I recently came across a treasure trove of family pictures, formal portraits of my maternal grandparents — Ignatz and Frances Franecki.
Ignatz was born in Poland and came to America in the early 20th century and Frances was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
They both had been married before; my grandfather’s first wife died in the flu epidemic at the end of World War I and my grandmother’s first husband died in an accident early on in their marriage, so that both of my grandparents were widowed with young children in their 20s.
My mother had half-brothers and half-sisters on both sides, and so her parents raised three sets of children as one family in the depths of the Depression.
Four of my uncles and aunts served in World War II simultaneously and, by the grace of God, all returned home.
Pondering their fascinating pictures from a century ago, as they stood attired in their best in a Milwaukee portrait studio long gone, I found myself grateful for family.
My forbears were men and women of deep Catholic faith, strong work ethic, generous love of family, and stalwart in their embrace of suffering.
Like every American family of that time, their experience included immigration challenges, sudden deaths, difficult pregnancies, lost children, economic struggles in the 1930s, and urgent prayers offered for loved ones away fighting the war in the 1940s.
Appreciating gifts from ancestors
As you know the history of your own ancestors, we come to appreciate the gifts of faith, family, courage, sacrifice, suffering, and love which our parents and grandparents have passed on to us.
Life was never about them; God, Church, parish, family, work, and helping others out consumed their time and energy as they gave their all just to make a living and pass on opportunities and blessings to their children, experiences which they themselves perhaps never enjoyed.
As I get older, I have come to appreciate on a much deeper level how my religious faith, moral formation, Catholic education, and fundamental values are the legacy of those who have gone before me.
My parents never tried to dictate or control what vocation or career path my brothers and I chose; they simply wanted us to be good people, using our gifts to serve others and do the will of God.
My parents built a culture of faith in my home growing up; practicing Catholicism was as natural as breathing.
No one questioned going to Mass on Sundays; we prayed the Rosary every night after supper (there was some resistance to that from some of us, especially on beautiful summer nights!); sometimes, we went to Mass during the week and to Mother of Perpetual Help devotions on Tuesday nights; we attended Catholic grade school; if the Sisters disciplined us, our parents backed them up; holy pictures and holy water fonts hung throughout our house.
My mother and father gently but firmly molded and shaped my brothers and me in a Catholic worldview that has remained with us since and serves as the grounding anchor of our lives.
The Catholic faith just makes sense, consoling us in moments of sorrow and challenging us to be the best we can be in the light of God’s grace.
Passing on the faith
As I deepen my gratitude for the rich legacy of faith which I received from my parents, the same treasure they received from their parents, and in this year of 2021, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Madison Diocese, I ponder how we can most efficaciously pass on the faith to those who are coming after us.
Our country is very different from what it was when I was growing up fifty years ago.
Technology, morality, sexuality, marriage, family, and even the fundamental understanding of the human person have all radically changed.
Confidence and trust in institutions have profoundly eroded, painfully accelerated in the Church by the scourge of the clergy sex abuse crisis.
The traditional Catholic worldview is challenged and even attacked in unprecedented ways.
Amidst all of this ferment, crisis, conflict, and moral erosion, Catholic disciples still embrace the perpetual truths of faith which have been handed down for 2000 years, even as we seek to discover contemporary methods to build a Catholic culture in our marriages, families, parishes, and schools which will effectively form our young people to know, love, and serve Jesus Christ.
This endeavor is the mission of the Church: To proclaim the Gospel to every creature and form others as disciples of the Lord.
This mission is the spirited impetus for our Go Make Disciples evangelizing initiative, which will begin to expand to parishioners throughout the diocese this year.
All of our efforts to witness to the faith and cultivate it in the hearts and minds of others will only be fruitful to the extent that we discover specific ways to help people understand and celebrate the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, keep Sunday holy, read and comprehend the Bible, learn effective methods of prayer, build a life of virtue and compassion, generously serve the common good, especially the needs of the poor and vulnerable, and be able to express with confidence and competence the basic proclamation of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, as Lord and Savior.