Discovering Good Ancestors, Hoping to Become One

In pondering the 2022 REA theme of “Becoming Good Ancestors,” this passage came to mind. It spoke to me of the ways my career, on one hand, has afforded me strong relationships with the “mothers and brothers and sisters” of my own religious-education “family of origin.” And on the other, I have continually received invitations to follow Jesus’ pointing finger and recognize the “other” families from whom I can learn and with whom I can belong. For this essay I have been reframing Jesus’ question to, “Who are my ancestors and present collaborators?” I will respond to it by touching on three important contexts that have shaped my professional trajectory and in which I, in turn, have sought to participate as collaborator and aspiring “good ancestor”—hoping, in turn, to nurture “good descendants.”