Why I write You my Grandchildren (Letter 42)

Pope Francis on how to prepare for World Youth Day:  "...look toward your roots.  Try to spend time with the elderly...visit your grandparents and ask them "How shall I prepare?"...They'll give you wisdom, but always go forward...     May 2023

 I love writing these letters to you, my Grandchildren. 

This is number 42 and I am still counting. But I am no longer sending them to you. Rather, they will be here on my fleckinstein.blogspot.com for you to read as you want. It is like putting out milk for kitty: it is there when desired. Perhaps you have no interest. Perhaps you will in 5 months or in 25 years. That is the great thing about a blog. I don't want to annoy you with emails and texts. I don't want to go where I may not be welcome.

I am, you might agree, intense in my convictions and intentions. But my greatest passion is to share my Catholic faith, especially with you, my blood. Of my three careers, teaching religion and UPS supervision and Magnificat Home, the first is by far the most important. Aside from my family, my greatest love is to "catechize" which is "to echo the voice of Christ within the Church." I am an amateur philosopher and theologian but above all I am a catechist, listening for the voice of Jesus and striving to echo it in my person, acts, words and writing. For my entire life, since adolescence, I have striven to understand, live and echo our Catholic faith.

I carry a slight sadness that I am so limited in my communication with you. That is why I write these letters. There are many reasons for this distance. First of all, we see each other rarely. When we do it is usually in large groups, unsuited for serious dialogue. So conversation about significant issues does not flow naturally. I get really no feedback from these letters. That is ok. But I would certainly welcome any response: questions, agreements and especially disagreements.

My sublime delight is to see you all receiving our Catholic faith from your parents and a rich network of parish, school, friends and associations. But I also know that the very cultural air you breathe, daily, is rife with views hostile to our Faith. You inhale this hostility in media, peer groups, schooling and even in some Catholic contexts. You hear so many voices...many dissonant with that of Christ. Your world is so different from that of my youth which was more supportive of our faith.

Our Catholic faith is attacked relentlessly, in its core beliefs about the human person, the purpose of life, sexuality and gender, marriage and family, heaven and earth. For example, the next letter I hope to write will be a Catholic consideration of the same sex attraction, a sensitive and significant reality.

I like to think that I am one link, along with your other grandparents and our family, between you and the faith of our mothers and fathers, our legacy from the past, and the Church Triumphant now in heaven.  My hope is that, among the cacophony of voices around you,  you listen also to my voice. That mine be an echo of His. That you come every day to hear His Voice in the many ways it comes to you.

Thanks for reading this letter.

Much love in Christ,

Paca