Your Family’s Legacy Starts with a Simple Conversation

What do you want your family’s legacy to be?

If you struggle to answer that question, consider this one: What do you want to pass on to your children when you yourself pass on?

You might think of gifting your children an inheritance of money to provide financial support. Or perhaps, you picture an heirloom, an artifact that has been in the family for generations. Maybe you’re thinking more sentimentally of family traditions that you’ve honored together at countless Christmases or Easters. You might even be thinking of what could have an impact beyond your immediate family: your faith and values.

We know many families that were Catholic for years are now mixed-faith families. Research shows that half of young Americans who were raised Catholic no longer identify as such. Maybe your family has experienced this statistic personally.

But just because your children or grandchildren don’t share your faith now, doesn’t mean they won’t always. And, it doesn’t mean your values can’t still be passed on.

Having a conversation about your faith and values doesn’t have to be a big deal. It doesn’t have to be tense or contentious. Start at the dinner table by asking your children how they would like your family to be remembered – kind, compassionate, intelligent, ambitious, generous, fun-loving? What traits and values drive their everyday decisions? If they had $1,000,000 to give away, what organizations would they support? Whom do they admire for their generosity, and why?

As you listen to their answers, you’ll likely find similarities and common ground. Even if your daughter’s path has strayed from the Church, your faith – and your shared experiences – has likely left an imprint.

A beautiful way you can express your faith and values as a family is through generosity. Once you’ve identified as a family how you’d like to be remembered, which charities you love, and whom you hope to honor, put your money where your heart is! By giving together, you’ll not only make a difference for your selected nonprofits, you’ll make a lasting impression on your children too. This practice will quickly establish generosity as a family value and a key piece of your family’s legacy.

By Susan Klemond For The Catholic Spirit

od has been generous with the archdiocese’s four newest priests and he now desires that they use those gifts in new ways to serve his people, said Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis before ordaining the men to the priesthood during a May 27 liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

“Today, Jesus is taking you and making you his instruments, his priestly ministers to grow his Church,” he told transitional Deacons Kyle Etzel, Ryan Glaser, William Kratt and John Rumpza in the presence of their families, supporters, clergy and religious during the homily at their ordination Mass.

“Through you, Christ himself will speak,” the archbishop said. “Through you, he will absolve sins and reconcile the faithful to the Father. That’s why all these people are here. We’re so excited about what God is going to do through you.”

About 2,900 people attended the Mass, which Archbishop Hebda concelebrated with Auxiliary Bishops Joseph Williams and Michael Izen, Sioux Falls Bishop Donald DeGrood and Maronite Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun of St. Maron in Minneapolis.

Also concelebrating were more than 140 priests. About 20 deacons participated in the liturgy, which was also attended by women religious from several communities.

Several days after the ordination, Father John Rumpza, 34, said he feels a new strength and a deeper zeal “to protect and fight for my people” and give them God’s gifts. Father Rumpza said he looks forward to getting to know his new flock at his first priestly assignment, St. Odilia in Shoreview.

Processing into the Cathedral at the start of the ordination was powerful, Father Rumpza said, because he knew he was holding nothing back from God.

Even more significant was leaving the altar as a newly ordained priest, he said, “knowing (God) had responded to my offering by giving me the greatest gift of my life since baptism. I am his priest, and not just in this life, but for all eternity, too.”

John and Mary Kavanagh said they’ve already seen how Father Rumpza has loved parishioners at his teaching parish, St. Henry in Monticello. “He’s just going to continue to do beautiful things as a priest,” said Mary, 60, who with her husband belongs to St. Henry. “We’re just very emotional, very blessed to know (Father Rumpza) and we wish we could keep him at St. Henry’s.”

Father Ryan Glaser’s teaching parish, Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, is also where he’ll begin serving in his first priestly assignment this summer. One of his hopes is to help parishioners realize God’s love for them.

As Father Glaser, 26, greeted and blessed family and friends after the ordination, he said, “I’m where God wants me. ... It’s many years in the making, but it’s overwhelming. All of a sudden, it happened and I’m at the beginning of another journey, as one ends.”

Father Glaser said he was especially moved when he was prayed over by all the concelebrating priests during the ordination rite. “The moment where the priest sits in the middle of that prayer, ‘renew deep within them the Spirit of holiness’ and I, though unworthy to have someone pray that over me, to enrich me,” he said. “I need to pray that every day.”

Calling Father Glaser “a really great guy,” Holy Name of Jesus parishioner Joe Floeder, 69, said he believes he will be a good priest. Floeder, who attended the ordination to support the new priest, said he got to know him as he and other Holy Name parishioners took the then-seminarian out for breakfast after daily Mass.

Supporting another of the new priests, Father Kyle Etzel, 31, was a large “cheering section” consisting of extended family and godparents, said his sister Sarah Etzel, 25.

As the eldest of three growing up at St. Hubert in Chanhassen, Father Etzel has been a guiding light in his family, said his brother Nick Etzel, 28, who added that he hopes his brother will “extend that into his new parish family and see where he can grow and thrive with his next adventure.”

When Father Etzel begins that adventure at his first parish assignment this summer, St. Joseph in West St. Paul, he said he’ll be open to whatever the Lord asks of him.