Illustration by Al Cassidy 2014
Derived from medieval Europe, “blue bloods” distinguishes the upper class—whose veins appeared blue through their untanned skin—from the working class of the time. The term eventually came to refer generally to a those who inherited a bloodline.
Len Cariou plays Henry Regan, the family patriarch and former New York police commissioner on the hit TV drama Blue Bloods. His son Frank (played by Tom Selleck) is the current police commissioner. His grandchildren all work in various levels of the department or the district attorney’s office (hence the title of the show).
A scene each week captures the family around the dinner table in some conversation that always gets around to issues faced by the family members in their daily lives. Enter Henry, the true patriarch of the family, who has suffered losses in life (most recently his wife’s passing), and who really loves his children, their wives and the grandchildren. These ties save him from being a truly grouchy old man.
Henry is quite aware that his opinion usually is not sought out, but this never stops him from wading into conversations. He can be counted on to add his traditional police values: he is not very open to having gay officers, he feels that mentally ill perpetrators shouldn’t be treated any differently than ordinary perpetrators, and he doesn’t take a stand contrary to the bishop or the local pastor of the church.
“Always remember we are not defined by our deficiencies or what is missing. We are defined by our gifts and what is present.” — Community by Peter Block
Henry is a true grandpa of 75, and has a big heart. But Henry desires things to be as they were in the past. Globally recognized ecumenical teacher Richard Rohr calls this “regressive restoration of personna.” But what’s redeeming about Henry is that he never leaves a dinner table discussion in a huff. He engages all family members with a clear stand on everything, and different family members work on getting him to adjust his stand. The loving relationship they share often seems to melt his attitude and to get him to come around. He seems to grow a little with each discussion, and from time to time he begrudgingly admits he does not have all the answers.
The Regan family circle is slowly converting him and helping him bring his vast treasure trove of life experience to bear on life today. He could be transformed by the end of this season into a true medieval blue blood, a special human in touch with his deepest self that sets him apart from the common people.
We Can Identify With Blue Bloods
Many Christian Brothers in 2014 might identify with Henry—the Brothers started this Lasallian family and think of themselves as proud owners of this worldwide network of 80,000 members supporting a million students. And though many of us at this age feel ignored now that we no longer have position and power, we stay at the table and respect, listen to and depend on our younger Lasallians to help us balance our own traditional insights with today’s reality. The resulting balance is one that few others are in a position to have.
These interactions often alter our opinions and attitude and can bring out hidden gold in each of us. Wisdom is another word for this gold. Change is constant. Focus must be on our present universe and dreams for our future must outnumber the memories of the past.
“Formation continues beyond retirement to a new availability for service in the mission. The mission does not end at the age of retirement. Those in charge of formation invite those retiring to continue to share their experience and their witness.” — The Formation Guide
Considering This New Direction
Recently I had the opportunity to partake in an exercise with coworkers at a leadership planning retreat in which we each posed a critical question and a new direction (a transformed Henry Regan would be in his glory here).
I raised this question:
To what extent has the universe, that surrounds and calls us as Lasallians, changed dramatically, making it difficult for us to keep up with it, to engage it and to use it to benefit our mission?
I then offered the following five realities (among a host of others) as part and parcel of our world today—God’s doing. We are called to love, embrace and make it our new normal. The old normal is gone forever. A few critical examples of universe change are the following:
1. Since the time of Vatican II the Lasallian mission is no longer the responsibility of the Lasallian Brothers alone—it is in the hands of 80,000 partners and Brothers across the world.
For the Lasallian blue bloods, this is a call
to embrace the family.
2. The Lasallian Brothers in the US have gradually moved the locus of their activity in the Lasallian family away from teacher/administrator/counselor/coach to roles involving staff and board development, spiritual direction and the ministry of presence. It is an emerging understanding of charism in our modern world both inside and outside the educational establishment.
For the Lasallian blue bloods, this a call
to expand the mission.
3. People today mature slower and last longer than ever before in history. They now live a full 25 more years than their grandparents. They take much longer than before to decide what they want to do in life. Therefore, Lasallian Brothers have another life after retirement and they can commit to being lifelong Lasallians at a later age than in the old days.
For the Lasallian blue bloods, this a call
to recruit partners and Brothers well into
their 30s and affirm the old ones into second and third careers.
4. New recruits to the Lasallian circle will come today in large numbers only if they can see clearly a cause to commit to. Check out the US Army commercials depicting members dropping food in famine areas and tracking hurricanes. “Come, see and know that you can do these inspirational things for a lifetime” or “get the smell of the sheep on your hands.”
For the Lasallian blue bloods, this a call to invite.
5. At all levels of our society, groups of people seek to live together—like graduate students who learn to be teachers and live in communities in underserved neighborhoods or senior citizens who have lost partners live together for support and comfort.
For the Lasallian blue bloods, this a call to open our communities to men and women who seek a community of prayer, support, service, and affirmation.
So often, we Lasallians gather around the table for fellowship and to live up to our call to be special and gifted to our world. God’s dream for us.
“We travel from our comfort zone to a place of new possibilities… sometimes scary. Jesus invited his disciples to leave the coziness of the cenacle and journey past the threshold of that locked room to a world awaiting them. That same call is ours today. We are being called to go beyond not only our community and District borders, but also beyond our personal borders.” — August 6 CAP letter to communities
Brother Ed Phelan, FSC, is a young 74 who believes the older a person gets the more they have to share for the improvement of their fellow humans. He learned this valuable lesson from his dad Ed Sr., a true Blue Blood who retired from the NYPD in 1946 and who subsequently gave 25 more years of service to family and neighbors.
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