Many (many) years ago, while working in bioethics, I was invited by some teachers to a Catholic boys’ school to talk to the students about virtue and the culture of life.

I was tempted to drop the phone (yes, it was what is now a vintage landline handset) – “Wild request: brave teachers!” I thought at the time.

Still, I fronted up to a mass audience of mid-secondary school boys.  I was a lonely figure. The rowdy emotions and distracted brain cells were barely suppressed in the hall, and the teachers seemed to have retreated to a bunker somewhere.

At one stage, in a spirit of somewhat desperate interest in opening a real conversation, I asked, “What kind of fathers do you want to be?” There was a millisecond before there was much unhappy shifting on seats. Then one kid at the back roared out: “Yeah right, well my father reads Playboy!” Another yelled out, “I don’t know my father – he nicked out when I was a baby.”

Realising a generational crisis (hastily as one does when flying by the seat of threadbare pants), I said, “Okay then, what kind of grandfather do you want to be?”

The mood in the room changed instantly and dramatically.

One boy quietly said, “Seriously, my Nonno is a hero. He shows me his medals from the war.” Another said, “When I am in trouble my grandfather is always there to listen and he tries to understand.”

Thence began a pithy and very fruitful consideration of all sorts of important things: self-mastery, respect, commitment and courage.  I learned much about the boys too.

I am not sure what would happen if I tried this approach in our own times.

That experience did, however, shore up some of my reservations about limiting education and cultural formation into ‘uni-generational’ Tupperware containers – as neat and convenient as these containers might be at times.

Intergenerational conversation and projects require the virtues of patience and courage, and the gifts of ingenuity and the ability to adapt. They take effort. They sometimes create puzzlement and they always involve getting up out of the comfort of our own generations’ armchairs.

Digging beyond the post-war institutions, one sees that the Jewish and Christian tradition is full of intergenerational learning and practice: from the decrees and liturgies of the Hebrew tradition, to the households of the early Church, to the monastic rule, to the medieval guilds and down into the Christian family trades and farms.

It was something the 2019-20 social documentary series Old Peoples’ Home for 4-Year Olds (and its later spin-offs) explored in both its British and Australian versions. Newly recovered forms of classical and liberal pedagogy are recovering this too.

The power of organic cross-generational formation includes the exchange of energy and ideas, the example of moral and spiritual maturity, the opening of new perspectives, the sharing of technical skills and life experiences – and these were once the norm of the getting of traditional wisdom.

While the Thomas More Centre in the past did become something of a magnet for many young people, it was never intended to be just a youth group or a utilitarian attempt to ‘bag new recruits’ to a cause.

It aimed to become a doorway to the growth of wonder, wisdom, deep knowledge and the growth of personality and character.

Many of the alumni in those 20th-century TMC events reported that they made lasting friends not only with people of their own age, but formed friendships with those who became mentors or models for them in older age brackets.

Our new TMC team shares this widescreen vision too, as it encourages formation and conversation between and across the generations at our events, in our resources and in our working in different settings around Australia.

Thanks to the organisers of the recent 2024 Democratic Conference, we saw an event that celebrated cross-generational and inter-organisational collaboration. There were panels and open discussions along with the moving sight of candle-bearing children and adults worshipping together at the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St Andrews in Lidcombe.

We caught a glimpse of the promise of our intuition.

What's On

The TMC Talks in Brisbane continue: Tomorrow, Thursday, February 22, NCC national president Luke McCormack will be giving a free talk titled, 'The Catholic Church Versus Communism and the 1955 Labor Split', at the Indooroopilly Library meeting room at 6pm, followed by drinks/dinner at the Pig 'n' Whistle.

Thank you for your support!

Anna Krohn
Executive Director
Thomas More Centre