Faith of Our Fathers

One of the delightful discoveries I've made during my time in the Catholic Church is how many of the same hymns are sung by both Protestants and Catholics. It always gives me a thrill to be standing in church singing a song of prayer and praise that I learned as a child, reminding me that my journey of faith has always been about my relationship with Jesus, my savior and redeemer, regardless of which denomination I was in.

One that has often touched me is the great Anglican (or Episcopal if you prefer) hymn, "The Church's One Foundation" which speaks of the divisions in the church not overcoming Jesus, the single foundation for all of Christianity. I sang it in Protestant churches as a child, and I sing it as an adult in Catholic churches. And I especially take to heart the last verse, which focuses the entire hymn on the communion of the saints in a manner fully consistent with my blog/chapter on the topic:

Yet she on earth hath union
With the God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with thee.

Another hymn that I sang as a youth and still sing as an adult is "Faith of our Fathers" which was written by English Catholics about the joy of keeping the faith despite all hardships.

For me, it has a particularly special meaning because my faith is one that was handed down to me with great care by my missionary parents and, when they saw where my journey was taking me, instead of forbidding it or disowning me, they took it seriously. So seriously, in fact, that a few years after I joined the Catholic Church, I had the blessed pleasure of welcoming my own parents into the church where the faith of our fathers originated.

Today, my children also joyfully profess and practice this faith of our fathers, grateful for both our Protestant and Catholic Christian heritage. In fact, they attend a Protestant Christian university that has a Catholic college, where they go for many of their courses.

After 25 years as a Catholic, and being a cradle Christian, I can only be thankful for a journey that has led to this, and I look forward to what the infinite future holds.

(Copyright (c) 2011, Reg Harbeck, all rights reserved)