Catholic Manliness: The Theology, Virtues, and Models of Authentic Masculinity

Overview

Catholic manliness. It has a quaint ring to it, doesn’t it? Catholic manliness is not a cultural relic or a reaction to modern gender politics — it is a robust theological vision of what men are called to be by God, rooted in Scripture, natural law, and the witness of the saints. At its core, Catholic masculinity is defined not by dominance or emotional detachment, but by sacrificial love, courageous virtue, and servant leadership — all modeled on Jesus Christ Himself.¹ This vision stands in sharp contrast to both the listless apathy afflicting many modern men and the aggressive, pleasure-seeking ideology peddled by the so-called “manosphere.”²

The Theological Foundation

Made in the Image of God

The starting point for any Catholic theology of manhood is Genesis ¹:²⁷: God created man in His image and likeness. This means man is called to reflect divine qualities — love, justice, mercy, sacrifice, and humble leadership.³ Being a man is not merely about fulfilling a social role; it is about embracing a spiritual mission that is deeply communal in its orientation. The Catholic Church’s understanding of masculinity flows from natural law, which teaches that things are made with a specific nature, and to deny that nature invites disorder.⁴

Sacrifice as the Core of Masculinity

One of the most distinctive contributions of Catholic thought is the identification of sacrifice as the fundamental masculine act.⁵ Men are hardwired — spiritually and even biologically — to empty themselves in love for another. This is not a weakness; it is the highest expression of strength. The sexual act itself, rightly understood in the Catholic tradition, is ordered toward a self-giving that mirrors the sacrificial logic of the Cross.⁶ St. Josemaria Escrivá put it plainly: “There is a need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and undo the savage work of those who think that man is a beast. And that crusade is a matter for you.”⁷

Christ as the Supreme Model

The Gospels present Jesus Christ as the fullest revelation of what a man can and should be.⁸ In Him, several key masculine virtues converge:

• Sacrificial love — He gave His life freely for others (John 15:13)
• Humility and service — He washed the feet of His disciples (John 13), demonstrating that authentic leadership is servanthood
• Steadfastness in truth — He never compromised His convictions, even unto death
• Mercy and compassion — He healed, forgave, and restored, showing that strength and tenderness are not opposites
• Courage — He confronted religious hypocrisy, drove the money-changers from the Temple, and willingly faced the Passion⁹

As one formulation puts it, Catholic masculinity means being willing to “give everything for the good of others”¹⁰ — not as a doormat, but as a deliberate act of royal generosity rooted in love.

The Cardinal Virtues and Manly Character

The Catholic moral tradition, drawing from Aristotle and brought to its fullest development by St. Thomas Aquinas, identifies four cardinal virtues as the pillars of a well-ordered human life.¹¹ These virtues are especially relevant to Catholic manliness:

Cardinal Virtue	What It Means for Men	Its Challenge
Prudence	The ability to discern the right course of action in concrete circumstances; the “charioteer” of all virtues	Resisting impulsive or reactive decision-making
Justice	Giving to God and neighbor their due; treating every person with the dignity owed them as made in God’s image	Avoiding both exploitation and cowardice in relationships
Fortitude	Courage to face fear, hardship, and even death for what is good and true; endurance under suffering	Distinguishing genuine bravery from recklessness or bravado
Temperance	Governance of appetites — food, drink, sexuality — so that they serve rather than enslave	Saying no to a culture that monetizes every appetite

Importantly, the Greek word for courage — andreía — is etymologically related to anēr, meaning “adult male,” suggesting that the ancient world itself linked manliness directly with courageous virtue.¹² Aquinas argued that fortitude is not merely one virtue among others but the virtue that ensures the stability of all the other virtues — it is what keeps a man from abandoning prudence, justice, or temperance when the cost becomes high.¹³

The gift of fortitude from the Holy Spirit elevates natural courage to a supernatural level, infusing the confidence to endure anything for the sake of eternal life and God’s will.¹⁴ This supernatural fortitude is the mark of the martyr — and of every man who, day after day, chooses fidelity over compromise.

Holy Models: Saints Who Got It Right

St. Joseph — The Silent Patriarch

St. Joseph occupies a singular place in Catholic masculine spirituality. He is called “righteous” by Scripture (Matthew ¹:¹⁹), a man who loved God and neighbor with his whole heart.¹⁵ His greatness lies not in dramatic feats but in quiet, faithful obedience — he accepted God’s will in the face of profound uncertainty, protected Mary, and provided for and educated Jesus.¹⁶ He is described as “Guardian of the Redeemer, Pillar of Families, and Protector of the Church.”¹⁷ The lesson: authentic masculine leadership is not about public acclaim or spectacle. It is about showing up, day after day, in humble service to those entrusted to your care.

St. Josemaria Escrivá wrote of him: “St. Joseph was an ordinary sort of man on whom God relied to do great things. He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life.”¹⁸

St. Pier Giorgio Frassati — The Man of the Beatitudes

Canonized on September ⁷, ²⁰²⁵, by Pope Leo XIV,¹⁹ Pier Giorgio Frassati (¹⁹0¹–¹⁹²⁵) is perhaps the most compelling modern example of Catholic manliness. He was a mountaineer, skier, and prankster — known affectionately as “the Terror” at university — who also gave away his train fare to the poor and secretly visited the sick and marginalized of Turin.²⁰ When Fascists broke into his home and threatened his family’s maid, the young Frassati physically confronted them and drove them out.²¹ He understood that “there is a time for turning the other cheek and a time for standing your ground.”²² Pope St. John Paul II called him “the man of the Beatitudes.” His integration of joy, physical vitality, deep prayer, and radical generosity is a rebuke to any vision of holiness as passive or effeminate.

