Highlights from the May 2026 Grandparents Faith Café – with John Michael Talbot
Featuring Keynote Speaker John Michael Talbot — Author, Musician & Founder of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity
Tuesday, 12 May 2026 · Online via Zoom
On Tuesday, 12 May 2026, Grandparents from across the globe gathered online for the May Grandparents Faith Café, hosted by the Catholic Grandparents Association. The evening was one of those rare occasions when music, wisdom, laughter, and prayer wove together so naturally that, as Catherine Wiley said, it felt like the best Faith Café ever.
Our keynote speaker was John Michael Talbot: one of the most beloved Catholic musicians of all time, author of more than 35 books on prayer and the spiritual life, and founder of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage in Arkansas.
The opening prayer was prayed by Terry and Wendy O’Brien from Oxfordshire, England. Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, Archbishop Emeritus of Durban, South Africa, offered the closing blessing.
“Keep going. The elders in our society are so important. And even when you feel as if you are being ignored, you are not. God does not ignore you.”
A Welcome from Catherine Wiley
Catherine opened by reminding the gathering that the Catholic Grandparents Association began with a single act of love: a pilgrimage offered to honour Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of Our Lady and the Grandparents of Jesus. It was a gift offered to Our Blessed Mother on her birthday, the 8th of September, in Walsingham, England. And by God’s grace, that little gift continues to grow.
She reflected on the world that shaped both her generation and John Michael’s: the freedom and creativity of the 1960s and 70s, but also the searching, the uncertainty, and the gradual unravelling of the foundations that had kept faith and family life strong. “Our world today is full of noise, distraction, media, pressure, and confusion. We no longer know how to be silent. And yet silence is where prayer begins. Silence is where healing begins.”
Perhaps one of the greatest missions of Grandparents today, she said, is not simply to teach faith, but to witness to peace, prayer, gentleness, endurance, and hope. “Believe it or not, we are history now. We are the memory keepers. And perhaps the best thing we can hand on to the generations that follow us is faith, hope, love, and the certainty that God never abandons His people.”
The Address — John Michael Talbot
Breathing with Both Lungs
John Michael opened with a striking image from Pope John Paul II: the Church must learn to breathe with both lungs, the Western and the Eastern. Most of us, he said, have spent our whole lives breathing from the Western lung alone. His talk drew on the Philokalia, a treasury of writings from the great Fathers of the Eastern ascetical tradition, and his book The Journey East, a 36-day retreat into Eastern Christian spirituality.
“Roman Catholicism is only one expression of Catholicism. There are over 20 different churches in communion with Rome, and most of them are Eastern. We should bloom where we’re planted: stay Roman Catholic if you’re Roman Catholic, stay Eastern if you’re Eastern. But learn to appreciate both lungs.”
The Elder: Abba and Amma
At the heart of the Eastern tradition, John Michael explained, is the figure of the elder: the spiritual father or mother, known as Abba and Amma. These are not clerical roles but eldership roles. Through their example and their life, elders give birth, as it were, to new little Christians. And that starts, in the most literal way, when Grandparents are present to welcome and accompany the new babies born into their families.
“St. Paul says: I share with you what I have first received. We can’t give what we don’t have, and we can’t have it unless it’s given to us.”
He shared how his own spiritual father, Father Martin Walter OFM, drilled into him the importance of balance: the Church walks on the right foot and the left foot, but stays balanced. Father Martin became, in turn, the spiritual Grandfather of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity. The chain of eldership runs through the generations.
Even St. Antony the Great, called the father of monks, spent 15 years under an elder before going into solitude. He didn’t invent this way of life. He received it first. And St. Pachomius, the founder of communal monasticism, likewise lived under his elder Palamon for years. Both were elders who were first disciples. They handed on only what they had received.
“Grandparents have a wonderful way of eliciting truthfulness and honesty from their grandchildren, because of the loving nature of the Grandparent role.”
Five Virtues of the Elder-Disciple Relationship
From the Philokalia, Saints Callistus and Ignatius describe five virtues that make the relationship between spiritual elder and spiritual son or daughter truly work. John Michael drew each one into the life of Grandparents today.
The first is pure faith: trusting that it is God who is working through the elder. This relationship is not all top-down. It also flows upward, from the child to the elder, in a spirit of openness and trust.
The second is truthfulness. “I think grandchildren will often share with Grandparents more easily than they will with parents. Going to my Grandmother, I felt she was special. There’s a kind of freedom in the Grandparent relationship, because Grandparents don’t have to do a lot of disciplining.”
The third is a renunciation of self-will: a longing to do not just the hard will of God, but what God delights in, what God takes pleasure in. “It’s a beautiful concept, and we want to draw our grandchildren into that beauty.”
The fourth is a spirit of non-argument. An argumentative spirit cannot be contemplative or peaceful. The key to the word obedience, he reminded us, is to listen. “Grandparents have to be listeners to God, listeners to those who are wise, and then we can pass on.”
The fifth is sincere openness: an ongoing honesty about one’s inner life, shared with the elder not for sacramental absolution but for accompaniment. The elder walks alongside, sharing from experience, not controlling.
The Contemplative Heart of the Church
John Michael spoke passionately about his campaign, together with other abbots, to revive what he called the contemplative beating heart of the Church in the Western tradition. All through history, monasticism pumped the blood of Christ out to the active members of the Church. It is only with the rise of active religious orders that this hidden, quiet heart began to fade in the West.
