For many cradle Catholics, their initial introduction to the faith can often be traced back to their parents, most commonly through their own experiences. However, when looking deeper, it is often the influence of their parents, our grandparents, and even extended family elders who have truly shaped our understanding of Catholicism and its many core truths. 

Today marks the fifth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, a commemoration instituted by the late Pope Francis in 2021, celebrated on or near the liturgical Memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, grandparents of Jesus. Today affords us the opportunity, alongside families and faith communities, to find ways of cherishing and caring for our elders, uplifting them as signs of hope for years to follow.

While the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has prepared various resources to help the faithful participate in this year's celebration through prayer and dialogue, a simple yet meaningful way to engage can be done by reflecting on the importance of our own grandparents' vital role in shaping our faith. 

Advertisement

Like many of cradle Catholics, my story is no different. My immediate family has always carried a strong understanding of the importance of both practising and maintaining the Catholic faith, rooted in traditional and cultural Italian understanding, as far back as I can remember. Now, in my early 20s, slightly wiser, I realize how much of that reality comes straight from my grandparents and their guidance toward my parents and myself by continuation. 

Take my maternal Nonna, for example. Taking what we know about Italian grandmothers, it is plausible to say that her ear-to-ear smile is not solely the cause of her mere photo being taken, but rather a byproduct of the true, unrestrained joy in seeing her grandson enter more fully into his faith. 

Somewhere deep within family archives lay similar photos of her alongside me and her other three grandchildren. Baptisms, First Communions, Reconciliations and Confirmations, all producing a deep sense of blessedness in her old age that Pope Leo XIV recently referred to as “an authentic evangelical joy, inspiring us to break through the barriers of indifference in which the elderly often find themselves enclosed.” 

Although her satisfaction with her offspring continuing to follow Christ is particularly inspirational to me, on this day of commemoration and beyond, it goes without saying that her own devotion to the Church feels almost insurmountable to exceed if it were ever to be measured that way. 

Advertisement

Initially a parishioner of St. Gregory the Great in her small hometown of Picton, Ont., and most recently Newmarket’s St. John Chrysostom for more than five decades, she has become something of a role model for generations through practising her faith, praying and attending Holy Mass. Reflecting on it herself, my mother attests that the family's generations of Roman Catholics go back as far as she can remember to my great-great-great-grandmother, if not before even that. My Nonna has always stressed the importance of this faith-centric family timeline, something her children have followed themselves before being carried on by her grandchildren.

Thinking about the relationship she and I share, as I’m sure many of us will with our own grandparents today, revealed a slow-burn understanding of the inherent value grandparents can have on us and our faith. It is a blessing that goes far beyond the stereotypical pearl-clenching, overly religious grandparents we see in the media, but is seen more accurately in Holy Mass spent together and unheard prayers for your well-being as you grow up.  

On my father’s side, my Nonno is the first to come to mind when analyzing this year’s World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly theme, taken from Sirach 14:2 — “Blessed are those who have not lost hope.” He too exemplified Catholic discernment, albeit in a slightly different way. 

My Nonno would be the first to tell you that you wouldn’t likely find him in church pews every Sunday, nor would you find him heading up any parish bake sales or bingo nights, despite raising my father’s family to be Catholic. His imprint on what it means to be Catholic was left with me through his daily actions, rooted in principle — generosity, kindness, love of family, dedication and even some traditional stubbornness, all of which harken back to core Catholic understandings. 

While it may sound counter-intuitive to the conventional image of what we believe to be a Catholic grandparent, his unwavering fortitude in being of assistance to all he met is, to me, yet another marker of my own faith being strengthened through an elder family member. 

Advertisement

Just a few years ago, I found myself spending time with him during a family visit to his home while he was undergoing treatment for brain cancer. It was then he told me in passing not to worry, and that he was on good terms with “the man upstairs”. It would end up being our final visit together — as with this year’s theme, blessed is he to have never lost hope. 

Today is an opportunity to celebrate and honour our grandparents and the elderly for all they have done, are doing and will continue to do in our lives both physically and spiritually.