St. Maximilian Kolbe — Selfless Courage in Extremis

St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar and prisoner at Auschwitz, voluntarily offered his life to die in place of a condemned family man he did not know. He is widely cited as an icon of selfless masculinity — not the performative toughness of popular culture, but the ultimate masculine act: laying down one’s life for another (John ¹⁵:¹³).²³

Martyrs and Warriors: Edmund Campion and Isaac Jogues

The history of the Church is filled with men who demonstrated extraordinary physical and moral courage. St. Edmund Campion repeatedly risked death to minister to Catholics in Elizabethan England, returning again and again even after capture and torture.²⁴ St. Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary to the Native Americans, endured mutilation and captivity before being martyred — and returned voluntarily to the mission that would eventually kill him.²⁵ These men were not warriors in the conventional sense, but they possessed the warrior’s essential quality: the willingness to face death for something greater than oneself.

The Structure of Catholic Manly Character

Catholic spiritual writers and men’s formation resources consistently identify several interlocking dimensions of manly character:²⁶

Physical Strength

A man must build and maintain his body — not for vanity, but because physical strength is a real dimension of the masculine vocation to protect and provide. The Catholic tradition never despised the body; it sees physical endurance as a natural expression of the virtue of fortitude.²⁷

Mental Fortitude

Men are called to be the “rock” of their families and communities — mentally strong enough to face obstacles head-on without collapsing into a victim mentality.²⁸ This is not emotional suppression; it is the disciplined governance of fear and discouragement so that they do not paralyze action.

Spiritual Maturity

A man cannot be spiritually passive and truly manly at the same time. Catholic manliness demands a strong prayer life, frequent reception of the sacraments, and the humility to acknowledge that “you cannot do this alone.”²⁹ Walking with Christ is not optional equipment — it is the fuel for everything else.

Emotional Mastery

The Catholic tradition does not ask men to eliminate or deny their emotions. Emotions exist; the task is to rule them rather than be ruled by them.³⁰ Harnessing emotion — including anger, grief, and longing — in service of noble ends is a mark of mature masculinity, not its absence.

Intellectual Seriousness

St. Athanasius wrote, “To him who wishes to walk in the path of virtue, nothing is more necessary than the reading of spiritual books.”³¹ A manly Catholic takes his mind seriously, studies his faith, and cultivates the capacity for right judgment that the virtue of prudence requires.

Authentic Manliness vs. The Counterfeits

The Manosphere Error

Contemporary culture has produced two dominant — and equally distorted — templates for masculinity. The “manosphere” promotes dominance, aggression, and the exploitation of relationships for personal gain.³² It is, in the words of America magazine, a post-Christian vision of masculinity that “rejects softness and vulnerability in favor of dominance and aggression” and teaches that “there is no good but what a man can take for himself.”³³ This is not strength; it is arrested development dressed up as power.

The Emasculation Error

On the other side is the attempt to evacuate masculinity of any distinctive content — to reduce men to interchangeable human units whose masculine identity is incidental or purely self-defined. This too is a failure, because it denies the specific gifts and responsibilities that God has inscribed in masculine nature.³⁴

The Catholic Alternative

Catholic manliness holds both poles in creative tension. It insists on genuine strength and vulnerability — precisely because both are present on the Cross.³⁵ It embraces the complementarity of the sexes without reducing women to objects or accessories. It calls men to servant leadership — a framework that has animated Catholic men’s organizations across centuries — which encompasses “not just traditionally masculine behaviors and activities but the fullness of human experience.”³⁶

As Fr. Luzarraga puts it: the distinguishing mark of authentic masculinity is that it responds to evil and wrongdoing “as Christian gentlemen” — providing “the ultimate way forward” rather than defaulting to “the raw, promiscuous, punitive use of power.”³⁷

Practical Dimensions: Living Catholic Manliness

In the Family

The Catholic man is called to be a spiritual leader in the home — the domestic church.³⁸ This means leading family prayer, bringing children to the sacraments, and modeling the virtues. It means being present — emotionally, not just physically. St. Joseph’s example is instructive: he listened to Mary, comforted her, worked long hours for her, and would have died to protect her.³⁹ Fatherhood, for the Catholic man, is a participation in the Fatherhood of God.

In Community and Church

Catholic men’s formation has a long and rich tradition — from the Knights of Columbus to Cursillo to parish men’s groups — of providing the fraternal accountability and servant leadership that keep men growing.⁴⁰ Community is not optional for the Catholic man; iron sharpens iron (Proverbs ²⁷:¹⁷).

In the Culture

St. Josemaria’s “crusade of manliness and purity” has a cultural dimension: Catholic men are called to be a leaven in their workplaces, neighborhoods, and institutions.⁴¹ This is not aggression but presence — showing up with integrity, protecting the vulnerable, telling the truth at cost to oneself.

In Prayer and Sacramental Life

The sacraments — especially the Eucharist and Confession — are not optional add-ons to a masculine Catholic life. They are the engine. Pier Giorgio Frassati’s mountaineering and charitable works flowed directly from his hours before the Blessed Sacrament.⁴² A man who neglects the sacraments is trying to run on an empty tank.

Conclusion

Catholic manliness is not nostalgia, not performance, and not an ideology. It is a theological anthropology — a vision of what men genuinely are and are called to become. It is demanding precisely because it refuses to reduce masculinity to any single dimension: it asks for physical courage and gentleness, strength and vulnerability, leadership and humility. It asks men to look at the Cross and see there, in the ultimate act of masculine self-gift, what they are made for.

The tradition offers men something the manosphere cannot: not a tribe built on resentment, but a brotherhood ordered toward holiness — one that stretches from St. Joseph in the carpenter’s shop, through Pier Giorgio on the ski slopes of the Alps, to every man today who quietly chooses to do the right thing when no one is watching.

Endnotes

1. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?,” January 6, 2025, https://catholicus.eu/en/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-true-man-according-to-the-catholic-faith/; Matt Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost. The Catholic Church Can Give Them a Better Model of Manliness,” America, March 6, 2025, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/03/07/catholic-positive-model-masculinity-men-250057.

