Feeling Lonley

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MrsATurner

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I am not sure if anyone else is having this problem or of it’s just me. I am 22 years old and have been married for 4 years now. I live in a small town and while I deeply love my parish it is mainly older people. I would love nothing more to have some Catholic female friends to share my faith wirh. I end up feeling sort of lonely because I really don’t have any friends on my own. I have one friend who is Catholic but she lives out of State. We talk a lot about our faith but I wish I had more people to talk to. Does anyone else feel this way?
 
I felt that way for years and years. What really helped me was attending an ACTS retreat. After the retreat, I feel like I know a lot of people in the church now and I feel like I am part of the community.

Also,…if there are no groups for people your age…maybe you are being called to start one?
 
I am not sure if anyone else is having this problem or of it’s just me. I am 22 years old and have been married for 4 years now. I live in a small town and while I deeply love my parish it is mainly older people. I would love nothing more to have some Catholic female friends to share my faith wirh. I end up feeling sort of lonely because I really don’t have any friends on my own. I have one friend who is Catholic but she lives out of State. We talk a lot about our faith but I wish I had more people to talk to. Does anyone else feel this way?
I totally understandd how you are feeling…

Heres some suggestions to making some friends

You could volunteer with your local st vincent de paul society…

You could join your local legion of mary prayer group or another prayer group…

You could ask your priest if theres any help needed at church eg you could help with flower arranging, cleaning etc

You could volunteer in the catholic good store if your church has one
 
Those are good suggestions but we are the only Catholic church in our area and we are a church of only about 400 regular attendants total. I love the Priest and our Deacons are wonderful as well. From what I have seen ( I have attended mass here for 2 and 1/2 years now) there is nearly no people around my age at our parish.
 
hi,
your question is direct/ other posts offer solutions/ i live in a small town-so your post caught my attention/ what about organizing echumenical services? this is opportunity to meet new people/ of course that would be some event with two different churches/ i remember two times of this to happen/ in one parish, they invited the lutherans/ we planted a tree// our priest let them use the church while they lutherran church was under construction…At another parish (newman center), a protestant church was invited to attend mass-i saw them look around with curiosiy and liked the stations of teh cross…(of course-they understood it was only a visit) they probably knew the same hymns though…the local anglican church has good social connectons with my current parish church; the episcopal church is about a block away…so, unfortunately-the age difference in a parish shows the demographics…i suppose , if interested, you would have to speculate that any ecumenical connection is a selling point/ perhaps, you don’t have to say-i am lonley…i think it is the dignity of the person-as a selling point…who organizes this event, planning, etc/ well i figure a parish council/ but you could lead the way…to approach your priest with the idea…of course, if pigs could fly…yet, maybe a certain spiritual gift of prayer is a the first impulse/ how to pray about it? Do you pray the rosary? one does not have to give up faith in an interdenominational meeting/ rather it seems that by method to love people-we have to find the people first./ Mary can help/ and by the way, when i last met friends at teh anglican church-i was suprised that they seemed to know a lot of people that i know/ small towns are like that/hope that helps…
 
Those are good suggestions but we are the only Catholic church in our area and we are a church of only about 400 regular attendants total. I love the Priest and our Deacons are wonderful as well. From what I have seen ( I have attended mass here for 2 and 1/2 years now) there is nearly no people around my age at our parish.
Well, it’s always nice to have friends in the same stage of life (young married, having babies) as oneself, but it seems this is not God’s will for you now. Bit I bet there are some older ladies there who would love to be friends with you but who do not want to impose.

The way I started meeting people at church was to help cleaning up 🙂 So volunteering is definitely the way to meet people. After you’ve shown people that you are pretty reliable, talk to whoever needs to be spoken to about starting a group, like an adult ed class during Sunday School. You will probably start meeting parents that way and it’s good icebreaker for being able to talk about one’s Faith, which is not really a strong feature of most Catholics 😉
 
Those are good suggestions but we are the only Catholic church in our area and we are a church of only about 400 regular attendants total. I love the Priest and our Deacons are wonderful as well. From what I have seen ( I have attended mass here for 2 and 1/2 years now) there is nearly no people around my age at our parish.
If theres no one there your age then befriend the older catholic folk…and as you become friends with them they may introduce you to their family and other friends and you are bound to meet folk your age…
 
