Recently my father told me that my grandfather had two aunt's - Aggie and Ethel. He said these two aunts were Catholic. I remember growing up and visiting them with my Grandfather and even meeting their priest at times (they lived in a nursing home near where I grew up, but actually originally lived probably 2 hours away in the same state). This struck me as very interesting, so I started doing research and found out that yes, they were Catholic, and that they were born in a Catholic cemetery in the city they were in the nursing home, after having been given a Catholic funeral. I'm obviously extremely interested in them - how did they become Catholic, were they raised that way, did they marry into it, etc. Were their husbands Catholic? How exactly were they related to us? So, I started Googling it and only came up with email addresses that no longer exist albeit some pretty important websites. So, I found out that our last name changed slightly, and that it changed back during the reformation movement because we were from England and we were fleeing Anglican oppression against us. Our family history goes back to at least the 1200s where we were bequethed land by the King, which was taken away from us when we refused to ascent to Anglican beliefs, according to google searches. (WOW!) I am the 12th person in my family named Thomas, making my son the 13th. It bounced to my "Uncles" from time to time, but eventually returned to the main family tree. (Maybe they became priests
)How far back to Catholic parishes keep records? Do you think the diocese would have a record of their baptism or funeral?
I plan to ask my grandmother about this tomorrow in the nicest possible way (especially considering it is my Grandfather's side!)
On top of this, she has become more and more willing to ask about our Catholicism and try to bring it up at any opportunity. I think tomorrow I am going to take a different strategy. When she brings it up, I'm just going to say "Yeah, what about it? I respect my CoC heritage and all that you and my grandfather offered to my spiritual growth, but I am leading this family in a new direction." To give a little background, she grew up CoC and converted my Grandfather after they were married. My Father is non-attending CoC sympathizer (how does he get away with that?!) and I am the only son of an only son who has been divorced. I think I'm just going to be honest and say I'm returning the family to Catholicism, and they need to get over it and love us just like we love them.
I'll be looking for advice, but you will probably reply after we are long gone (going down in the morning!)
