Three to Get Married

 When Fathers’ Day began to be celebrated, it was more or less taken for granted that a child knew who was his or her father. That is not always the case now and, as we celebrate Fathers’ Day this year, it might be good to look again at what the absence of fathers in their lives does to children.

In marriage, a man and a woman are not interchangeable. Both are needed for the unity “in one flesh” that is distinctive about marital love and both are necessary to conceive and raise a child. Opening oneself to the opposite sex is a step toward opening oneself to others, to our neighbors and even to the Other who is God. Those who would downplay or even deny sexual difference belong to the group that Pope Francis calls “uniformists.” Everyone has to be the same, or at least we have to pretend we are.