D
DL82
Guest
It’s struck me recently just how awe-inspiring the older generation of Catholics are. I’ve recently joined a local Legion of Mary group, and am one of only a few young legion members in our area, but the older generation have often been members for 50+ years, and still faithfully carry out their work tasks, give of their time to evangelise, and have such a strong sense of duty and respect for the order of the meeting and the direction of their priests.
I don’t know whether it’s just a generational thing, the result of growing up in an atmosphere where Irish Catholics were still discriminated against, or because they grew up with the reverence of the Tridentine Mass, but there’s just this awesome sense of certainty that older people seem to have that almost all the young people I know, myself included, lack.
I suppose my question is, what do you feel the older generation of your family contributes to your understanding of your faith? I am a convert and a single guy, so don’t have the benefits of having grown up in a strong Catholic family, though even my own grandparents and their Christian faith and stoicism are something I feel I’d struggle to emulate. There was never any sense that the older generation’s traditions were worth following though in my family. Not that my parents were rebellious, nor was I, just that I didn’t appreciate the values of what had gone before as much as I ought until it was too late.
Forget being like the great saints and heroes of the Church for a minute, I’d love to be as devoted to my faith and to serving others as any given practicing Catholic in their 70s. I’d love to be able to teach my children to follow those values the way that generation received the tradition of their culture humbly, uncritically and largely unchanged from the generation before them. I’ve been taught to question everything, and from that has come an enjoyable and promising academic career, but these people were taught the one thing that matters - how to have self-control, self-discipline, obedience to Holy Church. I really don’t feel like I can ever put the genie back in the bottle as far as that’s concerned.
There’s probably nothing constructive that anyone can say to help me, but maybe we can share the things that older Catholic family and friends have said or done that made an impact on us.
I don’t know whether it’s just a generational thing, the result of growing up in an atmosphere where Irish Catholics were still discriminated against, or because they grew up with the reverence of the Tridentine Mass, but there’s just this awesome sense of certainty that older people seem to have that almost all the young people I know, myself included, lack.
I suppose my question is, what do you feel the older generation of your family contributes to your understanding of your faith? I am a convert and a single guy, so don’t have the benefits of having grown up in a strong Catholic family, though even my own grandparents and their Christian faith and stoicism are something I feel I’d struggle to emulate. There was never any sense that the older generation’s traditions were worth following though in my family. Not that my parents were rebellious, nor was I, just that I didn’t appreciate the values of what had gone before as much as I ought until it was too late.
Forget being like the great saints and heroes of the Church for a minute, I’d love to be as devoted to my faith and to serving others as any given practicing Catholic in their 70s. I’d love to be able to teach my children to follow those values the way that generation received the tradition of their culture humbly, uncritically and largely unchanged from the generation before them. I’ve been taught to question everything, and from that has come an enjoyable and promising academic career, but these people were taught the one thing that matters - how to have self-control, self-discipline, obedience to Holy Church. I really don’t feel like I can ever put the genie back in the bottle as far as that’s concerned.
There’s probably nothing constructive that anyone can say to help me, but maybe we can share the things that older Catholic family and friends have said or done that made an impact on us.
- not that Kate was a cross herself, but that I needed to learn to put up with her for God’s sake, if not her own 
.