February & March 2023: Join The ConVersation

The Founder's Reflection

On February 11th, we held our 4th Father-Con event in Downey, CA.  with powerful moments that moved many to tears, to laughter and to reflection. 

After hearing from Amanda Pulley, who invited the audience into her experience of being exploited by her own father and others, men went out of the gym to call their daughters.

Then Father Greg Boyle, who founded Homeboy Industries, the largest most successful gang intervention and restoration organization in the world, delivered a keynote address that touched everyone with what he describes as “radical kinship” recognizing that we are all at varying stages of being “unwell” and need to fight the tendency to see the other as unworthy, as demons or disposable. 

He said he has no confidence he could survive what many of the homies he serves have endured.  We must strive to see each other as made in the image of God and allow those scarred and traumatized to see that guy in the mirror.

We achieved what we hoped, but continue to grow as Father-Con rises to meet the father crisis of our age as well as the disaster being formed today as children are being exposed to unrestricted violent and taboo pornographic content in homes without a healthy father-figure.  

Father-Con is hitting the ground running with a variety of significant events throughout the rest of this year.

Additionally, Father-Con seeks to not merely envision fatherhood as a wall of protection for our children, but as a bridge to our own personal joy.

We will continue with greater determination to bring awareness, information, and inspiration to fathers to be equipped for parenting in the 21st Century. 

Keep  your eyes open!   

Patrick Erlandson

Founder of Father-Con, and "See it. End it." Film & Arts Festival