Today is Father’s Day, a day to honor our dads. Lately, I’ve been thinking about my own devoted dad, who loved and nurtured me even during my difficult college years. 

In those days, my friend Carl and I would regularly take the downtown D train from my Bronx neighborhood to Washington Square. Our modus operandi was to wander the record stores and head shops of Greenwich Village before ambling over to the infamous punk rock club CBGB. 

It was often 1:00 in the morning before I’d call my folks from a pay phone, board a Bronx-bound train, and then transfer to the #12 bus for the quarter-hour ride down Fordham Road. But no matter the time of night, my dad would always be waiting at the bus stop to walk me the rest of the way home. He never asked me where I had been or what I had been doing. He never scolded me for being sullen or thankless or smashed. He would only walk beside me and make sure that I arrived home safe. 

My dad was not a praying man, and what faith he had was tainted by superstition. But, standing on a desolate city street in the wee hours, hoping to see his precious daughter among the bedraggled bus passengers disembarking into the night, he must have at least occasionally invoked “La Madonna” for my safe homecoming. Beyond that, all he could do was hope and wait patiently for me to return. 

And wait he did. He waited in the cold; he waited in the rain. He waited even though he knew that his sacrifice of sleep would go unnoticed, his kindness go unacknowledged.

Not once in my life did my dad tell me that he loved me. But he showed by his actions what it meant to love, and to love unconditionally. 

Our Heavenly Father loves us like that: totally, unreservedly, with no strings attached. He waits for us, too. He waits with compassion, not reproach. He waits to light our path through the darkness of this world, to walk beside us, and to guide us safely home. 

It is the certainty of his unfailing love and mercy that inspired the St. Monica Ministry, a dedicated community and prayer network for Catholics whose friends or family have left the Church. The ministry grew out of a request by Bishop Alfred Schlert of the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, for a gathering that would provide solace and solidarity to Catholics with prodigal loved ones. Founded in November 2022, the St. Monica Ministry now has parish-based chapters forming across the country and subscribers in 40 U.S. states, as well as in Spain, South Africa, Malta, Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippines, Nova Scotia, Ireland, Australia and Canada. 

The St. Monica Ministry offers a digital “Manual for Parishes” containing easy-to-follow instructions for implementing its program, which includes monthly Holy Hours of Petition and Hope, meetings and book discussions, recitation of the original Rosary of Supplication for Our Prodigals, and house-to-house visitation of the ministry’s own Wayfaring St. Monica icon. To facilitate support to the Hispanic community, a Spanish translation of the manual is also in the works.

Despite the relatively recent launch of the St. Monica Ministry, the fruits of its efforts are already becoming apparent. Of particular note is the reversion of a man who had been away from the sacraments for 40 years, and who is now a regular Mass-goer and weekly adorer before the Blessed Sacrament.

Members of the St. Monica Ministry draw inspiration from their patron saint, Monica of Hippo. The mother of sinner-turned-saint Augustine, St. Monica prayed and fasted 17 years for the conversion of her son, who would go on to become an illustrious bishop and a Doctor of the Church.

This is a day to honor fathers and to recognize them for their paternal devotion. What better time than now to reflect on Our Heavenly Father’s infinite love for his wayward children? 

For more information on the St. Monica Ministry, or to request a free digital copy of its “Manual for Parishes,” email [email protected].