Catholics: You Have an Important Story to Tell
If you have a Catholic heritage, you have an important and unique story to tell.
It starts with your earliest memories of anything about being Catholic. It can start at birth, or when you converted to being Catholic. It can begin with your mother’s pregnancy.
When we tell our stories, we often have new thoughts about who we are, the people we come from, and our complex histories. We often become more curious, move outside of our comfort levels, and become more able to listen to people who are “different” from us. We get to know people who are different in race, nationality, economic situation, beliefs, and more. And we find that they are as dear and human as we are.
The following questions may help you tell your story. Choose any that resonate with you.
YOUR FAMILY
Were you part of a small or large family? Were you welcomed? Who were your mother and father? Who were their parents? What were their jobs? What was your neighborhood like? Did your home feel like it had a “culture”? Did it have a racial, ethnic, or other identity that was tied to being Catholic?
Has your family held on to or given up ties to being Catholic? Were there different religious identities in your home? Did this cause hard feelings?
Did one family member dominate? Did Catholic matriarchs play a role? Was your Catholic home a haven from outside oppression? Do your family members gather at your home for important occasions?
Was there a time before your family was Catholic? Do you know their story of becoming Catholic? Have you heard anything about belonging to a tribe? If you have lost the story of your ancestors, how do you feel about that?
YOUR GOD, NATION, AND LANGUAGES
Was your God benign and reassuring or confusing and harsh? Did your God offer hope, love, and consolation? Did you turn to anyone for consolation? Was your family angry with a harsh and punitive God? Did they discard that God?
What does your nation mean to you as a Catholic? Are church and state merged where you are? How does that situation affect you? What are other effects of church-state mergers in your country?
What languages do people speak in your home? What languages do family members speak outside your home? Is language important to them?
YOUR EDUCATION
What was education like for your generation? Whose history did you learn? Did the history include your story? Did you learn about Catholics being legally restricted, or attacked by Protestants or hate groups?
Did you go to Catholic schools? If so, were you bused? What was the racial make-up of your schools? Did you go to the “best” schools? Did you get the “best” education? Were you trained to follow the rules, or were you encouraged to think for yourself?
Were you part of the generation (after the 1960s) that initiated fresh thinking for Catholics? Did you learn Catholic “social justice” doctrine or liberation theology? What did you learn about women’s oppression? What did you learn about the sexual abuse of young people? About racism? About the targeting of Native people?
CURRENT ISSUES
The individualistic, greed-driven economy threatens all of us. It threatens all life on the planet. We need programs that unite people. Here are a few suggestions:
- Join with RCers and wide-world activists to end the climate emergency. Read and follow Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’.
- End white racism.
- Follow Native people; they have much to teach about our connection to Mother Earth.
- Catholic women, take leadership in your relationship with your male partner (if you have one) and in Catholic institutions.
Stamford, Connecticut, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of Catholics
(Present Time 206, January 2022)