An urgent call to enter ‘the breach’

What does it mean to be “masculine,” to be a “real man”?

In popular culture, masculinity is often confused with mere machismo, expressed variously in brute strength, aggression, alcohol intake, even coarse language or behaviors. Authentic masculinity, however, is something different. Men are called to be strong, but from a Christian perspective this strength must be rooted in virtue, a commitment to pursue goodness and justice in sacrificial service to others — which is a naturally masculine inclination.

“We want to be heroes,” said Matt Birk, a former All-Pro NFL center who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens. “We want to fight for someone, for a cause.”

Yet many men, even Catholic men, fail to fulfill their leadership potential. They don’t take seriously their baptismal call to holiness and the growth in virtue that entails. As a result, they relinquish their natural leadership roles and allow lukewarmness and niggling vices to rule them. They neglect their God-given responsibilities, especially as husbands and fathers.

We see the effects in statistics on divorce, fatherlessness, and rudderless youths who stray from the Faith for lack of a solid male role model. In today’s confused culture, challenges to authentic masculinity are more formidable than ever — and hence the need for real men of faith to step up.

“Our modern culture has us at war with our very selves,” said Curtis Martin, founder and CEO of Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) and a Legate of the Denver Chapter. “For nearly a generation, authentic masculinity has been under attack; in TV shows and movies, and by militant feminism. The answer is not to destroy masculinity; it is to evangelize.”

By God’s grace and building virtue, said Martin, “men can take their rightful place as servant leaders in the home, in business, and in the Church.”

Birk and Martin were among Catholic leaders interviewed for Into the Breach, a 10-episode video series produced by the Knights of Columbus. The series keys off a 2015 pastoral letter by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix in which he challenges all Catholic men to rise to the challenge of living their vocation “to do the work of Christ’s soldiers in the world today.”

For men, that work involves being a provider, a protector, and a spiritual leader in the family, the Church, in society, and in the business community. Those roles necessarily involve self-denial and self-sacrifice — servant leadership.

MASCULINITY AND BROTHERHOOD

True masculinity also requires men to support one another like a “band of brothers”: men need other men of faith to help them become better men through mutual accountability. Proverbs states this well: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (27:17). Men of similar ideals will challenge one another to greater heights and support one another through difficult times.

Sompaul Vorapanich, who served in U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan, knows firsthand the kind of camaraderie and trust that a platoon of soldiers must share in order to complete a mission successfully.

“From my military experience, standing ‘in the breach’ is the most dangerous part of any mission,” said Vorapanich. “There have been multiple times that I was in a firefight, knowing that the person to my ‘twelve’ and the person to my ‘six’ was a brother that I could rely on.”

That’s the kind of mutual support and accountability every Catholic man needs in his life, he said.

“A great Catholic friend is someone who is not afraid to tell you when you’re wrong, when you’re doing something that’s not aligned with your faith, or when you’re doing something that’s unethical,” he said. “They’re the ones that are going to pick you up when you fall… They’re the ones that are going to push you to move past your limits when you need [it].”

FATHERHOOD AND FAMILY

“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” Jesus said (John 15:13). Perhaps nowhere is that love called for more urgently than in marriage and family.

Yet men “have lost the sense of mission when it comes to family,” and “that passivity robs men of what their role is supposed to be,” said Tim Gray, president of the Denver-based Augustine Institute.

Saint Paul compares the relationship between husband and wife to that of Christ’s sacrificial love for his Church. Strong families are such a necessary good in our world that the forces of evil are busy trying to destroy them.

Husbands and fathers must protect their families against these evils.

“The battle that we’re facing is really a battle for the very soul of the family,” said Catholic author and speaker Jason Evert. “The way that we need to engage that as men is through our presence, through rejecting that temptation to retreat from the battlefield altogether.”

