Grandpa and Grandma Rosenberger

My dad's mom and dad were also faithful churchgoers. I believe they were also faithful Catholics. I don't ever remember my dad or any of his family talking bad about grandma and grandpa. They were both hard workers; I remember Grandpa Rosenberger as living in Edmonton for a period of time and then as a farm hand on my Uncle Frank's farm. Grandma kept a beautiful house and garden where ever she went.



Every Sunday that we lived in Fort Vermilion, I remember going to church and seeing them sit about the third or fourth pew from the front on the right hand side. When the choir would begin, both grandparents would sing. I could hear them both and see them with their chins raised and eyes closed, enjoying the music and the words of the church songs. I think this is where I began feeling at home in church. My whole family was there, from grandma and grandpa, to aunts and uncles, cousins, my own mom and dad and brothers and sisters.



Church was a time for worship and thanking God for our blessings. I never ran out of blessings to be thankful for and enjoyed the experience of church. This was the one day I could sit beside my mom or my dad and they had to sit there still too! I would lean on my mom's arm. Sometimes my dad would poke his elbow against me; I'd look up and he'd be grinning at me. Church and family went together hand in hand.



This last week, my husband and I spent our Easter vacation in Jamaica and we went to church at at liitle church called Immaculate Mary in Discovery Bay. It was wonderful to walk in and see the St. Joseph's Sunday missal at the door, the same mass book we use at home. The priest spoke better English than our priests from India back home. And the music had a reggae lilt to it. Loved it. Even John enjoyed the mass. It doesn't matter where you go in the world, the Catholic mass is the same, sometimes it's in a different language, but the prayers are the same, the format is the same and because of the Holy Eucharist, we feel at home no matter where we are. It was wonderful to celebrate Easter Sunday in that little church.