A Study on the Direction of Father Education Programs Based on Catholic Church Teachings

[Objective] This study delineates directions for father education consistent with Catholic teaching by synthesizing Church documents, reviews of domestic programs, and an integrated analysis of participation in the St. Joseph Father School in the Diocese of Busan. [Contents] From March to May 2025, we reviewed Church documents and Korean father-education programs and collected data through a semi-structured focus-group interview with eight Catholic men who had participated in or volunteered for the St. Joseph Father School in the Diocese of Busan. Interview transcripts were analyzed using grounded theory procedures (open, axial, and selective coding). The analysis yielded a core category-“the reconstitution of a family-centered model of fatherhood and relational repair mediated by faith-community experience.” The storyline delineates how cracks in authority-and silence-centered paternal scripts were transformed, via the school’s rituals and tasks (e.g., letter writing, foot-washing, blessing prayers, and small-group sharing), into emotional and behavioral strategies that, when applied in daily family life, produced a multi-level realignment across individual, family, and community. [Conclusions] To sustain and scale change, we propose doctrine-practice integrated modules, a vision-goals-strategy architecture for father education aligned with diocesan family ministry, and maintenance mechanisms-follow-up programs, refresher training, and peer networks-embedded at parish and diocesan levels.