2. Karl Keating, “What’s So Great About Men,” Catholic Answers Magazine, August 5, 2024, https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/whats-so-great-about-men.

3. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

4. Ignatius Press Editors, “Masculinity,” Ignitum Today, May 1, 2020, https://ignitumtoday.com/2020/05/01/masculinity/.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Josemaría Escrivá, quoted in Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

8. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”; Catholic Counselors, “Toward a Theology of Authentic Masculinity,” December 3, 2013, https://catholiccounselors.com/toward-a-theology-of-authentic-masculinity/.

9. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”; Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

10. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

11. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§1805–1809, https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_one/chapter_one/article_7/i_the_human_virtues.html.

12. “Cardinal Virtues,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_virtues.

13. Father Francis Lescoe, “Fortitude,” Clerus, June 24, 2002, https://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2002-06/25-999999/04PnIn.html.

14. Ibid.

15. Sam Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood,” The Catholic Gentleman, March 18, 2022, https://catholicgentleman.com/2022/03/st-joseph-the-model-of-manhood/.

16. Divine Mercy Editorial Staff, “A Model of Manhood,” The Divine Mercy, https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/model-manhood; Knights of Columbus Council 13935, “The Role of St. Joseph in Masculine Catholic Leadership,” January 14, 2025, https://www.kofc13935.org/2025/01/news/the-role-of-st-joseph-in-masculine-catholic-leadership/.

17. Knights of Columbus Council 13935, “The Role of St. Joseph in Masculine Catholic Leadership.”

18. Josemaría Escrivá, quoted in Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood.”

19. Diocese of Norwich, “St. Pier Giorgio Frassati — A Joyful Model of Holiness for Young People,” February 19, 2026, https://www.norwichdiocese.org/Stay-Informed/All-Diocesan-Articles/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/25183/.

20. Word on Fire Fellows, “Pier Giorgio Frassati: Party Hats and a Love for the Poor,” Word on Fire, https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/fellows/pier-giorgio-frassati-party-hats-and-a-love-for-the-poor/.

21. Casey Chalk, “Finding Men Like Frassati,” Crisis Magazine, July 29, 2021, https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/finding-men-like-frassati.

22. Ibid.

23. Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

24. Karenna Gore, “Saints Showing Courage,” Catholic Kingdom, https://www.catholickingdom.com/Castle/Hall%20of%20Fame/6th_13/write_6th/entries/12-14/12-14_Karenna_inline.html.

25. Ibid.

26. Catholic Manhood Substack, “Manhood: The Basics, Part 1,” February 7, 2025, https://catholicmanhood.substack.com/p/manhood-the-basics-part-1; The Manly Catholic, “Embracing Manly Virtues: What It Means to Be a Manly Catholic,” July 24, 2023, https://www.themanlycatholic.com/blog/embracing-manly-virtues-what-it-means-to-be-a-manly-catholic/.

27. Catholic Manhood Substack, “Manhood: The Basics, Part 1.”

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Athanasius of Alexandria, quoted in Sam Guzman, “5 Spiritual Books Every Man Should Read,” The Catholic Gentleman, July 4, 2013, https://catholicgentleman.com/2013/07/5-spiritual-books-every-man-should-read/.

32. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

33. Ibid.

34. Ignatius Press Editors, “Masculinity”; Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

35. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

36. Ibid.

37. Fr. Luzarraga, quoted in Zac Davis, “Toxic Masculinity Clashes with Actual Catholic Teaching,” U.S. Catholic, May 26, 2025, https://uscatholic.org/articles/202505/toxic-masculinity-clashes-with-actual-catholic-teaching/.

38. Divine Mercy Editorial Staff, “A Model of Manhood.”

39. Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood.”

40. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

41. Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

42. Diocese of Norwich, “St. Pier Giorgio Frassati.”

Catholic Manliness: The Theology, Virtues, and Models of Authentic Masculinity

Overview

Catholic manliness. It has a quaint ring to it, doesn’t it? Catholic manliness is not a cultural relic or a reaction to modern gender politics — it is a robust theological vision of what men are called to be by God, rooted in Scripture, natural law, and the witness of the saints. At its core, Catholic masculinity is defined not by dominance or emotional detachment, but by sacrificial love, courageous virtue, and servant leadership — all modeled on Jesus Christ Himself.¹ This vision stands in sharp contrast to both the listless apathy afflicting many modern men and the aggressive, pleasure-seeking ideology peddled by the so-called “manosphere.”²

The Theological Foundation

Made in the Image of God

The starting point for any Catholic theology of manhood is Genesis ¹:²⁷: God created man in His image and likeness. This means man is called to reflect divine qualities — love, justice, mercy, sacrifice, and humble leadership.³ Being a man is not merely about fulfilling a social role; it is about embracing a spiritual mission that is deeply communal in its orientation. The Catholic Church’s understanding of masculinity flows from natural law, which teaches that things are made with a specific nature, and to deny that nature invites disorder.⁴

Sacrifice as the Core of Masculinity

One of the most distinctive contributions of Catholic thought is the identification of sacrifice as the fundamental masculine act.⁵ Men are hardwired — spiritually and even biologically — to empty themselves in love for another. This is not a weakness; it is the highest expression of strength. The sexual act itself, rightly understood in the Catholic tradition, is ordered toward a self-giving that mirrors the sacrificial logic of the Cross.⁶ St. Josemaria Escrivá put it plainly: “There is a need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and undo the savage work of those who think that man is a beast. And that crusade is a matter for you.”⁷

Christ as the Supreme Model

The Gospels present Jesus Christ as the fullest revelation of what a man can and should be.⁸ In Him, several key masculine virtues converge:

• Sacrificial love — He gave His life freely for others (John 15:13)
• Humility and service — He washed the feet of His disciples (John 13), demonstrating that authentic leadership is servanthood
• Steadfastness in truth — He never compromised His convictions, even unto death
• Mercy and compassion — He healed, forgave, and restored, showing that strength and tenderness are not opposites
• Courage — He confronted religious hypocrisy, drove the money-changers from the Temple, and willingly faced the Passion⁹

As one formulation puts it, Catholic masculinity means being willing to “give everything for the good of others”¹⁰ — not as a doormat, but as a deliberate act of royal generosity rooted in love.

