A Treasure To Be Shared

Mass in a Connemara Cabin by Aloysius O'Kelly (1883) A young priest recently pointed out to this blogger an essay by Fr. Nick Schneider titled The Fathers We Are Losing: The Crisis at Noon . It highlights a growing trend of priests leaving active ministry between 15 and 25 years after ordination, with some stepping away even sooner. www.hprweb.com/2026/08/the-fathers-we-are-losing/ Summary Fr. Nick Schneider argues that this pattern is not simply burnout or failure, but a midlife developmental crisis that the Church has not yet learned to accompany. Drawing on Maria Montessori, psychology, and Scripture, he explains that human growth unfolds through crises — birth, adolescence, and again at midlife. Around ages 35–50, a person’s early strengths naturally wane while deeper, more mature strengths begin to emerge. For priests, this transition is especially difficult because their external life often remains unchanged: the same parish routines, the same responsibilities, the same expec...

Exploded Head , 1982 | Salvador Dali The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God. Saint Teresa of Calcutta Without honest and compassionate support, a vulnerable person could be trapped in a terrifying oxymoron, a maze of contradictions and deceptions that, in today's world, can and often does metastasize into a perpetual nightmare. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. St. Peter Chrysologus History's Child Young people are routinely conscripte...

insolence (n.) late 14c., from Latin insolentia "unusualness, strangeness; excess, immoderation; haughtiness, arrogance," from insolentem "unusual; arrogant" Ironies abound. Though every organization, it seems, has an anti-bullying or anti-oppression policy and a team of peer counselors (and tribunals and lawyers... oh my!) dedicated to mitigating playground, office and classroom intimidation, a generation of bullies has emerged, bullies emboldened by their successes in complicating others' lives. Exodus 20: 12 | Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Permissive parents do not control or regulate their children’s behavior. So their children are less aware of the limits of acceptable behavior. They also exhibit worse impulse control and have more behavioral problems. When facing stressful situations, they are more likely to resort to using aggression. Studies have found that children raised by...