Flanagan's Boys

We took the kids this evening to see the STAGE production of Flanagan's Boys. If you live in Lincoln or the surrounding areas you must go. Our kids loved it. It is a musical number based on the life of Fr. Flanagan the founder of Boy's Town. What a saint he was. As I always do, I found so many correlations between his love of helping lost boys and the role mothers play in the lives of their children. He loved each boy and saw the work he did as an assignment from God. Someone asked him if he was afraid of failing to which he replied, "How could I be, this is God's work."

This was Vianney's first play.  We are blessed in our area to be able to attend different plays, shows or ballets throughout the year so I am glad she has joined the group.

You can catch the show Friday and Saturday at 7:00 PM and Sunday at 2:00.  You will be so glad you went!

 If you are looking for Godly direction in parenting, I would suggest reading the lives of Fr. Flanagan and St. John Bosco.  They are my role models.  I value how they saw each person as a child of God.  I love their strong, but gentle ways in their ideas of raising young souls.  Our homeschool is named St. John Bosco Academy.


Father took in hundreds of boys whom nobody wanted and truly attempted to show them the love of God.

Our kids have enjoyed the movie "Boy's Town" for years.  They were so excited to see the play this evening.  I highly recommend seeing the movie if his life is unfamiliar to you.




A few tidbits I want to remember from tonights show:

1.  Fr. Flanagan was the 8th of 11 children.  I am expecting our 8th child.  The unique possibilities in one whole person.  In most families, he would have never been born.  Because of HIS life, God used him to influence and form many young souls.

2.  His quote, "The work will continue, you see, whether I am there or not, because it is God's work, not mine."

3.  He saw value in teaching men skills that they could use to provide for themselves and their future families.  
4.  "Let us not forget children always seek the good will, praise and love of others, and nothing is so certain to kill and destroy their ambition and spirit as fault-finding and scolding.

5.  Youth is a time of dreams, of high aspirations and enthusiasm.  Criticism, neglect, and indifference have a withering effect on the spirit of the growing boy and girl.  They take out of them the zest of life which God puts under their ribs."

6.  My favorite:  "The home is the oldest established unit in human society.  When the home fails, a small but vital part of the community fails.  It becomes a danger point of infection for the whole community, and the whole community, in some measure becomes affected by the failure."

7.  Without God at the beginning, there can only be confusion at the end.

8.  What sadder fate is there for any human being than to be left alone, forsaken, without a friend, to sink down into the cesspool of vice and sin, all for the want of a little charity?"

9.  The poor, innocent, unfortunate little children belong to us, and it is our problem to give them every chance to develop into good men and women.