This week's topic, Worship, covers so many different avenues that I was not sure where to start. Over the years, I have tried to collect images of the varied churches that are connected to our ancestors. I've done fairly well as far as my and my husband's immediate family are concerned. Interestingly, this pointed out that between the two of us, we cover a wide variety of denominations - Methodist, Roman Catholic, Quaker, Lutheran, Baptist and non-denominational to name a few off the top of my head. Some family lines have been pretty steadfast in which denomination they follow. Others see changes between generations. Some relatives are ministers and some have contributed to the founding of their congregation. Many are lay leaders or elders of their congregations or have been members of the church choirs or other groups within their congregation. But no matter what denomination you follow or your activities within that church, all share the same basic idea of worship. In the "olden" days, a church was often the first thing a community tried to establish. The church served not only as a place of worship, but a place to gather each week as a community and a place to catch up with your neighbors or to support your neighbors if needed.
I could not settle on just what to write about, even after writing and rewriting several stories. So I finally came up with the idea of creating a pedigree chart of our ancestor's Worship preferences. Here is what that looks like. Quite the mix on the husband's side. Not so much on the wife's side.
(please excuse the handwriting, not my strong point)
Since the monthly theme for March is Females, I include these stories about my grandmother.
I've always admired my grandmother. She is one of my role models even though I have not followed everything about her, she comes to mind in many situations. A little background - Elizabeth was born in 1906 and was married just one year before the Great Depression began, 1928. Before her marriage, she attended a Business College and came home to a good job with the local office of the State Transportation Department. Apparently, her job was dependent upon one's political party. She was approached, I think after an election and a party change, and it was suggested that she should change her party affiliation or lose her job. She refused. She lost her job but stood her ground. This was less than a decade after women won the right to vote at all!
She raised 8 well educated children, was a great cook and housekeeper, she could sew and knit, became a caregiver to both of her parents and her husband, but notably was very devout in her faith. She strived to attend Mass every. single. day. Not just on Sunday but EVERY day, no matter what. She was a founding member of her parish's Catholic Daughters organization and later was one of her parish's "Mitten Ladies", who knit mittens to be donated to those in need. I am sure that there were many other ways that she contributed to her parish as well.
Elizabeth passed away the night before her 90th birthday, but there is a story about her, in her elderly years, that points to just how devout she was. This story was told at her funeral by her pastor who was also the priest in the story. One winter morning Elizabeth woke up to a really bad snowstorm. But she followed her usual routine and out the door she went to attend Mass. The roads were not conducive to driving, but that would not stop Elizabeth - so she walked. Now her parish was only 3 1/2 flat blocks from her home, but you can be sure that it could not have been an easy trek for her. She arrived at the church only to be surprised to find it locked. She was upset and found her way to the priest's home next door and knocked and knocked till he answered. He was very surprised to see her at his door. I do not know their exact conversation but she wanted to go to Mass and wanted to know why the church was locked. Never wondering that it might be cancelled due to the extreme weather.
A strong woman in all ways but most of all, spiritually. I wonder what she would have thought of Zoom Worship?
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