Guest column by Ryan Patrick
Calling Catholic men of all ages! Mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 14, at 11 a.m., and join us at the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center in Lincoln for the 2023 Nebraska Men’s Rosary March.
When this event was last held, 100 men publicly marched through downtown Lincoln, praying to our Holy Mother for the conversion of the nation, before we concluded at the State Capitol building for speeches on the subject of traditional, authentic Catholic masculinity.
This year, we’re asking even more men to step up, and step through Lincoln, as this topic is more timely and more important than ever. Not only do we need men to attend this event, we need men to step up in society, and we need men to step up in the Church.
If you haven’t noticed by watching or reading the news, it seems like men are awfully confused nowadays about what our role in society is or should be. We’re afraid to show our faith, when studies have shown that it is the faith of the father that is literally the most important in continuing that faith in our children. Society tells us to be quiet, to acquiesce, for fear of being labeled, or that any display of real masculinity is “toxic.”
Boys are told not to be boys, so they don’t know, without good examples, how to grow into men. Or, frankly, how confused are our boys without active fathers, when their schools and friends teach them that they... can be girls? We have let society take the lead in defining what it means to be a man, and it seems that if we don’t reverse course soon, eventually there may not be a definition left at all.
We have a perfect model for masculinity in Jesus Christ, who taught gentleness and love, while being righteously violent when necessary. As men, we try to emulate this model for our children and for others as an example. However, if we don’t set an example for our children, it is clear our society will.
Traditional masculinity is not toxic. Traditional masculinity requires that men step up, into the arena. That we do the harder thing. And it asks that sometimes we shut off the TV, get off the couch, and go downtown to set a public example, for our families, for our city, for our state, and for our country. Our families, city, state, and our country all need our prayers.
In the month of the Rosary, join me and, hopefully, hundreds of other men as we pray to our Holy Mother for conversion, as we march downtown to the Capitol. There will be public speakers on the Capitol steps, followed by fellowship and food. This year, Tony Ojeda, Max Chapman, and Father Tim Danek will speak.
Bring your friends, bring your sons, bring your fathers (and bring Father), bring your rosary, bring holy items, crosses, flags, and statutes, as we publicly proclaim what it means to be a Catholic man—proud, loud, faithful, and strong.
Be there: Oct. 14, at 11 a.m. Meet at the Newman Center, 320 N. 16th St. in Lincoln, for the 2023 Nebraska Men’s Rosary March. Look for us on Facebook as well, for updates and more information.
