Cradle Catholic here, wanting to pay tribute to my fervent Cradle Catholic Family!
- bows a respectful greeting *
My cradle-Catholic parents and grandparents have always shown loyalty to the Pope and the teachings of the Catholic Church. My mother and grandparents in particular have spoken up or published articles to defend the Catholic Faith, knowing full well that they risked persecution. As my grandma would say, “It’s more important to be popular with God than with men.” My mother would receive harrassing telephone calls after she wrote letters to the editor in support of such topics as the pro-life movement or the Pope, including Pope Paul VI’s stand on birth control as written in the encyclical Humanae Vitae. (I learned the phrase “Humanae Vitae” as a young teen.)
Both mom and grandma taught catechetics (CCD class), and always taught the Truth in all its fullness and beauty to the best of their ability … despite the opposition. I also taught CCD for a year, and made sure to bring in the Catechism of the Catholic Church to teach from when I was informed that the students allegedly would not read from a textbook and thus no textbook reading assignments had been provided for them. Felt like being in the catacombs, but it was my honor-bound duty to see to it that the kids in my Confirmation Class actually learned something meaningful rather than sitting around drawing posters of doves or tongues of fire. Believe me, the students all sat up straight with rapt attention when I placed the Catechism squarely on the table and announced, “Today we will discuss MORTAL SIN. I will define it by reading from the Catechism, give you a list of common mortal sins, and then I will answer any question you wish to throw at me, using the Catechism as a reference.”
And you know? When illness or other trouble struck our family, there was a hugely comforting feeling of, “It’s going to be all right, because grandma is praying about it.” And then the other hugely comforting feeling of just being able to count on dad and grampa being there for the family, quietly and humbly working like St. Joseph, and just as important, always ready to share good times. And being able to go to mom with spiritual questions, as though she were a professional spiritual director or advisor.
I also claim as my own Father Charles, a retired missionary priest who is a distant relative. So full of joy, and like a little child when Pope Benedict’s World Youth Day Mass was televised. When the Pope would pray in Latin, Father Charles would happily pray along with him, giving the proper responses, and making the sign of the cross with a touching enthusiasm. I think Father Charles will be a saint, because at our last meeting, he begged me very earnestly to please not send him money, because the retirement home was seeing to all of his needs … he is one of the Lord’s beautiful, trusting, humble little ones. He puts his whole heart into saying the Divine Office, gets up before dawn to read the Bible and prepare sermons, takes walks at various times of day to pray in beautiful solitude (though once I had the honor of being invited to walk and pray the Rosary with him) … and puts his whole heart into the Act of Consecration at Mass and then receiving Our Eucharistic Lord in Communion.
I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude as a cradle Catholic for having been brought up in a family of cradle Catholics obedient to, and loving towards, the Pope !!!
~~ the phoenix
(TYVM = Thank You Very Much!)
