Prayers would be appreciated. \u00a0These last two days have been a whirlwind of troubles. \u00a0At this point, we\u2019ve been holding our lives together with string and tape, and it\u2019s beginning to show. \u00a0Our house needs several significant repairs that we are unable to afford. \u00a0Yesterday, our hot water heater began to make sounds it\u2019s never made before. \u00a0We just got our van taken care of relative to getting its transmission fixed when lo and behold, now our car is making strange and frightening noises. \u00a0Added to this, it must have been the week for jobs to send out rejection letters to all those who have applied, for we\u2019ve been hit mercilessly with one letter after another. \u00a0Our problem is very simple. \u00a0Our age and salary requirements while lacking recent technical skills for a workplace increasingly impatient with those who lack particular technical skills. \u00a0And because we lost so much of our\u00a0nest egg\u00a0coming into\u00a0the\u00a0Catholic Church to begin with, we\u2019ve been just ahead of the boulder in a host of things. \u00a0Today marks the one year anniversary when my wife\u2019s position, as well as hundreds of others, was cut by a computer program in the\u00a0corporate\u00a0offices in New York City. \u00a0Today, she found out, another round of firings and lay offs was\u00a0divide\u00a0out to the offices, including two friends she had who survived last year\u2019s round. \u00a0It must be the modern\u00a0substitute\u00a0for the old Christmas bonus.<\/p>\n
So, with no money coming in, losing money by the thousands, almost nothing left in savings, a\u00a0dilapidated\u00a0home in need of repairs and a car now that is starting to make\u00a0noise\u00a0 it\u2019s easy to see where some could begin to question certain life decisions. \u00a0Up until now, the vote has been in\u00a0the\u00a0majority that becoming Catholic was the right thing to do. \u00a0In the wake of this, however, I lost an ally as yet\u00a0another\u00a0family member has now begun to\u00a0question\u00a0the logic and wisdom. \u00a0It didn\u2019t help that I sent a very personal appeal to the\u00a0diocesan\u00a0offices and the office for human resources, explaining our position and plight, and seeking some sort of direction or help in getting our life down the right path, only to get a response telling us, in so many words, sorry about our luck. <\/p>\n
Of course, I try to\u00a0explain\u00a0and remind folks that it isn\u2019t like Protestant ministry was without its problems or stresses or difficulties. \u00a0But the\u00a0response\u00a0is \u2018yes, it was tough, stressful, difficult, time consuming, and all of those thousand things. \u00a0But it was also fulfilling, purposeful, \u00a0meaningful, and above else, a steady paycheck with benefits and retirement.\u2019 \u00a0That is tough to overcome. \u00a0I\u2019m still holding out hope that something \u2013 anything \u2013 turns around. \u00a0I\u2019ve been applying for baggage handlers and mail\u00a0clerks\u00a0 \u00a0My work history and income needs, however, continue to be a problem, if for no other reason than they see what I made in the past, and (rightly) figure I will jump at the first chance for something else, especially with our oldest poised to go to a college we are hell and gone from helping with.<\/p>\n
So if there are any rich Catholics out there, feel free. \u00a0But seriously, more than just getting fish from folks, all we really\u00a0want\u00a0is a\u00a0chance\u00a0to fish ourselves. \u00a0We\u2019ll do the fishing, the gutting, the cleaning. \u00a0Heck, we\u2019ll provide the boat. \u00a0We just want something to help\u00a0stabilize\u00a0our family so that those young ones don\u2019t see our conversion to Catholicism as the moment our life went to hell, and so that those outside who were skeptical about the Catholic\u00a0Church\u00a0and our conversion to it don\u2019t feel vindicated that it is just a giant bureaucracy after all. \u00a0We so\u00a0appreciate\u00a0those loving Christ-filled\u00a0Catholics\u00a0who have stepped up to the plate and\u00a0generously\u00a0kept us alive thus far, but it can\u2019t continue, and likely won\u2019t. \u00a0We really need someone to step up and give my wife, or I, a chance to get started in a career, even if it takes some added\u00a0education\u00a0and training in the meantime. \u00a0Homelessness, after all, is a bad evangelistic witness.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prayers would be appreciated. \u00a0These last two days have been a whirlwind of troubles. \u00a0At this point, we\u2019ve been holding our lives together with string and tape, and it\u2019s beginning to show. \u00a0Our house needs several significant repairs that we are unable to afford. \u00a0Yesterday, our hot water heater began to make sounds it\u2019s never […]<\/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-2268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n