Initial Newsletter to Archdiocese re Grandparents

  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 2^nd. 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 21^st.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.]