World Day of Grandparents: Living to a Happy Old Age and the Fruits of NFP ncregister.com

The summer light always came in the windows early when we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa’s house — the house my grandfather built and where their seven children grew up. I would roll over and go back to sleep, and by the time I went downstairs, they were coming back from daily Mass. Grandma would have grocery bags hanging from her arms, and Grandpa would be carrying the milk jugs. Even from a young age I admired their devotion to the Church. I did not realize until years later what they must have faced bearing and raising Catholic children in the 1950s-1980s, for there was a 20-year gap from their oldest to their youngest.

This week the Church marks the anniversary of the release of Humanae Vitae with National NFP Awareness Week and the new celebration of World Grandparents Day on the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne. For me, these two events fit suitably together because in my grandparents’ marriage and that of my husband’s grandparents, I have seen the fruits of marriages that have matured to the true model of Christian marriage that respects the Church’s teaching on contraception…

 
Read More