“With the rise of humanism, we began to define people in a utilitarian way: according to what you do. A common question about new communities like ours is: what do you do? Not: who are you? We need to rediscover the contemplative heart.”
And this is not only for monastics. Every serious Christian, he said, has a little monk and a little hermit running around inside of them. Do you have a prayer corner? A sacred spot in your home where you can go and be with God alone? That daily solitude, however brief, is essential.
“Nations change when people change. And people change when hearts change. Grandparents should be the beating heart of the Church.”
Moments from the Floor
The conversation that followed John Michael’s talk was rich and wide-ranging. What follows are some of the highlights; the full discussion is available in the session transcript.
On Conversion — A Personal Story
Catherine asked John Michael what gave him the greatest hope when his own conversion came about, given that he had lived through the same cultural upheaval many Grandparents’ grandchildren are navigating today: addiction, confusion, detachment from faith.
He shared simply and honestly that it began at a concert when a man fell from the rigging above the stage and died. “I thought: what we are doing is not worth people dying for. That was really the beginning.” He started reading everything he could find, came eventually to his grandmother’s Revised Standard Bible, and those red letters jumped out at him. About seven or eight years later, he became a Catholic.
His message to Grandparents whose families are struggling: “This doesn’t work. This does work. You’re a precious child of God. Let’s get back to that child of God that’s down underneath all the coding of secularism, and bring you back out into the light.”
On Encouraging Vocations — Karen H.
Karen asked what Grandparents can do in their parishes to encourage young people to consider vocations. John Michael’s answer: talk about it. Not just priesthood, but religious life, both active and contemplative. Many young people called to religious life are slipping through the cracks simply because nobody suggests it.
He closed with a line from St. Francis of Assisi: “There is no brother in the whole world, no matter how far he has fallen into sin, who will not be called back to forgiveness simply by looking into your eyes.” Are we calling people back simply by how we look at them? “Grandparents often have a sparkle in their eyes that younger people don’t. Is there the sparkle of Jesus in your eyes?”
On the Boundary with Non-Practising Parents — Fr. Charles E., Scotland
A parish priest from Scotland posed one of the most searching questions of the evening. In his corner of the country, fewer than 100 parishioners gather where thousands once did, and the elderly faithful keeping things going are mostly Grandmothers. When parents have stepped back from the faith, how does a Grandparent witness without triggering conflict?
John Michael’s answer was simple and deep: just be. “Be in Christ. Be a Catholic. Be who you are. And if you do that in the love of Jesus, you’re not going to come off as religiously obnoxious. You’re going to come off as loving and kind.” If you stay rooted in prayer, he said, the discernment of when to speak and when to be silent will come intuitively.
Catherine added: “It doesn’t matter if you think they’re a bit light on Catholicism. You’ve given it to them, and it’s in there, and it will flourish. They can never think about you without thinking of love, and God, and all the little things you’ve said and done. That’s who we are. And that’s all we need to be.”
A Triple Celebration — Betty M., Ireland
Betty Murphy shared that the following Monday would bring three celebrations at once: her 60th wedding anniversary, her grandson’s wedding, and her youngest daughter’s birthday. The family had arranged the wedding to fall on the anniversary date. “I feel so incredibly blessed,” she said. The whole gathering rejoiced with her.
Music — The Magnificat and I Surrender
At Catherine’s request, John Michael sang twice during the evening. First, the Magnificat. Before singing, he invited the gathering to bring to mind the areas in their lives where things seem impossible, and to dare to believe that with God, nothing is. “Let’s let Jesus be born into this world through our yes to the work of the Holy Spirit in our life.”
He closed the evening with I Surrender: a quiet, contemplative offering of the will to God. A fitting final note for an evening rooted in stillness, trust, and love.
A Blessing to Close
Cardinal Napier brought the evening to a close with a prayer for the Holy Family, asking that our own families might be places of communion and prayer, authentic schools of the Gospel, and true domestic churches. He prayed that families might never again experience violence, rejection, or division, and that all who have been hurt might find comfort and healing.
It was, as these evenings always are, a reminder that a little community gathered in faith, prayer, and honest conversation, however far apart in miles, is one of the most powerful forces in the world.
“He came from noise to silence. And in doing so, he showed that art, beauty, music, suffering, and searching can all become pathways back to God.”
Resources Mentioned This Evening
John Michael Talbot — Music, Books & Ministry
Explore John Michael’s full catalogue of albums, browse and purchase his books on prayer and the spiritual life, and learn more about his ministry. Books discussed this evening include The Journey East, Late Have I Loved You (his autobiography), The Jesus Prayer, and Mother Viola: A Life in Full Bloom.
Little Portion Hermitage — Community, Domestic Expression & Bakery
Learn about the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, discover the domestic expression for families and individuals who wish to live a monastic spirituality in their own homes, and explore vocations to religious life. The Little Portion Bakery, run by Mother Viola and the sisters, offers artisan goods including Viola’s Granola and the celebrated Hermit Bars — a wonderful gift that supports the community’s life of prayer.
*Note: The full recording can also be viewed on our CGA Member’s page HERE
Join Us Next Month
The next Grandparents Faith Café takes place on Tuesday, 9th of June 2026.
Speaker to be announced. Free and open to all.
Register at www.catholicgrandparentsassociation.org
‘I will never forget you.’ — Isaiah 49:15
