Catholic Grandparents Faith Community of Saint John XX111 Parish “ “ finding practical ways and means to pass the faith to grandchildren.” Logo used with
permission.
We are the Catholic
Grandparents Faith Community of Saint John XX111 Parish in Dartmouth [ 2008
.] A parish initiative engaged in developing practical ways and means of passing on the faith to our grandchildren
, sometimes known as the “ unchurched “ or “ the seekers.“
How did this Initiative
begin ?
In 2009 while visiting the National Shrine of Mary at Knock
in Ireland I was introduced to an organization titled the Catholic Grandparents Association [ CGA ] whose primary purpose in
life was to assist grandparents to pass on the faith . The organization was
founded and is still led by Catherine
Wiley as a way to offset the decline in
attendance of adult grandchildren in our church’s and the growing disconnect in
matters of faith that exists between many grandparents and grandchildren.
The CGA was well
received in Europe, Rome and Australia and I thought it should be in Canada as
well, so I joined the CGA as an associate member and began discussions [ ongoing ] to include Saint John XX111 Parish as the Canadian associate. And naturally enough we decided to
focus our activities within the bounds of our parish here in Dartmouth in a one
year trial period . We commenced our activities in January 2015 and titled our
initiative The Grandparents Faith Community of Saint John XX111 Parish.
The Goal.
The ultimate goal of this Initiative is simply expressed, but
not easily attained is to build an ongoing personal relationship between grandparents,
grandchildren [the unchurched] and Christ leading to a sharing of faith that is
common to all. We must be vigilant in
assuring that the relationship between us is a mature one that is built and
maintained on an understanding of how God’s
plan is playing out in each of
our lives ,in an atmosphere of mutual
respect , especially when our opinions, beliefs or activities are in conflict.
The Challenge.
We believe that grandparents understand and appreciate that
they have received a great gift of faith in our lives; we know grandparents are
concerned with the disconnect they see with their adult grandchildren in
matters of faith; they appreciate and value the special bond of love and
respect they share with grandchildren and they have a strong desire to pass on
their gift of faith to the grandchildren.
[I suppose this is a way of saying that a gift is not really a gift
until you give it away.] We also know from the experience of others and me as
well that our grandparent’s example of living in faith and their heartfelt
invitations to join them in church created lasting, powerful, positive and warm
memories, which may be an opening for dialogue. It is also our believe that many [ but not all ] grandchildren are searching
for a spiritual base in their lives ,they are open to examples of living in faith and many will accept an invitation from grandparents to begin a respectful
dialogue on these matters.
We are under no allusion that developing a Grandparents
Faith Community will be easy to achieve or maintain .We know that the task is a
daunting one, especially when you consider that the disconnect between many
grandparents and grandchildren in matters of faith is quite pronounced. Note1. Nonetheless
we have begun the task of finding common ground to begin a dialogue, which includes
the basic and powerful human need of all people to belong and to be in some
sort of relationship with a God of our understanding. Grandparents and adult
grandchildren also value an involvement in social concerns and our experience
indicates that a gentle invitation to dialogue from a loving grandparent may be
well received, at least in most cases.
And of course we enter the process of building grandparents faith
community with confidence and knowledge that Christ is the directing force
behind the Initiative and His Will, will or will not be done.
The Foundation.
We are aware that the level of success of the Initiative will
be determined by the extent that we acknowledge a Biblical base, by seeking guidance
from the Holy Spirit and by the mature quality of relationships with adult grandchildren.
The level of success of the initiative will also be determined by the extent that
we are able to discover
ways to engage our adult grandchildren into meaningful two-way conversation. This
implies that we must be open to listen to things we may not want to hear and
that may even contradict the faith experience we are trying to convey.
Searching scripture for a Biblical base for the Initiative led
us to the 2nd. letter of Paul
to Timothy ,Paul’s trusted companion
and future Bishop of Ephesus when he writes “ I remember your sincere faith , a faith
that first resided in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice , and I
am sure dwells also in you. “ This
passage highlights thee important role of grandparents [ and parents] in passing on the faith from
generation to generation, a process that continues to this day with grandparents
and parents still paying a vital role in the process.
