I had a great time putting together the story about the campaign to send 100,000 Bibles to troops in 100 days. The campaign launched Memorial Day weekend, and has been going like gangbusters ever since. FOX producer Kathleen Foster, cameraman Mike Fagan and I, trekked out to The Jesus Book & Gift Store in Greenbrook, New Jersey, to report on the project.

The story on FOX News Channel, showed but a small glimpse of the thousands of people taking part in the campaign to get Bibles to our troops stationed all over the globe. The project is the brainchild of Jeff Hilliard and his non-profit organization Operation Worhship. Hilliard partnered with Tyndale Publishing to produce a small, camouflage Bible. the Bibles are available for $5 in Christian Bookstores around the country. And you can go to these stores, pay for the Bible, then write a message to a service man or woman, and give the Bible back to the store. The store will send the Bible to one of three Operation Worship warehouse sites. From there the Bibles will be sent to troops stationed at bases throughout the country and the world.

It was really heartwarming to talk to the Van Ness family. Mom & Dad and the four kids, Sarah, Stephen, Michelle and Matthew, all wrote messages in the Bibles. And it was a nice coincidence that brought them to the “Jesus Bookstore…” One of the daughters received a gift certificate to the store from a friend who’s parents are in the National Guard and have at times been deployed, forced to leave their children with relatives. The Van Ness family knew nothing about the Bible campaign until they walked in the store.

Mom Van Ness, talked this being a special week to do something for the troops. She said “When we celebrate the fourth the July you know we bring to remembrance that these soldiers that are going, that are in Iraq are doing exactly what those soldiers did back then, you know fighting for us so we can be independent, so we can live free, so we can worship freely in any way that we want to.”

If you want to participate in the 100,000 Bibles in 100 days, you can go on the Operation Worship website to find a store near you. If you want to go Jesus Book & Gift Store where we were and talk to owner Joe Catalano, you can find him at 301 A Route 22, Green Brook, NJ 08812.

This time of the year one could call the Triple Crown of gift-giving, after the horseracing equivalent: The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and The Belmont Stakes (I won’t digress about this year’s Big Brown mystery). The human version of the Triple Crown involves Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and the obligatory wedding this time of year that most of us will either attend, decline to attend or send a check or gift to.

All these days honor life’s most precious relationships. They’re relationships bound by love and commitment… and two of them are bound by the Fifth Commandment, “Honor thy Father and thy Mother.”

Honoring Mom is a no-brainer. A mother is the child’s lifeline, its source of nutrition and comfort for nine months in the womb, and then protection and comfort and food after birth. The mother-child bond creates this innate response in us to pay homage to her.

But honoring Dad is a little different. The father is the first “other” in a child’s life. The first person the baby knows other than the mother. The first ’stranger’ a child will learn to trust. But fathering today has lost much of the luster and prestige of the “Father Knows Best” years. However, it doesn’t mean fathers are any less important. In fact, according to the experts, a father’s involvement in a child’s upbringing is critical.

“Men have their own repertoire of parenting skills that’s different from the Mother,” says David Blankenhorn, author of Fatherless America and The Future of Marriage. To paraphrase Blankenhorn, he says while mothers generally nurture and protect, and fathers are more risk-takers and tend to be less afraid of danger. A child needs both parenting styles as part of a balanced upbringing. Blankenhorn, who also heads “the Institute for American Values”, says children who have fathers living in the household grow up to be more comfortable with strangers, and are more willing to engage in the larger world. Girls with fathers involved in their lives have a better self image and often make better relationship choices. While boys with fathers, good fathers that is, will be more respectful of women.

And statistcally speaking, when fathers aren’t in the household, the results can be disastrous for the child. According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 90 percent of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes; 63 percent of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school or repeat a grade, and were had the highest odds of winding up incarcerated. Also one of the leading indicators that a child will live in poverty, is whether or not he has a father in the household. In America that would be about 38 to 43 percent of children.

Now that I’ve painted a grim picture of the state of fatherhood, let me give some examples of men whose very lives offer inspiration.

