BOCA RATON | At Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, a Grandparents’ Ministry seeks to encourage grandparents to pass their Catholic faith on to their grandchildren with love and example, especially in an age of texting, social media and isolation. Parishioner Karen Chin founded the ministry that meets first and third Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.
She said the idea to start a ministry for grandparents first came to her “after I started having grandchildren and then after I read a book authored by Mike Shaughnessy, ‘The Strategic Grandparent,’ and I loved it.” Chin explained that the author had been a youth minister and saw a connection between youth and grandparents.
On July 26, 2023, the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne (Jesus’ grandparents), Chin decided to start the ministry. “I told my husband and Father Eddie (Medina, the pastor) that I felt called to do this, and Father Eddie was very supportive from the beginning.”
The ministry first began as “a book club, reading a chapter each week from the book, ‘The Strategic Grandparent,’ and discussing it the following week,” she said. Then after the book was completed, “we would meet and I would show a video about Christian grandparenting, and then discuss it after,” Chin added.
Offering encouragement to other parishes, she said, “It’s very easy to start the ministry and I would be very happy to help, if I could, anyone if they wanted me to help.” The ministry is important “to pass on our faith to our grandchildren so that they will go to heaven and be with us,” Chin said.
In 2021, Pope Francis established the first celebration of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly on the fourth Sunday of July near the liturgical memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne. In the United States, the Catholic Church’s grandparents’ celebration has been transferred to the first weekend after Labor Day.
The pope’s 2021 message was directed to grandparents and the elderly. “What is our vocation today at our age? To preserve our roots, to pass on the faith to the young and to care for the little ones; never forget this,” he said.
At the Boca Raton parish, there is a grotto with a brick garden memorializing names of living and deceased parishioners and their loved ones. Grandparent Mary Norton said, “Instead of giving my grandchildren an Easter basket, I show them this brick with their names on it and told them, ‘When Grandma is not here anymore, you will be here with Mary.’”
Another member, Jo DelGiacco, said, “There is a special bond with grandparents and grandchildren, and when I saw it in the bulletin, I thought it was a great opportunity to pass on my faith to my grandkids.”
Elaine Pino said that when she joined the ministry she found “wonderful camaraderie with other women who want pretty much the same thing, how to affect and impress their grandchildren, and how to get them to love Jesus and Mary.”
Another member, Anne Ferrante, whose grandchildren live far away, said, “I just feel like I lost a connection with them and I am looking for ideas how to have a connection with them.”
Holding a candle, Chin said, “I give a guardian angel candle to all of the grandparents on Thanksgiving, and mine has my grandchildren’s names on it.” She added that the candles are placed at the grotto on holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. “At night, when all the candles are lit, it is beautiful.”
For more information on the Grandparents’ Ministry at Our Lady of Lourdes, email Karen Chin at kramt333@aol.com or call 954-675-9901.