The Cardinal Virtues and Manly Character

The Catholic moral tradition, drawing from Aristotle and brought to its fullest development by St. Thomas Aquinas, identifies four cardinal virtues as the pillars of a well-ordered human life.¹¹ These virtues are especially relevant to Catholic manliness:

Cardinal Virtue	What It Means for Men	Its Challenge
Prudence	The ability to discern the right course of action in concrete circumstances; the “charioteer” of all virtues	Resisting impulsive or reactive decision-making
Justice	Giving to God and neighbor their due; treating every person with the dignity owed them as made in God’s image	Avoiding both exploitation and cowardice in relationships
Fortitude	Courage to face fear, hardship, and even death for what is good and true; endurance under suffering	Distinguishing genuine bravery from recklessness or bravado
Temperance	Governance of appetites — food, drink, sexuality — so that they serve rather than enslave	Saying no to a culture that monetizes every appetite

Importantly, the Greek word for courage — andreía — is etymologically related to anēr, meaning “adult male,” suggesting that the ancient world itself linked manliness directly with courageous virtue.¹² Aquinas argued that fortitude is not merely one virtue among others but the virtue that ensures the stability of all the other virtues — it is what keeps a man from abandoning prudence, justice, or temperance when the cost becomes high.¹³

The gift of fortitude from the Holy Spirit elevates natural courage to a supernatural level, infusing the confidence to endure anything for the sake of eternal life and God’s will.¹⁴ This supernatural fortitude is the mark of the martyr — and of every man who, day after day, chooses fidelity over compromise.

Holy Models: Saints Who Got It Right

St. Joseph — The Silent Patriarch

St. Joseph occupies a singular place in Catholic masculine spirituality. He is called “righteous” by Scripture (Matthew ¹:¹⁹), a man who loved God and neighbor with his whole heart.¹⁵ His greatness lies not in dramatic feats but in quiet, faithful obedience — he accepted God’s will in the face of profound uncertainty, protected Mary, and provided for and educated Jesus.¹⁶ He is described as “Guardian of the Redeemer, Pillar of Families, and Protector of the Church.”¹⁷ The lesson: authentic masculine leadership is not about public acclaim or spectacle. It is about showing up, day after day, in humble service to those entrusted to your care.

St. Josemaria Escrivá wrote of him: “St. Joseph was an ordinary sort of man on whom God relied to do great things. He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life.”¹⁸

St. Pier Giorgio Frassati — The Man of the Beatitudes

Canonized on September ⁷, ²⁰²⁵, by Pope Leo XIV,¹⁹ Pier Giorgio Frassati (¹⁹0¹–¹⁹²⁵) is perhaps the most compelling modern example of Catholic manliness. He was a mountaineer, skier, and prankster — known affectionately as “the Terror” at university — who also gave away his train fare to the poor and secretly visited the sick and marginalized of Turin.²⁰ When Fascists broke into his home and threatened his family’s maid, the young Frassati physically confronted them and drove them out.²¹ He understood that “there is a time for turning the other cheek and a time for standing your ground.”²² Pope St. John Paul II called him “the man of the Beatitudes.” His integration of joy, physical vitality, deep prayer, and radical generosity is a rebuke to any vision of holiness as passive or effeminate.

St. Maximilian Kolbe — Selfless Courage in Extremis

St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar and prisoner at Auschwitz, voluntarily offered his life to die in place of a condemned family man he did not know. He is widely cited as an icon of selfless masculinity — not the performative toughness of popular culture, but the ultimate masculine act: laying down one’s life for another (John ¹⁵:¹³).²³

Martyrs and Warriors: Edmund Campion and Isaac Jogues

The history of the Church is filled with men who demonstrated extraordinary physical and moral courage. St. Edmund Campion repeatedly risked death to minister to Catholics in Elizabethan England, returning again and again even after capture and torture.²⁴ St. Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary to the Native Americans, endured mutilation and captivity before being martyred — and returned voluntarily to the mission that would eventually kill him.²⁵ These men were not warriors in the conventional sense, but they possessed the warrior’s essential quality: the willingness to face death for something greater than oneself.

The Structure of Catholic Manly Character

Catholic spiritual writers and men’s formation resources consistently identify several interlocking dimensions of manly character:²⁶

Physical Strength

A man must build and maintain his body — not for vanity, but because physical strength is a real dimension of the masculine vocation to protect and provide. The Catholic tradition never despised the body; it sees physical endurance as a natural expression of the virtue of fortitude.²⁷

Mental Fortitude

Men are called to be the “rock” of their families and communities — mentally strong enough to face obstacles head-on without collapsing into a victim mentality.²⁸ This is not emotional suppression; it is the disciplined governance of fear and discouragement so that they do not paralyze action.

Spiritual Maturity

A man cannot be spiritually passive and truly manly at the same time. Catholic manliness demands a strong prayer life, frequent reception of the sacraments, and the humility to acknowledge that “you cannot do this alone.”²⁹ Walking with Christ is not optional equipment — it is the fuel for everything else.

Emotional Mastery

The Catholic tradition does not ask men to eliminate or deny their emotions. Emotions exist; the task is to rule them rather than be ruled by them.³⁰ Harnessing emotion — including anger, grief, and longing — in service of noble ends is a mark of mature masculinity, not its absence.

