So things have been\u00a0unraveling\u00a0about as badly as they can. \u00a0Already watching the last of our savings accounts\u00a0hemorrhaging\u00a0away, with little to no money coming in, the job prospect list just isn\u2019t growing. \u00a0I\u2019ve had several interviews, but age, and a rather\u00a0tumultuous\u00a0last couple years, coupled with the \u2018former Protestant clergy\u2019\u00a0motif\u00a0of my resume cuts me off usually around the first to second interview. \u00a0My wife has not been any better, so much of her life spent in Protestant Christian education. \u00a0Add to that the fact that there was a time when we were making pretty good money, and the reluctance that lower paying employers have for bringing us on, and there just\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0any light at the end of the tunnel. \u00a0At least not now.<\/p>\n
Then yesterday, I found out for the first time I was overdrawn in my checking account. \u00a0I\u2019ve had that account for I don\u2019t know how many years, and that\u2019s the first time ever. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because a temp job I had a month or so ago said it overpaid me. \u00a0It made a mistake with the amount, and so it was supposed to send me a new statement telling me what I owed. \u00a0It never did, but apparently it went ahead and, without my knowledge,\u00a0withdrew\u00a0the amounts from my checking account. \u00a0 So there I was,\u00a0blissfully\u00a0writing checks, and accumulating a boatload of overdraft charges in the process. <\/p>\n
Well that was about the pits. \u00a0When you are losing money, it\u2019s bad enough. \u00a0When you end up with less money than you thought you had when you are losing money, that sucks. \u00a0So it was that things were a little down, until all of a sudden, I went to get the mail and voila! \u00a0In a card from some\u00a0anonymous\u00a0Catholic who knows of our plight, was a collection of gift cards. \u00a0And a\u00a0generous\u00a0amount as well.<\/p>\n
One thing we can\u2019t say is that Catholics haven\u2019t been generous to us over the years. \u00a0The biggest problem is we can\u2019t\u00a0get\u00a0into the Church, there is nothing in the actual Church to employ us (and it\u2019s not for a lack of trying). \u00a0Most, apparently, just don\u2019t see the worth in my\u00a0wife\u2019s,\u00a0 or my, background, it being Protestant and not Catholic. \u00a0Positions that we were grossly qualified for have come and gone without so much as a phone interview. \u00a0So we are stuck. \u00a0The secular world sees little of value in our backgrounds, but\u00a0unfortunately\u00a0 the Catholic Church (at least in our neck of the woods) apparently doesn\u2019t see much more.<\/p>\n
I know, I know. \u00a0What about those wonderful stories? There was a time when Scott Hahn and Marcus Grodi came into the Church that entire positions were created just for them! \u00a0Why, this diocese or that university or that Catholic ministry would literally create an \u2018office for this guy who used to be a Protestant minister\u2019! \u00a0I know. \u00a0But that was when Ronald Reagan was president. \u00a0When MTV still played videos. \u00a0It was a time fast on the heels of Pope John Paul II\u2019s great emphasis on the New Evangelization and the need to reach out to our\u00a0separated\u00a0brethren. \u00a0That was then. \u00a0Today, the focus has changed. \u00a0Pope Benedict is not there,\u00a0preferring instead\u00a0to focus on reaching out to the\u00a0Anglican\u00a0Communion, Islam, and Secular Europe. <\/p>\n
As a result, there just isn\u2019t an overarching interest any more in Protestant Clergy Converts. \u00a0Like Pet Rocks and Cabbage Patch Dolls, the fad has passed. \u00a0I\u2019m not saying there is nowhere anywhere in the global Church that sees value in this, but certainly in these parts the interest continues more like a quaint tradition than a dynamic movement. \u00a0Most spokespeople for the movement, you must admit, are getting grayer and more wrinkled with age. \u00a0Converts in general seem to do as well as they ever have, but providing for family is not a big deal for them. \u00a0The\u00a0Protestant\u00a0Clergy Convert, however, seems less of a priority than it ever did, and even then it was not a major concern. There could be other reasons, but whatever the reasons, it is what it is.<\/p>\n
Individuals, however, see it differently. \u00a0And that is one of the strange\u00a0things\u00a0about the Catholic Church. \u00a0What the\u00a0Church\u00a0officially teaches and what Catholics live out in their lives are often two different things, much to the\u00a0chagrin\u00a0of Church leaders. \u00a0And yet, as in this case, those individual Catholics with their own idea of things can\u00a0sometimes\u00a0rise to the occasion and give that cup of cold water where the\u00a0bureaucracy\u00a0and the\u00a0institutional\u00a0framework of the Church has no place for it to be given. So praise God for individual Catholics, who keep the faith, even if not always the way the Church would like. \u00a0Because sometimes, as my own experience has shown, they step up and do what the Church itself seems utterly incapable, or unwilling, to do.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So things have been\u00a0unraveling\u00a0about as badly as they can. \u00a0Already watching the last of our savings accounts\u00a0hemorrhaging\u00a0away, with little to no money coming in, the job prospect list just isn\u2019t growing. \u00a0I\u2019ve had several interviews, but age, and a rather\u00a0tumultuous\u00a0last couple years, coupled with the \u2018former Protestant clergy\u2019\u00a0motif\u00a0of my resume cuts me off usually around […]<\/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-2369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n