Participation by grandparents and grandchildren is essential
to achieve success in building the faith community. We appreciate that this is a
process that will take time, effort and trial and error on our part and we are beginning
by encouraging grandparents to connect with grandchildren by sending the
grandchild a purpose designed celebratory communiqué that is
focused on a shared story, an event or time of faith in times past and
highlights the Christ that is in the event. The focus of each communiqué is on the needs
of grandchildren, emphasizes the sense of gratitude, pride and love felt by grandparents
for their grandchildren as they celebrated the occasion and highlights the
sense of well being, of belonging and sharing common faith experiences in Christ
centered activities.
Grandchildren are invited to accept the communiqué from
their grandparents as a gift of faith, a remembrance of the spirit of Christ
present in special events like Baptisms, first communion, confirmation,
graduation, marriage, birth of a child, anniversaries, funerals, or other faith
filled events AND they are invited to open a dialogue by replying to the communiqué
on our face book, twitter, blog and any other social medium system available to
us. Obviously a central ingredient in the success of this program is the material
in the communiqués which must be carefully prepared with a focus on the needs
of adult grandchildren.
Our Direction.
Archbishop Mancini’s
Pastoral Letter to the people of the Archdiocese in October 2014 titled Quo Vadis, Domine ? Asked the question “Lord, where are you going? “ This is an excellent question to ask of us,
but we are barely beginning our journey in building this faith community and
quite honestly we do not have an answer to this question. We realize that the process
of building the faith community must be deliberate and will evolve through
time, experience, reflection and a degree of risk taking. This is why the trial period in 2015 is so
important for us as we build our organization, encourage support and
participation from the congregation and reach out to the “ unchurched “who
live beyond the boundaries of the
church. Not everything we do this year will bear fruit but we will continue our
efforts to the end of 2015 when we meet to assess our progress…or lack of ….
Our activities to date.
We began in January and our agenda
includes
… Two 8 week
courses on writing a guided autobiography of our lives and faith development to
be passed to family members as a gift of faith from grandparents; in progress. Second
one begins in April.
… commissioned a series of ads on Seaside FM Community Radio
for broadcast in Lent as a way to spread the word that we are a Catholic voice
in the community; in progress.
… writing the communiqués and developing the social media
system; start date is April 15. in progress.
… offering a Fall/Winter
small group discernment course with the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius
Loyola; begins in October.
… planning a review session to assess our progress and chart
a course for the year 2016; November.
… meeting with church organizations to identify an activity
in the community that can be supported as an acknowledged activity of Saint
John XX111
Acknowledgements.
We are thankful to Fr. Paul Morris, the Grandmothers group
at St. Vincent De Paul, Father Earl Smith, SJ, the members of the Grandparents Faith Community in Saint
John XX111 including Aileen, John and Sandy, Joan, Burke, Deacons Larry Worthen and Len Moore , Barb, Karen ,
Tom, the Knights of Columbus , the CWL ,
Sister Claire Marie, CSM and others. Special mention to Fr. Irek Bim , our
Pastor, Bishop Mancini and John Stevens at the Archdiocesan office for their
financial and administrative support.
By-Line.
Ron Beed, An adult convert to Catholicism. Educated at St.
FX, St. Mary’s and Carleton Universities. Graced and gifted by a twelve year
association with Father John Trainor, SJ and his program on the Spiritual Exercises
at the Jesuit Spirituality Centre in Halifax and Guelph, Ontario. [[Married to
Aileen with four children, eight grand children and one lovely little great
grand daughter.]]
Note 1. Kristan-
Johnstone Largen. “ Religious Identity in the 21st.Century.Virtual Communities,
Double- Belonging ,and the Place of the Individual. ” [ Paper presented at
the Dr.Paul Watson Lecture , Saint Mary’s University, Halifax. NS., November, 2014.]