I am over 70, and most of the women my age in my Parish are much more disabled than I am, or come from either Nursing Homes or Assisted Living. My closest friends at my Parish are all 30 - 40 years younger than I, and believe it or not, we are friends. I have become an “adopted grandma” to several, and I find that they like having an older woman around who has been there, done that, and often ask questions. I also volunteer as a Eucharistic Minister, Altar Server when the young families are on vacation, etc… You might be surprised how many of these older women have no children living within a few hours of their home – most of their kids are scattered all over the country, and they’d love to be involved with a young woman just starting her marriage and family. They’ll soon adopt you as their “daughter” or “granddaughter” and since you are young and able, you’ll find the Priest would love to have the help of a younger couple at the Parish Office, at the Mass, as Sacristan, etc… If most of them are older, they don’t volunteer as much in the Parish, often due to ill health or mobility issues. Talk to your Priest about how you can become involved-- he’d probably love to have some younger people to assist him with a lot of things, even as a Church Secretary or office help at the Parish, until you have babies at home that will take up your time. And, you’ll find that the older ladies will love having a younger person to talk to about faith issues, hymns, prayers, and maybe joining in or helping to start a Rosary or Prayer Group!! My Parish is also in a small town, and we have no Deacon since the last one died about 10 years ago. Over half our Parish ladies are in their 30’s or younger. The rest are older than I am! The older ones can’t do much anymore in the Parish, so I attend the Mass at the Parish Center, which is easily accessible for those using canes, walkers or wheelchairs. In this way, I am actually one of the “young” ones!! That’s how I finally met some of the women who have teens and tweens who go to the old Church (over 120 yrs. old), which is not accessible to the handicapped. I made friends in the younger group, and also go to an occasional lunch with the older ones. I find I gain a lot from those in their 90’s (lots more life experience) and get my enthusiasm for the Parish from the ones in their 30’s and 40’s. We all get together (all age groups) for our Prayer Group and Rosary as well as for the luncheons.
 
I am not sure if anyone else is having this problem or of it’s just me. I am 22 years old and have been married for 4 years now. I live in a small town and while I deeply love my parish it is mainly older people. I would love nothing more to have some Catholic female friends to share my faith wirh. I end up feeling sort of lonely because I really don’t have any friends on my own. I have one friend who is Catholic but she lives out of State. We talk a lot about our faith but I wish I had more people to talk to. Does anyone else feel this way?
Praying for you to find friendships.
 
I am not sure if anyone else is having this problem or of it’s just me. I am 22 years old and have been married for 4 years now. I live in a small town and while I deeply love my parish it is mainly older people. I would love nothing more to have some Catholic female friends to share my faith wirh. I end up feeling sort of lonely because I really don’t have any friends on my own. I have one friend who is Catholic but she lives out of State. We talk a lot about our faith but I wish I had more people to talk to. Does anyone else feel this way?
Although my youth was different to your own…I can still relate…
I spent my first 26 years on dairy farms, it was either people over 50 or two year olds…

No one my age… It can be very lonely… If it’s any help…you can make friends on here,

Just do what I do… Bump into someone and start a chat., I have made a couple of good friends on here,and have fun,
 
You guys are very much right. I can allways befriend those in my church who are older.I am sure they would love new friends
 
I would love nothing more to have some Catholic female friends to share my faith wirh. I end up feeling sort of lonely because I really don’t have any friends on my own.

We talk a lot about our faith but I wish I had more people to talk to.
Whats wrong with non-catholic female friends? The dynamics of a friendship harldy consists solely on “talking about faith”
 
Whats wrong with non-catholic female friends? The dynamics of a friendship harldy consists solely on “talking about faith”
What I meant is that I have a lot of female friends that are non-Catholic. I think it would be nice to have someone who would pray the rosary with me or to be able to trade catholic books with. Someone who I can talk to on a one on one basis about things that have to do with our faith
 
What I meant is that I have a lot of female friends that are non-Catholic. I think it would be nice to have someone who would pray the rosary with me or to be able to trade catholic books with. Someone who I can talk to on a one on one basis about things that have to do with our faith
Aha, alright. Sorry, misunderstood you.

In that case let me tell you that Im in the same boat. Im 21 and i haven’t got a single catholic friend or even acquaintance of any kind. My parish also consists of old people and those who are young are always attending with their families. It would be really awkward approaching them out of the blue and striking up a conversation without looking like a total creeper. :rolleyes:
 
Aha, alright. Sorry, misunderstood you.

In that case let me tell you that Im in the same boat. Im 21 and i haven’t got a single catholic friend or even acquaintance of any kind. My parish also consists of old people and those who are young are always attending with their families. It would be really awkward approaching them out of the blue and striking up a conversation without looking like a total creeper. :rolleyes:
That’s the same way I feel. Anyone near my age already has a family or is with there famlies in our town usually once teens reach college age they move away. It’s mainly a retirement/ touristed
 
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