done much to encourage fatherhood either.

Smith has claimed the Church has underplayed the role of St Joseph. To be fair, I have to say that may be true in protestant circles, like where Smith comes from. But not in the Catholic Church in recent years. St. Joseph has been receiving a lot of attention. Like Fr. Finigan, I have seen plenty of examples. In fact, at 5:30 pm Mass at St. Mary's in E DBQ last night, Fr. Parker talked about the importance of St. Joseph. & I have provided quite a few myself.

So, while I am sure our Secratary of State, along with most of the pro-aborts running things in DC, would not lift up St. Joseph as a role model, he is a role model that is sorely needed in our day & age. Not just to remind men of their proper role as fathers, but as a reminder that we all have a responsibility to fight for & defend the unborn from the modern Herods in the abortion industry as well.

Source: IDS holds up St Joseph as a role model