R
Ravyn_Guiliani
Guest
just as a little background, I came into the Church in 2002 and am married to a born-in Catholic who was victimized as a child by an abusive priest. I am also disabled by a genetic disorder that keeps me pretty much house-bound because of severe photosensitivity and environmental and chemical triggers and the danger of contagions–not to mention crippling pain and immobility. So it has been a challenge to be involved in parish life.
A year ago last June our beloved priest was reassigned. I “heard” the reason was because our parish was not growing and he was needed in another area where the growth has been phenomenal. We now share a priest with the next parish and all but the Sunday Mass has been cut and I am not even sure where or when Reconciliation is now. The parish we share with is in a resort town and the people are mostly retired and well off, and the general attitude is that if they can spare an hour off their boats for Mass they will. The shared priest is young and Philipino. I introduced myself to him last year after he was assigned to us and he was down-right rude to me. I offered my hand and he just looked at me and turned away without a word! I felt like a leper. He appears to be very popular among the tiny Hispanic fraction in the area. Needless to say, I am not impressed by these changes. and I am not the only one.
I have asked for years now to have Communion brought to me when I can’t get out to Mass, only to be told by both parishes that there is no one who can do it as I live in the area between the two and neither claims it–this is less than 15 miles from either parish on the ONLY road between the two that I know the priest must travel to get back and forth!
To add to our difficulties, my husband Lee was laid-off (after he was fired first and we threatened a lawsuit) by his Jehovah’s Witness boss a year ago in August–mainly because I am an XJW. For the past 2 years he has been teaching 150+ miles away every weekend in Washingtom DC area and it has been the only income since his lay-off besides partial Unemployment that is about to run out. He has looked for anything in the area and it just is not there. He has some limits that he has done to himself–like a bad driving record, and he would love to go back to school but we could not afford it. I have not once asked the Church for help this past year. I also have only gone to Reconciliation and Mass maybe 4 times because Lee works every weekend and if we go out of the area it is about 35 miles away at the closest. (I do not drive.)
At Lent I was so desperate for some kind of spiritual nourishment that I found a small “interdenominational” Bible Study at a church right up the road from our house on Wednesday nights and we started to attend. The people are great. So far I have not encountered any anti-Catholicism and nothing is done that could not be considered legally ecumenical. The pastor is a local attorney and he has even helped Lee out with the last speeding ticket. They have also offered Lee personal counseling services with a Therapist in the group for healing his childhood issues.
So, I wrote a heartfelt letter to our Bishop. I explained everything to him and told him about the Bible Study group. I asked for his advice. The answer I got back was shocking. He basically told me that our parish (and the one next to it)are not prepared to meet my “challenges” and that if the Bible Study was feeding me to keep going and he directed me to the local EPISCOPALIAN church–even giving me the Rev.'s phone number and giving him mine! I got a call from the Rev. saying that if I wanted to start attending at his church they could even set up a phone conference for me to hear the Mass when I can’t attend(they are a high church,anglo-catholic)! And the Bishop is ok with this. I don’t even know what to think about it all.
I spent last weekend in DC with Lee–my dear old service dog Samantha had to be put down November 1st and she was the main reason I could not go with him very often–and I stayed in the hotel watching EWTN for 2 days straight. I was in tears over an old rerun of one of Mother Angelica’s shows where she interviewed Fr. Pablo Straub and took phone questions and atleast 4 people called in to ask where they can go when they don’t have Mass available to them. Their voices were heart-breaking! And this show was from 1992! And he had no answers for them, except to pray for more priests. I did not become a Catholic to worship solitary. I NEED a community to help me deal with the daily stuff. For almost 2 years I have been isolated and it is killing me. (I only have dial-up on an 8 yr old pc that can’t load any videos, and we do not have satellite tv so we can’t get EWTN. I feel like I am in Russia!)My only recourse to any kind of social interaction is Facebook and most of the time I can’t use the chat. So I read online. That’s all I do. Something has to change.
I am starting to consider going to the Episcopal church. The Rev even offered to find me a ride.
Ravyn
A year ago last June our beloved priest was reassigned. I “heard” the reason was because our parish was not growing and he was needed in another area where the growth has been phenomenal. We now share a priest with the next parish and all but the Sunday Mass has been cut and I am not even sure where or when Reconciliation is now. The parish we share with is in a resort town and the people are mostly retired and well off, and the general attitude is that if they can spare an hour off their boats for Mass they will. The shared priest is young and Philipino. I introduced myself to him last year after he was assigned to us and he was down-right rude to me. I offered my hand and he just looked at me and turned away without a word! I felt like a leper. He appears to be very popular among the tiny Hispanic fraction in the area. Needless to say, I am not impressed by these changes. and I am not the only one.
I have asked for years now to have Communion brought to me when I can’t get out to Mass, only to be told by both parishes that there is no one who can do it as I live in the area between the two and neither claims it–this is less than 15 miles from either parish on the ONLY road between the two that I know the priest must travel to get back and forth!
To add to our difficulties, my husband Lee was laid-off (after he was fired first and we threatened a lawsuit) by his Jehovah’s Witness boss a year ago in August–mainly because I am an XJW. For the past 2 years he has been teaching 150+ miles away every weekend in Washingtom DC area and it has been the only income since his lay-off besides partial Unemployment that is about to run out. He has looked for anything in the area and it just is not there. He has some limits that he has done to himself–like a bad driving record, and he would love to go back to school but we could not afford it. I have not once asked the Church for help this past year. I also have only gone to Reconciliation and Mass maybe 4 times because Lee works every weekend and if we go out of the area it is about 35 miles away at the closest. (I do not drive.)
At Lent I was so desperate for some kind of spiritual nourishment that I found a small “interdenominational” Bible Study at a church right up the road from our house on Wednesday nights and we started to attend. The people are great. So far I have not encountered any anti-Catholicism and nothing is done that could not be considered legally ecumenical. The pastor is a local attorney and he has even helped Lee out with the last speeding ticket. They have also offered Lee personal counseling services with a Therapist in the group for healing his childhood issues.
So, I wrote a heartfelt letter to our Bishop. I explained everything to him and told him about the Bible Study group. I asked for his advice. The answer I got back was shocking. He basically told me that our parish (and the one next to it)are not prepared to meet my “challenges” and that if the Bible Study was feeding me to keep going and he directed me to the local EPISCOPALIAN church–even giving me the Rev.'s phone number and giving him mine! I got a call from the Rev. saying that if I wanted to start attending at his church they could even set up a phone conference for me to hear the Mass when I can’t attend(they are a high church,anglo-catholic)! And the Bishop is ok with this. I don’t even know what to think about it all.
I spent last weekend in DC with Lee–my dear old service dog Samantha had to be put down November 1st and she was the main reason I could not go with him very often–and I stayed in the hotel watching EWTN for 2 days straight. I was in tears over an old rerun of one of Mother Angelica’s shows where she interviewed Fr. Pablo Straub and took phone questions and atleast 4 people called in to ask where they can go when they don’t have Mass available to them. Their voices were heart-breaking! And this show was from 1992! And he had no answers for them, except to pray for more priests. I did not become a Catholic to worship solitary. I NEED a community to help me deal with the daily stuff. For almost 2 years I have been isolated and it is killing me. (I only have dial-up on an 8 yr old pc that can’t load any videos, and we do not have satellite tv so we can’t get EWTN. I feel like I am in Russia!)My only recourse to any kind of social interaction is Facebook and most of the time I can’t use the chat. So I read online. That’s all I do. Something has to change.
I am starting to consider going to the Episcopal church. The Rev even offered to find me a ride.
Ravyn
PS- there are also jobs here.