D
dzheremi
Guest
Hello all,
Economic circumstances have forced me to move back into my father’s house as of about 5 months ago. It’s not an ideal situation, but we do get along pretty well and it is only temporary. I feel really blessed to even have a father who would take me, his adult 27-year old son, into his house again even though there’s nothing beyond his own desire to help me out that makes him required to agree to do so. I tell him often how much I appreciate him and what a good father he is (this hasn’t always been the case for all of my or my brother’s lives, so I think it’s good to remind him of what a good job he has done since reaching a point when he could take his parenthood seriously about 15 years ago).
Anyway, as good as all that is, it doesn’t always translate into him making the most moral decisions or holding the most moral views on things. He was baptized Catholic as a child but quickly fell away from the faith once he entered his teeange years. As far as I know he has never turned back to the Church, and has no plans to do so. He is in his 60s now, and I do not make it a point to preach to him how he should be living, even though he does do some things that are most definitely not okay or in conformity with Catholic teachings. Generally I just shake my head and keep praying for him, rather than have an argument that won’t change anything every time he decides to do something I don’t agree with. I don’t know if it does any good, but I try.
The problem is that a few minutes ago he told me, very non-chalantly, that someone may be coming to the house to serve him papers to appear in court. If such a person were to come by, I should tell them that he is out of town until Christmas (he travels as part of his job, so this would be believable to anyone who knows him). But, of course, he is not out of town until Christmas. He is here now, asking me to lie for him. I obviously don’t want him to get sued (the “case” in question does not exactly involve anything morally questionable to begin with; people with whom my family shares a piece of property but does not get along with are trying to force him to sell the property when he doesn’t want to). What should I do? I don’t like lying, even if it is for my father and in his interest.
Economic circumstances have forced me to move back into my father’s house as of about 5 months ago. It’s not an ideal situation, but we do get along pretty well and it is only temporary. I feel really blessed to even have a father who would take me, his adult 27-year old son, into his house again even though there’s nothing beyond his own desire to help me out that makes him required to agree to do so. I tell him often how much I appreciate him and what a good father he is (this hasn’t always been the case for all of my or my brother’s lives, so I think it’s good to remind him of what a good job he has done since reaching a point when he could take his parenthood seriously about 15 years ago).
Anyway, as good as all that is, it doesn’t always translate into him making the most moral decisions or holding the most moral views on things. He was baptized Catholic as a child but quickly fell away from the faith once he entered his teeange years. As far as I know he has never turned back to the Church, and has no plans to do so. He is in his 60s now, and I do not make it a point to preach to him how he should be living, even though he does do some things that are most definitely not okay or in conformity with Catholic teachings. Generally I just shake my head and keep praying for him, rather than have an argument that won’t change anything every time he decides to do something I don’t agree with. I don’t know if it does any good, but I try.
The problem is that a few minutes ago he told me, very non-chalantly, that someone may be coming to the house to serve him papers to appear in court. If such a person were to come by, I should tell them that he is out of town until Christmas (he travels as part of his job, so this would be believable to anyone who knows him). But, of course, he is not out of town until Christmas. He is here now, asking me to lie for him. I obviously don’t want him to get sued (the “case” in question does not exactly involve anything morally questionable to begin with; people with whom my family shares a piece of property but does not get along with are trying to force him to sell the property when he doesn’t want to). What should I do? I don’t like lying, even if it is for my father and in his interest.
