What We Do
For over ten years Fraternus has been mentoring boys into virtuous Catholic men. The program works because it is more than a program – it is a brotherhood. Fraternus does not begin in a technique or system, but in trusting the teachings of the Catholic Church and in having a solid philosophy and anthropology (an understanding of the needs and nature of man). In other words, “what we do” works because of “who we are.”
Fraternus Cultivates Brotherhood
Love the brotherhood.
Brotherliness is not a “theme” within Christianity. Since salvation itself is our adoption into the family of God, we truly are the Father’s children. As such our fraternal relationships are not an analogy of how we belong to one another, but the reality of it. Today, radical individuality and cultural decay have destroyed our identity as Christian brothers and perpetuate the problems of relativism and isolation. Not only is this hurting men individually, but it makes initiating our sons into a meaningful Christian brotherhood impossible.
Long before any young man is invited to Fraternus, the men are challenged to live and grow as Christian brothers through accountability and encouragement.
Fraternus Respects the Father
I fall on my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that Father from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth takes its title.
Fatherhood has no substitute. Many programs aimed at evangelizing Catholic youth exist because of the failure or absence of a father, yet they largely operate without fathers. Research and experience continue to show that when fathers are active in their families and communities, their children are significantly more likely to be vibrant in their faith. The duty and power of a man to be a father cannot be delegated and more must be done to equip him to lead.
In a day with so much distraction and delusions, Fraternus provides the very simple challenge and means for men to embrace and live their fatherly roles, especially in regard to passing on the Faith.
Fraternus Reaches the Fatherless
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress.
With rampant fatherlessness, Catholic men cannot ignore the “orphans” amongst them. Many mothers are doing their best with their sons in a fatherless home (or a home with a faithless father), but there’s no replacing the role of a man in teaching masculine virtues and character. Boys need mentors to navigate their way to manhood.
Fraternus provides the training and means for men to reach out to the fatherless in their community, inviting them into mature brotherhood.
Fraternus is a Brotherhood for All Ages
Instead of finding fault, appeal to an older man as if he were thy father, to younger men as thy brothers.
Through Fraternus, men are taught and given the framework to recognize their Christian brotherhood amongst themselves and to live it more clearly and boldly. Only after a fraternal culture exists amongst the men can you then invite the boys into it so that they too can become men. United in this way, Fraternus is not for one generation or another, but for all generations of men.
