My father-in-law was a lifelong, devout Catholic and active member of St. Mary’s of the Assumption Parish in Park City, Utah. For as long as I knew him, he spent hours each week volunteering his mechanical and practical knowledge to support the parish and St. Mary’s thrift store. It seemed he was always picking up a load for the store or caring for candles or making sure the electrical and plumbing in the old town church were in working order. He was thrilled when a beautiful new church building opened in Park City.
Over the years, my husband and I came to know some of his fellow parishioners as we attended annual Catholic-sponsored pancake breakfasts. On special occasions, we took our family to Mass.
My late father-in-law attended our children’s baby blessings and baptisms. When my husband received an uncertain medical diagnosis, my father-in-law’s friends lit candles for us in Catholic churches at home and abroad. And, as a most engaged grandfather, he contributed to our children’s missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Once, while sitting on his porch on a quiet fall evening, I asked my father-in-law if he was disappointed that we were not Catholic.
His response was brief — and honest.
Yes, he would have loved for his son, his grandchildren and me, to embrace his Catholic faith. But, no, he was not disappointed.
He said religion — our faith and his — strengthens society; it makes better men and women and stronger families. He was proud of who his son had become.
It was one of the only times I spoke to my father-in-law about his religion.
I regret now that we didn’t talk about it more often. I wish I had asked how his faith defined his life, influenced his actions, offered hope amid discouragement, made him a better man.
I thought of my father-in-law this month as I attended the “Symposium on the Role of News, Media and Art in Society,” held inside Vatican City.
Hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Social Sciences — the first exclusively scientific academy in the world — in partnership with corporate organizations including Deseret Management Corp., the symposium united leaders from business and nonprofit sectors to try to address common challenges of the digital media era. Among other things, participants talked about faith — particularly about the way faith and religion are represented by commercial media and in modern culture.
The Pontifical Academy has been hosting these types of conversations since the 1600s; Galileo Galilei was appointed a member on Aug. 25, 1610.
Cardinal Peter Turkson serves as the chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Social Sciences, a responsibility that gives him oversight of the for-profit businesses owned by the Vatican. He said he believes conversations, like those hosted by the Pontifical Academy, can expand a person’s unique and individual point of view — allowing him or her to glimpse a deeper and more vibrant picture of the whole of any issue. “The fullness of the picture is always something that we should aspire after,” he said during the symposium.
Keith B. McMullin, CEO of Deseret Management Corp. and a former member of the Presiding Bishopric of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said during the symposium that media — and other businesses — could benefit from important conversations.
Noting a recent global DMC study, he said faith is both underrepresented and misrepresented in mainstream media. “We are so pleased that we are here today to discuss … how that dearth of proper treatment of faith in God, and faith in one’s beginnings and faith in one’s purpose in life, can be properly treated in the public square and in the public media.”
For example, Bishop McMullin said 180 million people — about 61% of the population in the United States — pray every day. “You will never read about that in the public media,” he said.
According to Cardinal Turkson, having more and better conversations could change that.
When I returned from the Vatican, I longed to tell my father-in-law all I had seen — about the Vatican gardens, the 16th-century frescoes and mosaics, and the way the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica shines at sunset. More important, I wished I could have spoken to him about his faith — so I could, as Cardinal Turkson explained, glimpse a deeper and more vibrant picture of who he was.
My father-in-law’s family emigrated to the United States from Ireland. Amid long, hard winters, they worked in the Park City mines, ran a boarding house and found great strength from their Catholic parish and beliefs. I hope they would be happy that I took the Weaver name to the Vatican to discuss the importance of making faith part of more conversations — not just in our houses of worship, but in society and the public square and, yes, in the media.
Anna Klein, senior vice president of Estee Lauder, said during the symposium that we need more faith-related conversations so we will all care more about important faith-related issues. “People will only listen if they see themselves in the conversation,” she said.
I wish my family could have had more of those conversations with my father-in-law.
Last year, members of his parish helped us celebrate his life — explaining step by step how we should participate in the rosary and funeral Mass. Their musicians welcomed my daughter, who participated as a violist.
At the end of the celebrations, his friends and our friends worked together to put on a funeral meal. As we cooked and cleaned together, we talked.
From those conversations we all took away a deeper, more vibrant picture of faith.
— Sarah Jane Weaver is editor of the Church News.
