This morning the prelude music in one of the several wards I listen to by Zoom included “Faith of Our Fathers.” That’s one of my favorite hymns – the music is stately, yet still entirely singable by a congregation; and as a descendant of generations of Latter-day Saints I can sing it with gratitude to those fathers – and mothers – who preserved and passed down their faith to me, and resolve to be true to that faith “to death.”
Then I happened to consider that the faith of my long line of Latter-day Saint ancestors really applies only to one of my genealogical lines. The faith of others of my family did not come under the Restoration, although gradually, once in each generation, someone on different ancestral lines did join the Church – my father being the most recent, in 1964 – until I can sing about my determination to remain true to the faith of my fathers … as long as I’m selective about which fathers I mean …
I wondered whether the original intent of the hymn was the Christian faith of our fathers, not necessarily any specific flavor of Christianity … but no, the hymn text (although adapted many times) was written by a Catholic to commemorate Catholic martyrs. Ironically, that poet, Frederick William Faber, converted to Catholicism in his 30s, leaving behind the Huguenot and Calvinist faith of his own fathers.
My thoughts next went to our missionary labors, where we endeavor to win converts to the Restored gospel – converts who have other religious backgrounds. We very much do not want them to remain “true” to the sectarian or non-Christian faiths of their fathers, but to accept the gospel we claim can be found, in its fullness, only within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the lines we have adapted for our own hymnbook says “We will strive to win all nations unto thee” – what we want for ourselves, in other words, is not what we want for others.
And then it occurred to me that the conviction with which I sing that hymn, with gratitude to ancestors who accepted the gospel and to whose faith I do declare I “will be true,” is no longer shared by many who have just as long a Latter-day Saint pedigree as I have. Filial piety is not enough to keep so many within the faith. The notion that we ought to remain true to ancestral faith is unpersuasive to them, perhaps sometimes even a reason to leave their original faith to follow different promptings.
I am in no way suggesting that this is a bad hymn – it is perfect for someone like me and captures my own convictions. It is beautiful, and ennobling, and – within certain limits – doctrinally correct. We need not be ashamed of it, or of ourselves for singing it.
But it does make me aware, again, that ideas and words and attitudes and actions that are foundational to my own faith may strike someone else very differently. Sometimes that is a good and necessary thing: someone who does not believe that God speaks to his children today needs to hear that, whether they then accept it as true or personally meaningful or not. It also never hurts to be sensitive to the people around us, and be aware of how our words will strike them.
As a convert, I used to struggle with pioneer stories and the emphasis on that heritage. As I’ve gotten older and and tenured in the church, I’ve learned to love some of the history (not all of it, but much of it). And when I hear “Faith of out Fathers”, I think of my Catholic Mother and my connection to her Faith. I think of my imagined (solely imagined with no DNA or ancestral evidence) connection to the Jewish people in the scriptures and their Jewish and Muslim descendants. I think of my Muslim and Hindi co-workers, and their faith and their love and respect for their parents. I think of my agnostic sister and her commitment to a just and better world, and my atheistic brother and his commitment to his daughter before he passed. These are all Faith, and my Faith makes sense of that variety of religious convictions by being grateful we are all children of God. And I go to the temple to validate that I believe the faiths of each of those people who have passed on, like my atheist brother, in it’s own way was real and valid and within the scope of God’s capacity to make us all at one with another.
I am sure that is me “pouring new wine into old bottles”, but I find peace in that.
That’s beautiful, Matt, and certainly the way to think of this specific case (and no doubt many others). It’s better than mine. Thank you.
Ms Parshall – thx for this thoughtful (and insightful, historically) analysis of your musings on this hymn.
Very lovely sentiments, Ardis and Matt W. Thank you.
I have childhood memories of hearing this on Bing Crosby’s White Christmas album, for reasons I don’t fully understand. Crosby was Catholic, but it’s not really a Christmas song. Those memories always make it feel Christmassy to me, though.
The adaptation “We will strive to win all nations unto thee” is interesting — it seems to be in a few Protestant hymnals, and I’m never sure how it’s meant.
It’s more pointedly Catholic — or even anti-Protestant — in the original: “Faith of our Fathers! Mary’s prayers Shall win our country back to thee: And through the truth that comes from God England shall then indeed be free.” Pretty pointed from a former Anglican priest turned Catholic, writing about a country with an established Christian church.