Intellectual Seriousness

St. Athanasius wrote, “To him who wishes to walk in the path of virtue, nothing is more necessary than the reading of spiritual books.”³¹ A manly Catholic takes his mind seriously, studies his faith, and cultivates the capacity for right judgment that the virtue of prudence requires.

Authentic Manliness vs. The Counterfeits

The Manosphere Error

Contemporary culture has produced two dominant — and equally distorted — templates for masculinity. The “manosphere” promotes dominance, aggression, and the exploitation of relationships for personal gain.³² It is, in the words of America magazine, a post-Christian vision of masculinity that “rejects softness and vulnerability in favor of dominance and aggression” and teaches that “there is no good but what a man can take for himself.”³³ This is not strength; it is arrested development dressed up as power.

The Emasculation Error

On the other side is the attempt to evacuate masculinity of any distinctive content — to reduce men to interchangeable human units whose masculine identity is incidental or purely self-defined. This too is a failure, because it denies the specific gifts and responsibilities that God has inscribed in masculine nature.³⁴

The Catholic Alternative

Catholic manliness holds both poles in creative tension. It insists on genuine strength and vulnerability — precisely because both are present on the Cross.³⁵ It embraces the complementarity of the sexes without reducing women to objects or accessories. It calls men to servant leadership — a framework that has animated Catholic men’s organizations across centuries — which encompasses “not just traditionally masculine behaviors and activities but the fullness of human experience.”³⁶

As Fr. Luzarraga puts it: the distinguishing mark of authentic masculinity is that it responds to evil and wrongdoing “as Christian gentlemen” — providing “the ultimate way forward” rather than defaulting to “the raw, promiscuous, punitive use of power.”³⁷

Practical Dimensions: Living Catholic Manliness

In the Family

The Catholic man is called to be a spiritual leader in the home — the domestic church.³⁸ This means leading family prayer, bringing children to the sacraments, and modeling the virtues. It means being present — emotionally, not just physically. St. Joseph’s example is instructive: he listened to Mary, comforted her, worked long hours for her, and would have died to protect her.³⁹ Fatherhood, for the Catholic man, is a participation in the Fatherhood of God.

In Community and Church

Catholic men’s formation has a long and rich tradition — from the Knights of Columbus to Cursillo to parish men’s groups — of providing the fraternal accountability and servant leadership that keep men growing.⁴⁰ Community is not optional for the Catholic man; iron sharpens iron (Proverbs ²⁷:¹⁷).

In the Culture

St. Josemaria’s “crusade of manliness and purity” has a cultural dimension: Catholic men are called to be a leaven in their workplaces, neighborhoods, and institutions.⁴¹ This is not aggression but presence — showing up with integrity, protecting the vulnerable, telling the truth at cost to oneself.

In Prayer and Sacramental Life

The sacraments — especially the Eucharist and Confession — are not optional add-ons to a masculine Catholic life. They are the engine. Pier Giorgio Frassati’s mountaineering and charitable works flowed directly from his hours before the Blessed Sacrament.⁴² A man who neglects the sacraments is trying to run on an empty tank.

Conclusion

Catholic manliness is not nostalgia, not performance, and not an ideology. It is a theological anthropology — a vision of what men genuinely are and are called to become. It is demanding precisely because it refuses to reduce masculinity to any single dimension: it asks for physical courage and gentleness, strength and vulnerability, leadership and humility. It asks men to look at the Cross and see there, in the ultimate act of masculine self-gift, what they are made for.

The tradition offers men something the manosphere cannot: not a tribe built on resentment, but a brotherhood ordered toward holiness — one that stretches from St. Joseph in the carpenter’s shop, through Pier Giorgio on the ski slopes of the Alps, to every man today who quietly chooses to do the right thing when no one is watching.

Endnotes

1. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?,” January 6, 2025, https://catholicus.eu/en/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-true-man-according-to-the-catholic-faith/; Matt Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost. The Catholic Church Can Give Them a Better Model of Manliness,” America, March 6, 2025, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/03/07/catholic-positive-model-masculinity-men-250057.

2. Karl Keating, “What’s So Great About Men,” Catholic Answers Magazine, August 5, 2024, https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/whats-so-great-about-men.

3. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

4. Ignatius Press Editors, “Masculinity,” Ignitum Today, May 1, 2020, https://ignitumtoday.com/2020/05/01/masculinity/.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Josemaría Escrivá, quoted in Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

8. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”; Catholic Counselors, “Toward a Theology of Authentic Masculinity,” December 3, 2013, https://catholiccounselors.com/toward-a-theology-of-authentic-masculinity/.

9. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”; Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

10. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

11. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§1805–1809, https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_one/chapter_one/article_7/i_the_human_virtues.html.

12. “Cardinal Virtues,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_virtues.

13. Father Francis Lescoe, “Fortitude,” Clerus, June 24, 2002, https://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2002-06/25-999999/04PnIn.html.

14. Ibid.

15. Sam Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood,” The Catholic Gentleman, March 18, 2022, https://catholicgentleman.com/2022/03/st-joseph-the-model-of-manhood/.

16. Divine Mercy Editorial Staff, “A Model of Manhood,” The Divine Mercy, https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/model-manhood; Knights of Columbus Council 13935, “The Role of St. Joseph in Masculine Catholic Leadership,” January 14, 2025, https://www.kofc13935.org/2025/01/news/the-role-of-st-joseph-in-masculine-catholic-leadership/.

17. Knights of Columbus Council 13935, “The Role of St. Joseph in Masculine Catholic Leadership.”

18. Josemaría Escrivá, quoted in Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood.”

19. Diocese of Norwich, “St. Pier Giorgio Frassati — A Joyful Model of Holiness for Young People,” February 19, 2026, https://www.norwichdiocese.org/Stay-Informed/All-Diocesan-Articles/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/25183/.

20. Word on Fire Fellows, “Pier Giorgio Frassati: Party Hats and a Love for the Poor,” Word on Fire, https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/fellows/pier-giorgio-frassati-party-hats-and-a-love-for-the-poor/.