Mark Forrest is an Irish Tenor who lives in Virginia. Years ago he gave up dreams of stardom and his name in lights on broadway, after his son was born with a severe defect and lived only five days. He began a spiritual journey that included the creation of the Faith & Family Foundation, an organization that raises money for special needs children. Mark sings full-time and produces his own albums. He and his wife now have seven boys ages 1 to 14, two of whom are blind and deaf. He says “burying a child caused me to look at what’s important” … “Life’s become so busy. What’s it all for?” Mark sings only on weekends and is always home for his sons Monday through Thursday. He no longer has dreams of becoming a household name, but only of “being the best father I can be.”

Michael Scalfani, is a retired car salesmam from Staten Island, New York. He’s been married 50 years to his wife Angela. They have three sons and six grandchildren. They volunteer as marriage preparation counselors at their church. Mr. Scalfani says the father’s No. 1 priority is to keep the family together, to communicate with his children the values they’ll need in life and to live out those values. He says “the role is really being there” just “being there for them.”

And finally Chris Bell of Sussex County in New Jersey. He’s a married father of seven children, one biological, six adopted. Five of the children have special needs. Chris opened and runs Covenant House, a series of homes where young pregnant women who’ve been abandoned by their boyfriends, can come and live during their pregnancies. Chris says the bottom line is, “kids need to be loved.”

These men are just a few of the hundreds of thousand of unsung heroes of fatherhood. Men who love their families and believe its a privelige to sacrifice for them. These men who would have it no other way. So this Father’s Day, salute dad for a job well done!

The steam is still rising at the National Press Club after the speech by Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the much controversial pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, and, for some 20 years the minister of presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

First of all, please understand that Dr. Wright says many, many truthful things. He talks about the love of Jesus for all mankind, he talked about how your theology determines how you view people, society, what’s right, or wrong. This is sound theological points that deserve an “Amen.”

“Your belief about God is the beginning of your wisdom,” according to Dr. Tim Keller author of The Reason for God. “All your reseasoning, proceeds from there.”

 So I have no objections to Dr. Wright’s points about how society is ordered as to do how we understand God. And, if God is a white male then it follows that you would believe all power belongs to white males. If God is revengeful, and wrath-filled, then it would follow that you would believe there should be sharp and harsh punishment for certain kinds of people.

Generally speaking, after hearing Dr. Wright this morning, it is not surprising that what he says would make sense to anyone sitting in his pews Sunday after Sunday. For people who need bolstering spiritually, economically and personally, Dr. Wright’s statements are empowering. For those unsure what their place in society can or should be, Dr. Wright’s theology is a bold shot in the arm.

Keep Reading …

It’s only been five days but this visit by Pope Benedict XVI seems a world apart from when he arrived.

On Tuesday, we didn’t know what to expect when he stepped off the plane. Now that we’ve seen him — the Shepherd One, this German nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” — and heard his voice, witnessed his smile and incredible humility, he has become someone so close to us all.

I’m writing this at 8 a.m. from the media positions at Yankee stadium. After getting back from St. Joseph’s seminary at 9:30 last night, we had to be back at the media check in in midtown Manhattan at 3:45 a.m. this morning. The Mass begins here at Yankee in several hours.

The Mass will be the pontiff’s last big event in America. We hope it’s not the last ever, but it could be. Six days ago that fact was just information. Today that same fact saddens my heart, to think that this man who has become one of us may never grace us with his company again.

It’s gray and chilly this morning, almost as if even the weather is mirroring the mood of the moment. A sorrowful sigh at having to say goodbye to a new friend than in a short few days has become a trusted companion.

Father Jonathan Morris and I are finally on site at the Youth Rally in Yonkers, N.Y. And, I think we can honestly say that we’re grateful to be here, after a wild bus ride from the big media security checkpoint in midtown Manhattan.

What should have been a 20 minute ride turned into an hour and a half journey. The secret service apparently didn’t check the route map well enough and didn’t realize that the West Side parkway bridges were too low for three tour buses (that were carrying hundreds of members of the media) to pass underneath!

The bus tied up traffic for at least 30 minutes as police stopped the flow of cars so the buses could back up about a 100 or so yards to exit and go around the overpass. Then, the narrow access road had no outlet to accommodate the buses. We had to make a U-turn in the intersection to go back to the parkway, enter after the low bridge and then on our way again.

Needless to say, we were late.

There are already thousand of young people from the various surrounding dioceses here.  Stay tuned — I’ll be writing all afternoon.