The Godfather

Many of you who know me know that I am unnaturally drawn to a mafia lifestyle. I love the Godfather movies, Goodfella’s and even The Soprano’s (first two seasons anyway, the next seasons got a little redundant). Maybe that was one of the draws for me moving to Las Vegas …

The whole concept of a “Godfather” is fascinating. Coming out of Roman Catholic tradition the Godfather is more than just a guy who witnesses a baptism for the father and mother. The Godfather is a man who takes responsibility for the religious upbringing of the child. In some places it even means financial and social responsibilities for the child. The Godfather sponsors the baptism, the first communion and even the marriage of the child. The original intent was for the Godfather to take responsibility for the faith of the child.

Getting the parents help with the religious upbringing of children is a great idea. Churches today have lost that concept, the sense that we are responsible for the children within our church. Now don’t get me wrong … I am not a socialist … I believe that the reason the government has had to take over the support of children, widows, and poor is because the church has been sleeping on the job. Support for the hungry and hurting is the responsibility of the church family NOT the government.

Now Coppola and Puzo distorted the whole Godfather principal with their movies by making it power related and extremely dichotic. They made it a play on the conflict between good and bad within all of us. But the Godfather and Godmother ideal is a great one … and one that all our churches and other families need to adopt.

After all “A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.” (Vito Corleone in the Godfather, Part 1)

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