The Catholic father’s role “is decisive, it’s indispensable, it’s irreplaceable,” said Scott Hahn, theology professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Men of God must “rise up and accept the grace and the challenge to be faithful husbands, to be loving fathers, to be sacrificial servant leaders.”

SERVANT LEADERSHIP

Jesus, of course, is our model of servant leadership and humility. He demonstrated this servant leadership throughout His life, but most remarkably at the Last Supper when He washed His apostles’ feet. It was an “example,” Jesus told them, of how they must serve one another.

When we model the service and humility of Christ, we inspire others to follow us and, hopefully, to draw closer to Christ.

“Service is strong in its meekness and zeal combined together, that you serve a cause that’s higher than yourself,” said Cameron Thompson of the Virtuous Leadership Institute. “We are all called to be leaders, to really achieve greatness in whatever sphere that you’re called to.”

A man must teach and direct his children to form them in faith, in character, and to prepare them to become mature and responsible Catholic adults. He must do this with his words, but above all by his lived example of prayer, virtue, and service.

A servant leader gives his life for others, willing even to die for them. Every man must “die to himself” daily by sacrificing his own wants for his family.

So, a masculine man must do spiritual warfare, both to strengthen his personal virtue as well as to defend and protect those under their care. If Satan can lure men into infidelity, addiction, irresponsibility, or complacency, odds are better that his wife or children could tumble like dominoes.

Scripture speaks of the fight against sin using military language. “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil,” writes St. Paul (Eph 6:11). Popes and saints have echoed this imagery, urging us to use God’s grace and prayer as our “weapons” in this battle.

“Not only does God have a plan for your life, but so does Satan,” said Bishop Olmsted in Into the Breach. “And I see a real need to make people aware of this battle that we’re engaged in, that it’s a real battle.”

FAITH, PRAYER, AND SACRAMENTS

Don O’Mara, featured in an Into the Breach video, knows the battle well. He experienced years of sin and addiction. After helping a girlfriend obtain an abortion, he realized the gravity of his actions and turned his life around. Prayer and the sacraments became his treasured allies.

Confession, he said, is “the greatest weapon against the devil,” while the Eucharist “strengthens your armor as a man.” A sacramental marriage and daily prayer provide strength so that “we can fight any battle.”

O’Mara advised: “Don’t give an inch to the enemy. Stay strong.” Birk, the ex-NFL star, said it’s not just a matter of playing defense, either. “We have to attack Satan,” he said. “We don’t sit back and just try to ward him off, but we go forward with our faith. We put on the armor of God and every single day try to slay that dragon.”

Catholic men therefore should participate in Mass and eucharistic adoration as much as possible, read Scripture, and pray the rosary — something popes and saints have called a “weapon” against sin. Legatus CEO Tom Monaghan’s recommended practice of Tres Magna — daily Mass, daily rosary, monthly Confession — is a commendable aim in this effort.

THE RIGHT KIND OF SERVANTHOOD

In every role, men must put on the mantle of servant leadership and wear it well, modeled after Jesus.

“We who follow Him, we have to be both,” said Fr. Paul Sullivan, vocations director for the Phoenix diocese. “If we are just ‘leader,’ we’re susceptible to pride. If we’re just ‘servant,’ we also can be susceptible to mediocrity. I must hold them both.”

Thompson said men must avoid the kind of “false humility” that leads to being a “pushover,” to abdicating the true strength and authority they need to lead effectively.

“Leadership today is a service because leadership itself is humility and magnanimity in action,” he said. “That is to say, pursuing and achieving greatness by bringing out the greatness in those I lead.”

Great leadership, he emphasized, begins with selfmastery and virtue — and that requires action.

“We may like the idea of virtuous leadership. We may be inspired by the idea of going ‘into the breach,’” Thompson said. “But so long as we remain sitting in our chairs and not jumping in, we remain just spectators. We’re not engaging in the fight.”

GERALD KORSON, editorial consultant for Legatus magazine, is based in Indiana.