21. Casey Chalk, “Finding Men Like Frassati,” Crisis Magazine, July 29, 2021, https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/finding-men-like-frassati.

22. Ibid.

23. Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

24. Karenna Gore, “Saints Showing Courage,” Catholic Kingdom, https://www.catholickingdom.com/Castle/Hall%20of%20Fame/6th_13/write_6th/entries/12-14/12-14_Karenna_inline.html.

25. Ibid.

26. Catholic Manhood Substack, “Manhood: The Basics, Part 1,” February 7, 2025, https://catholicmanhood.substack.com/p/manhood-the-basics-part-1; The Manly Catholic, “Embracing Manly Virtues: What It Means to Be a Manly Catholic,” July 24, 2023, https://www.themanlycatholic.com/blog/embracing-manly-virtues-what-it-means-to-be-a-manly-catholic/.

27. Catholic Manhood Substack, “Manhood: The Basics, Part 1.”

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Athanasius of Alexandria, quoted in Sam Guzman, “5 Spiritual Books Every Man Should Read,” The Catholic Gentleman, July 4, 2013, https://catholicgentleman.com/2013/07/5-spiritual-books-every-man-should-read/.

32. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

33. Ibid.

34. Ignatius Press Editors, “Masculinity”; Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

35. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

36. Ibid.

37. Fr. Luzarraga, quoted in Zac Davis, “Toxic Masculinity Clashes with Actual Catholic Teaching,” U.S. Catholic, May 26, 2025, https://uscatholic.org/articles/202505/toxic-masculinity-clashes-with-actual-catholic-teaching/.

38. Divine Mercy Editorial Staff, “A Model of Manhood.”

39. Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood.”

40. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

41. Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

42. Diocese of Norwich, “St. Pier Giorgio Frassati.”

Catholic Manliness: The Theology, Virtues, and Models of Authentic Masculinity

Overview

Catholic manliness. It has a quaint ring to it, doesn’t it? Catholic manliness is not a cultural relic or a reaction to modern gender politics — it is a robust theological vision of what men are called to be by God, rooted in Scripture, natural law, and the witness of the saints. At its core, Catholic masculinity is defined not by dominance or emotional detachment, but by sacrificial love, courageous virtue, and servant leadership — all modeled on Jesus Christ Himself.¹ This vision stands in sharp contrast to both the listless apathy afflicting many modern men and the aggressive, pleasure-seeking ideology peddled by the so-called “manosphere.”²

The Theological Foundation

Made in the Image of God

The starting point for any Catholic theology of manhood is Genesis ¹:²⁷: God created man in His image and likeness. This means man is called to reflect divine qualities — love, justice, mercy, sacrifice, and humble leadership.³ Being a man is not merely about fulfilling a social role; it is about embracing a spiritual mission that is deeply communal in its orientation. The Catholic Church’s understanding of masculinity flows from natural law, which teaches that things are made with a specific nature, and to deny that nature invites disorder.⁴

Sacrifice as the Core of Masculinity

One of the most distinctive contributions of Catholic thought is the identification of sacrifice as the fundamental masculine act.⁵ Men are hardwired — spiritually and even biologically — to empty themselves in love for another. This is not a weakness; it is the highest expression of strength. The sexual act itself, rightly understood in the Catholic tradition, is ordered toward a self-giving that mirrors the sacrificial logic of the Cross.⁶ St. Josemaria Escrivá put it plainly: “There is a need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and undo the savage work of those who think that man is a beast. And that crusade is a matter for you.”⁷

Christ as the Supreme Model

The Gospels present Jesus Christ as the fullest revelation of what a man can and should be.⁸ In Him, several key masculine virtues converge:

• Sacrificial love — He gave His life freely for others (John 15:13)
• Humility and service — He washed the feet of His disciples (John 13), demonstrating that authentic leadership is servanthood
• Steadfastness in truth — He never compromised His convictions, even unto death
• Mercy and compassion — He healed, forgave, and restored, showing that strength and tenderness are not opposites
• Courage — He confronted religious hypocrisy, drove the money-changers from the Temple, and willingly faced the Passion⁹

As one formulation puts it, Catholic masculinity means being willing to “give everything for the good of others”¹⁰ — not as a doormat, but as a deliberate act of royal generosity rooted in love.

The Cardinal Virtues and Manly Character

The Catholic moral tradition, drawing from Aristotle and brought to its fullest development by St. Thomas Aquinas, identifies four cardinal virtues as the pillars of a well-ordered human life.¹¹ These virtues are especially relevant to Catholic manliness:

Cardinal Virtue	What It Means for Men	Its Challenge
Prudence	The ability to discern the right course of action in concrete circumstances; the “charioteer” of all virtues	Resisting impulsive or reactive decision-making
Justice	Giving to God and neighbor their due; treating every person with the dignity owed them as made in God’s image	Avoiding both exploitation and cowardice in relationships
Fortitude	Courage to face fear, hardship, and even death for what is good and true; endurance under suffering	Distinguishing genuine bravery from recklessness or bravado
Temperance	Governance of appetites — food, drink, sexuality — so that they serve rather than enslave	Saying no to a culture that monetizes every appetite

Importantly, the Greek word for courage — andreía — is etymologically related to anēr, meaning “adult male,” suggesting that the ancient world itself linked manliness directly with courageous virtue.¹² Aquinas argued that fortitude is not merely one virtue among others but the virtue that ensures the stability of all the other virtues — it is what keeps a man from abandoning prudence, justice, or temperance when the cost becomes high.¹³

The gift of fortitude from the Holy Spirit elevates natural courage to a supernatural level, infusing the confidence to endure anything for the sake of eternal life and God’s will.¹⁴ This supernatural fortitude is the mark of the martyr — and of every man who, day after day, chooses fidelity over compromise.

