The Quiet Epidemic of Lonely Catholics

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One of the saddest things young people convey, is when they take the Teachings of The Church on Faith and Morals to heart, they are many times ridiculed or ostracized and unjustly lonely.
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This group: on youtube, “New Catholic Generation” formed three local communities
so far which helped with the problem.
I just happened upon it when happening upon ReBornPure Catholic on Youtube.com
very inspiring for a older man like me to see young people cheerfully yet with
taking authentic Teachings solemnly reaching out by giving so much of their lives to this.
May more ministries form for all age groups throughout The Church.
 
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We really do need to do a better job. I’ve been in my own parish for many years and I don’t think I could call even one person a close friend. I have lots of acquaintances and I help out in multiple ministries. But that is different.

I try to spend my time in Church quietly with God, concentrating on the Mass. I too get lonely. I know that I need to put it in God’s hands and there will be times of loneliness where I have to rely entirely on God.
 
I think the “loneliness” is due to the fact that we are so programmed to believe that a romantic partner is what we need to make us happy. We first must see that the only intimate partner we need is Jesus Christ. How do we cultivate this relationship with Christ? Do his will (this includes living a chaste life). Then enter into communion with him (the Eucharist). If we fall, make a sacramental confession and again enter into communion. How do we condition ourselves to not fall back into sin? Prayer, reading and listening to God’s Word, charity towards others.
 
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He may be “there”, but from my own experience it sure as hell doesn’t feel like it. Might as well not be then…
 
I went to a group at our church for middle aged people shortly after joining the parish and knew no one… (My husband isn’t Catholic and didn’t want to go). First of all, most of the people were past middle aged. For that night’s activity we had to form groups so since I didn’t have my husband with me I was put into a group of women who were all either divorced or widowed.
I spent the entire night listening to stories about divorce, ex-husbands and being a widow.

Now this new Bible Study I joined (went to one Study and they aren’t meeting again until March) has all seniors except one woman who I think is a little younger than I am and is married. We’ve become friendly through her son, whom I know, but whether it turns into a real friendship or not remains to be seen.

I’ve made friends there, but they’re all seniors. I’d like to make friends my own age with whom I have something in common.
 
I think the negativity towards older unmarried people can be very subtle which probably makes it worse as it’s much harder to challenge.

Marriage is only one area of this. I’m married and it honestly hasn’t stopped me wishing for some Catholic friends.
 
MarkoB0726 said:
He may be “there”, but from my own experience it sure as hell doesn’t feel like it. Might as well not be then…
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I know what you mean and feel the same way. I’m terribly lonely, not just alone, but lonely, and I can’t recall a single time God has comforted me or done something to help. I used to have a really good friend and then he started hanging out with a different group and just kind of dropped me. It got to the point where he wouldn’t answer his phone anymore when I called and if I left a message, he wouldn’t call me back. That’s what talking to God is like. Leaving a message and then not ever getting a response.
 
Go back to the first two chapters of the Bible, where the first words out of God’s mouth (after all the “It is good” proclamations after each stage of creation) was “It is not good for the man to be alone”, so he created a wife for him. We were not meant to be alone (save for those who were given the ability to handle lifelong celibacy - see Jesus’ comments about the “eunuchs for the kingdom”). However, the bottom line is that marriage and family life is going downhill, and people are finding it more difficult to find spouses. Some is due to the fact that the dating pool is “poisoned” (as Mary Beth Bonacci said), some may be due to the fact that many people these days are spending too much time behind a screen and keyboard and not enough in real-life interactions. What is the response we get? Cuckoo talk like “single vocation” and “you’ve got Jesus, that’s all you need”. Well, news flash - even people who have Jesus need food, water, clothing, shelter, etc.!
 
I have not spoken against marriage and family in my post.

I never said anything in my posts about Jesus being all you need or even singleness as a vocation. Where is this coming from?

It seems like you are getting angry at something that I never said.

I am talking about the view of women as perpetual minors and I am against it. Marriage is about a man and a woman becoming one and not about an adult and pseudo-child relationship which is what it becomes with this woman as perpetual minor views.
 
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My apologies, I was originally going to quote you on something but decided against it and to post something else in general, but it still shows as me as replying to you. Sorry!

My original reply was going to be along the lines of how even though the devil deceived the woman, the man was stupid enough to be deceived as well.
 
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Adam was steward of Garden and had the Grace to protect Eve from the Serpent.
But he chose not to protect her.
Fr. Pacwa on EWTN taught this. And I think it is a good interpretation.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
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yankeesouth:
why the heck are they bringing their kids to an indoor playground when so many parks are available to them.
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I can think of a number of reasons:
  • the kid likes to go there
  • one or the other parent was shopping or running errands so it was more convenient to go there than go to a park
  • indoor facilities may be more comfortable and have better conveniences nearby such as restrooms, places to get a snack or drink, wi-fi etc. (yes I know you don’t like the phone idea but wi-fi is a necessity for a lot of busy folks)
  • decent malls tend to have security while parks do not; some of the parks in my hometown have had issues with older kids acting in ways the parents of younger kids don’t like and can’t stop
  • the kids visit a variety of playgrounds, Saturday they happened to be at the mall and maybe Sunday they go to the park
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A necessity? No
A great convenience? Yes

If one has started to believe that having access to WiFi all day long has become a necessity for them, then their priorities in life have become sadly warped and misaligned.

As someone who enjoy using my smartphones (I have more than one) and my profession is in the I.T. (Information Technology) field, I’m certainly not a smartphone hating technophobe. But I also have enough sense to realize that smartphones and WiFi, while great modern conveniences of the 21st century that do make my life easier, they are not in any way necessities that I truly need in my life (even though I too live a very busy life).
 
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And I suppose they would also look down on me, married for a long time but never had kids. (I knew I forgot something!)
 
‘God or Nothing’ & ‘The Power of Silence against the dictatorship of Noise’ are books written by Cardinal Robert Sarah that mention about those being astray from God in its symptoms. I haven’t read the books, I read the preview sample through Amazon Kindle.

Perhaps loneliness is at the root of feeling abandoned by God and lack of conversation with God directly or indirectly, seeking him and his truth is to dwell in his company, through many avenues like this site to find answers to old questions or news questions raised. It’s having a dialogue with God. Our duty is to seek him before all others be it family, children, friends, …
 
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