c. 1998 Religion News Service

(Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.)

UNDATED _ A few days ago, I watched proudly as a young friend of mine escorted a lovely young lady to her first school dance. Tall and handsome, with a poise far beyond his 17 years, here was a son to delight the heart of any parent.

Such, however, was not always the case.

A year ago, he fidgeted nervously as a juvenile court judge pronounced sentence for his role in a series of petty crimes committed with friends, including the theft of a neighbor’s car. Because he had no previous record and in light of the extraordinary number of people who attested to his otherwise good character, he was given probation contingent upon restitution for his neighbor’s loss and made to do community service.

To his credit, he met those conditions and remained trouble-free. An honor student and gifted athlete, he is being recruited by colleges. His future looks bright.

Yet for many young men, there are no such happy endings.

For them, juvenile court is merely the first stop on a road often leading to progressively longer prison sentences, and sometimes death.

Many of these teens lack the presence of a father, or consistent father-figure, in their lives. Whether through death, as in the case of my friend’s father, divorce or some other reason, the absence of a father can wreak havoc on the life of a teen-age boy.

This is hardly news. The correlation between fatherless youth and crime is as old as the Bowery Boys.

Nor are girls unaffected by the absence of a parent, as the rising rates of crime and pregnancy among teen-age girls suggest.

Yet the effects of an absent father-figure is felt most keenly by boys because, generally, only a man can teach a boy how to become a man.

This simple truth forms the basis of Solomon’s advice to young men in the biblical book of Proverbs. In Proverbs 1:10-19, for example, Solomon spoke with paternal wisdom while warning against cavorting with those who prey on the weak.

Even the casual reader of Scripture will recognize this as an admonition against involvement with gangs and”wolfpacks.”Such groups, warned Solomon, feed upon others to their own peril:”They lay wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives”(Proverbs 1:18).

Interestingly, Solomon offered this advice some 3,000 years ago in a tightly controlled culture, with a uniform set of legal and moral codes, and where the presence of God-fearing fathers in nearly every home was assumed. Solomon thus spoke for virtually every father in Israel.

Today, however, we live in a society where legal and moral codes often vary, and, increasingly, where fathers are not at home. Thus, the restraints on youthful indiscretions existing in Solomon’s day are largely non-existent in ours.

Is it any wonder so many of our young people go astray?

Lacking the paternal support needed to encourage and guide them, they often rush headlong into oblivion, as Solomon predicted.

Moreover, though ambitious and well intended, the plethora of youth programs designed to fill the parental void are often inadequate to meet the need. In many cases, those they seek to help _ particularly in the poorest communities _ will simply fall by the wayside.

My young friend was very fortunate. He had the benefit of a caring mother, a middle-class upbringing and resources, and an extensive support network that included several men who were committed to loving and mentoring him.

All of this and more was needed to replace one father. Can any man doubt his value to his son?

DEA RNS ATCHISON