That\u2019s reality. \u00a0Or, that\u2019s wishful thinking right now. \u00a0Regulars should note there has been a sudden drop in posts. \u00a0The reason is simple. \u00a0Time. \u00a0My new job with its cumbersome schedule is a temporary fix. \u00a0It won\u2019t sustain us forever. \u00a0But it stops the bleeding. \u00a0We were losing money and losing it fast. \u00a0We still have a massive dose of debt from when we first became Catholic that we\u2019ve never been able to pay off.<\/p>\n
Long and short, as I\u2019ve said before, the number of real, bona fide<\/i> Protestant Clergy who become Catholic is\u00a0minuscule\u00a0 \u00a0Now, there are folks who have held various levels of positions within ministry who become Catholic. \u00a0Youth pastors, part time pastors, professors in religious institutions,\u00a0lawyers\u00a0who help our religious institutions. \u00a0But your full time, \u2018only a pastor and nothing more\u2019 who becomes Catholic is actually a rare breed, despite what some ministries dedicated to the subject might suggest.<\/p>\n
I know this because I worked for one for a while, and noticed that most of the testimonies we tried to get from people were of the \u2018I did some ministry\/I was a part time minister\/I went to seminary but was never a minister\/I did youth ministry\u2019 variety. That means, the financial hit that everyone thinks about doesn\u2019t usually happen. \u00a0Even when they are full time ministers, I\u2019ve talked to some who had spouses who were well set (one a wife who\u2019s a nurse, no small income there, another with a wife whose family was of independent means). <\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the kick I usually don\u2019t mention. \u00a0My wife worked within our denominational framework as well. \u00a0She made her living from our denomination just as I did, as a teacher in a Christian school. \u00a0And it was losing her job when we became Catholic that really threw us for a tailspin. \u00a0Being me, I try to plan ahead. \u00a0When we left my pastoral ministry to enter the Church, I though I had my ducks in a row. \u00a0We knew it would be tough, and the usual problems with starting life over at 40, no real marketable skills, etc. \u00a0But we had it planned out and then BAM! \u00a0My wife went to the school that August to start getting ready for school and couldn\u2019t find her mailbox in the office. \u00a0It went down from there.<\/p>\n
So we took what is probably a nearly unparalleled hit to become Catholic, at least in America. \u00a0Not to whine or fuss or pat ourselves on the back, but let\u2019s face it, how many people give up both incomes and literally all their savings and benefits for the Faith, at least in our country? Not many. \u00a0And so there\u2019s not really an official branch of the Church to help us out.<\/p>\n
There have been phenomenally generous Catholics in our parishes that, through our parishes, have helped us at critical times. \u00a0That\u2019s kept us alive. \u00a0Help from the family as well. \u00a0But neither of us come from families rolling in dough. \u00a0So it\u2019s been us, some generous Catholics, and God. \u00a0And through it all, we\u2019ve kept our little starter home that\u2019s become the homestead, we\u2019ve kept our beat up ten year old cars, and we\u2019ve kept food on the table, if not lost most of what we had saved.<\/p>\n
All this is to say,\u00a0beggars\u00a0can\u2019t be choosers. \u00a0The job I have I needed. \u00a0It\u2019s in the financial sector, which is about as far from what I\u2019d prefer as you can imagine. \u00a0And it\u2019s far from what we need, incomes having stagnated and if you do the math backward, it\u2019s barely what a kid bagging groceries would have been paid when I was in high school. \u00a0Benefits aren\u2019t the best either. \u00a0But we had to stop the gushing of funds. \u00a0The debt was, ironically, making it impossible to move forward and we were sinking month by month.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019ve taken this job, praying for some miracle that will help us back on our feet, and getting by with the usual \u2018entry level schedule.\u2019 \u00a0That means, as\u00a0inconvenient\u00a0as imaginable. \u00a0Since our\u00a0Eighth\u00a0grader has his confirmation today, and since we\u2019re still\u00a0trying\u00a0to keep our boys in homeschool, time has just been limited. \u00a0Given the usual obligations that come from life, as well as those considerations I just mentioned, I\u2019ve just not had time to blog. \u00a0Or at least, time to\u00a0organize\u00a0my thoughts. \u00a0Rather than post things that don\u2019t make sense or have more holes in their logic than Swiss cheese, I\u2019ve\u00a0chosen\u00a0not to post. \u00a0And rather than it just be one long string of pictures of the boys (which we haven\u2019t had time to take), I\u2019ve opted to remain silent.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll try to post some. \u00a0I will. \u00a0Readership was picking up and going through the ceiling, I actually found my blog referenced on some other blogs recently! \u00a0So I\u2019m not giving up. \u00a0But probably until summer, or more likely, until a better schedule comes by \u2013 one way or another \u2013 things will be slim. \u00a0The posts may be quick snippets rather than actual thoughts. \u00a0But I\u2019ll do what I can. \u00a0I appreciate all who\u2019ve come by, those who have commented, and hopefully folks will touch base until I\u2019m back up and able to trip the blog fantastic once more.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
That\u2019s reality. \u00a0Or, that\u2019s wishful thinking right now. \u00a0Regulars should note there has been a sudden drop in posts. \u00a0The reason is simple. \u00a0Time. \u00a0My new job with its cumbersome schedule is a temporary fix. \u00a0It won\u2019t sustain us forever. \u00a0But it stops the bleeding. \u00a0We were losing money and losing it fast. \u00a0We still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n