Holy Models: Saints Who Got It Right

St. Joseph — The Silent Patriarch

St. Joseph occupies a singular place in Catholic masculine spirituality. He is called “righteous” by Scripture (Matthew ¹:¹⁹), a man who loved God and neighbor with his whole heart.¹⁵ His greatness lies not in dramatic feats but in quiet, faithful obedience — he accepted God’s will in the face of profound uncertainty, protected Mary, and provided for and educated Jesus.¹⁶ He is described as “Guardian of the Redeemer, Pillar of Families, and Protector of the Church.”¹⁷ The lesson: authentic masculine leadership is not about public acclaim or spectacle. It is about showing up, day after day, in humble service to those entrusted to your care.

St. Josemaria Escrivá wrote of him: “St. Joseph was an ordinary sort of man on whom God relied to do great things. He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life.”¹⁸

St. Pier Giorgio Frassati — The Man of the Beatitudes

Canonized on September ⁷, ²⁰²⁵, by Pope Leo XIV,¹⁹ Pier Giorgio Frassati (¹⁹0¹–¹⁹²⁵) is perhaps the most compelling modern example of Catholic manliness. He was a mountaineer, skier, and prankster — known affectionately as “the Terror” at university — who also gave away his train fare to the poor and secretly visited the sick and marginalized of Turin.²⁰ When Fascists broke into his home and threatened his family’s maid, the young Frassati physically confronted them and drove them out.²¹ He understood that “there is a time for turning the other cheek and a time for standing your ground.”²² Pope St. John Paul II called him “the man of the Beatitudes.” His integration of joy, physical vitality, deep prayer, and radical generosity is a rebuke to any vision of holiness as passive or effeminate.

St. Maximilian Kolbe — Selfless Courage in Extremis

St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar and prisoner at Auschwitz, voluntarily offered his life to die in place of a condemned family man he did not know. He is widely cited as an icon of selfless masculinity — not the performative toughness of popular culture, but the ultimate masculine act: laying down one’s life for another (John ¹⁵:¹³).²³

Martyrs and Warriors: Edmund Campion and Isaac Jogues

The history of the Church is filled with men who demonstrated extraordinary physical and moral courage. St. Edmund Campion repeatedly risked death to minister to Catholics in Elizabethan England, returning again and again even after capture and torture.²⁴ St. Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary to the Native Americans, endured mutilation and captivity before being martyred — and returned voluntarily to the mission that would eventually kill him.²⁵ These men were not warriors in the conventional sense, but they possessed the warrior’s essential quality: the willingness to face death for something greater than oneself.

The Structure of Catholic Manly Character

Catholic spiritual writers and men’s formation resources consistently identify several interlocking dimensions of manly character:²⁶

Physical Strength

A man must build and maintain his body — not for vanity, but because physical strength is a real dimension of the masculine vocation to protect and provide. The Catholic tradition never despised the body; it sees physical endurance as a natural expression of the virtue of fortitude.²⁷

Mental Fortitude

Men are called to be the “rock” of their families and communities — mentally strong enough to face obstacles head-on without collapsing into a victim mentality.²⁸ This is not emotional suppression; it is the disciplined governance of fear and discouragement so that they do not paralyze action.

Spiritual Maturity

A man cannot be spiritually passive and truly manly at the same time. Catholic manliness demands a strong prayer life, frequent reception of the sacraments, and the humility to acknowledge that “you cannot do this alone.”²⁹ Walking with Christ is not optional equipment — it is the fuel for everything else.

Emotional Mastery

The Catholic tradition does not ask men to eliminate or deny their emotions. Emotions exist; the task is to rule them rather than be ruled by them.³⁰ Harnessing emotion — including anger, grief, and longing — in service of noble ends is a mark of mature masculinity, not its absence.

Intellectual Seriousness

St. Athanasius wrote, “To him who wishes to walk in the path of virtue, nothing is more necessary than the reading of spiritual books.”³¹ A manly Catholic takes his mind seriously, studies his faith, and cultivates the capacity for right judgment that the virtue of prudence requires.

Authentic Manliness vs. The Counterfeits

The Manosphere Error

Contemporary culture has produced two dominant — and equally distorted — templates for masculinity. The “manosphere” promotes dominance, aggression, and the exploitation of relationships for personal gain.³² It is, in the words of America magazine, a post-Christian vision of masculinity that “rejects softness and vulnerability in favor of dominance and aggression” and teaches that “there is no good but what a man can take for himself.”³³ This is not strength; it is arrested development dressed up as power.

The Emasculation Error

On the other side is the attempt to evacuate masculinity of any distinctive content — to reduce men to interchangeable human units whose masculine identity is incidental or purely self-defined. This too is a failure, because it denies the specific gifts and responsibilities that God has inscribed in masculine nature.³⁴

The Catholic Alternative

Catholic manliness holds both poles in creative tension. It insists on genuine strength and vulnerability — precisely because both are present on the Cross.³⁵ It embraces the complementarity of the sexes without reducing women to objects or accessories. It calls men to servant leadership — a framework that has animated Catholic men’s organizations across centuries — which encompasses “not just traditionally masculine behaviors and activities but the fullness of human experience.”³⁶

As Fr. Luzarraga puts it: the distinguishing mark of authentic masculinity is that it responds to evil and wrongdoing “as Christian gentlemen” — providing “the ultimate way forward” rather than defaulting to “the raw, promiscuous, punitive use of power.”³⁷

Practical Dimensions: Living Catholic Manliness

In the Family

The Catholic man is called to be a spiritual leader in the home — the domestic church.³⁸ This means leading family prayer, bringing children to the sacraments, and modeling the virtues. It means being present — emotionally, not just physically. St. Joseph’s example is instructive: he listened to Mary, comforted her, worked long hours for her, and would have died to protect her.³⁹ Fatherhood, for the Catholic man, is a participation in the Fatherhood of God.

In Community and Church

Catholic men’s formation has a long and rich tradition — from the Knights of Columbus to Cursillo to parish men’s groups — of providing the fraternal accountability and servant leadership that keep men growing.⁴⁰ Community is not optional for the Catholic man; iron sharpens iron (Proverbs ²⁷:¹⁷).

In the Culture

St. Josemaria’s “crusade of manliness and purity” has a cultural dimension: Catholic men are called to be a leaven in their workplaces, neighborhoods, and institutions.⁴¹ This is not aggression but presence — showing up with integrity, protecting the vulnerable, telling the truth at cost to oneself.

In Prayer and Sacramental Life

The sacraments — especially the Eucharist and Confession — are not optional add-ons to a masculine Catholic life. They are the engine. Pier Giorgio Frassati’s mountaineering and charitable works flowed directly from his hours before the Blessed Sacrament.⁴² A man who neglects the sacraments is trying to run on an empty tank.

Conclusion

Catholic manliness is not nostalgia, not performance, and not an ideology. It is a theological anthropology — a vision of what men genuinely are and are called to become. It is demanding precisely because it refuses to reduce masculinity to any single dimension: it asks for physical courage and gentleness, strength and vulnerability, leadership and humility. It asks men to look at the Cross and see there, in the ultimate act of masculine self-gift, what they are made for.

The tradition offers men something the manosphere cannot: not a tribe built on resentment, but a brotherhood ordered toward holiness — one that stretches from St. Joseph in the carpenter’s shop, through Pier Giorgio on the ski slopes of the Alps, to every man today who quietly chooses to do the right thing when no one is watching.

Endnotes

1. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?,” January 6, 2025, https://catholicus.eu/en/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-true-man-according-to-the-catholic-faith/; Matt Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost. The Catholic Church Can Give Them a Better Model of Manliness,” America, March 6, 2025, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/03/07/catholic-positive-model-masculinity-men-250057.

2. Karl Keating, “What’s So Great About Men,” Catholic Answers Magazine, August 5, 2024, https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/whats-so-great-about-men.

3. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

4. Ignatius Press Editors, “Masculinity,” Ignitum Today, May 1, 2020, https://ignitumtoday.com/2020/05/01/masculinity/.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Josemaría Escrivá, quoted in Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

8. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”; Catholic Counselors, “Toward a Theology of Authentic Masculinity,” December 3, 2013, https://catholiccounselors.com/toward-a-theology-of-authentic-masculinity/.

9. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”; Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

10. Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

11. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§1805–1809, https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_one/chapter_one/article_7/i_the_human_virtues.html.

12. “Cardinal Virtues,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_virtues.

13. Father Francis Lescoe, “Fortitude,” Clerus, June 24, 2002, https://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2002-06/25-999999/04PnIn.html.

14. Ibid.

15. Sam Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood,” The Catholic Gentleman, March 18, 2022, https://catholicgentleman.com/2022/03/st-joseph-the-model-of-manhood/.

16. Divine Mercy Editorial Staff, “A Model of Manhood,” The Divine Mercy, https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/model-manhood; Knights of Columbus Council 13935, “The Role of St. Joseph in Masculine Catholic Leadership,” January 14, 2025, https://www.kofc13935.org/2025/01/news/the-role-of-st-joseph-in-masculine-catholic-leadership/.

17. Knights of Columbus Council 13935, “The Role of St. Joseph in Masculine Catholic Leadership.”

18. Josemaría Escrivá, quoted in Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood.”

19. Diocese of Norwich, “St. Pier Giorgio Frassati — A Joyful Model of Holiness for Young People,” February 19, 2026, https://www.norwichdiocese.org/Stay-Informed/All-Diocesan-Articles/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/25183/.

20. Word on Fire Fellows, “Pier Giorgio Frassati: Party Hats and a Love for the Poor,” Word on Fire, https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/fellows/pier-giorgio-frassati-party-hats-and-a-love-for-the-poor/.

21. Casey Chalk, “Finding Men Like Frassati,” Crisis Magazine, July 29, 2021, https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/finding-men-like-frassati.

22. Ibid.

23. Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

24. Karenna Gore, “Saints Showing Courage,” Catholic Kingdom, https://www.catholickingdom.com/Castle/Hall%20of%20Fame/6th_13/write_6th/entries/12-14/12-14_Karenna_inline.html.

25. Ibid.

26. Catholic Manhood Substack, “Manhood: The Basics, Part 1,” February 7, 2025, https://catholicmanhood.substack.com/p/manhood-the-basics-part-1; The Manly Catholic, “Embracing Manly Virtues: What It Means to Be a Manly Catholic,” July 24, 2023, https://www.themanlycatholic.com/blog/embracing-manly-virtues-what-it-means-to-be-a-manly-catholic/.

27. Catholic Manhood Substack, “Manhood: The Basics, Part 1.”

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Athanasius of Alexandria, quoted in Sam Guzman, “5 Spiritual Books Every Man Should Read,” The Catholic Gentleman, July 4, 2013, https://catholicgentleman.com/2013/07/5-spiritual-books-every-man-should-read/.

32. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

33. Ibid.

34. Ignatius Press Editors, “Masculinity”; Catholicus.eu, “What Does It Mean to Be a True Man According to the Catholic Faith?”

35. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

36. Ibid.

37. Fr. Luzarraga, quoted in Zac Davis, “Toxic Masculinity Clashes with Actual Catholic Teaching,” U.S. Catholic, May 26, 2025, https://uscatholic.org/articles/202505/toxic-masculinity-clashes-with-actual-catholic-teaching/.

38. Divine Mercy Editorial Staff, “A Model of Manhood.”

39. Guzman, “St. Joseph: The Model of Manhood.”

40. Nelson, “Men and Boys Are Lost.”

41. Keating, “What’s So Great About Men.”

42. Diocese of Norwich, “St. Pier Giorgio Frassati.”