A Faith Worth Living

The world is full of people who are searching for something that they just can’t seem to find. At the same time, the world we live in seems to be spinning out of control. We are more isolated as individuals and more divided as a society than at any other time in history. The faster we seem to run, the farther behind we feel. We also see what some call the complete moral breakdown of our society as there no longer seems to be any absolute truth in our world. The philosophy of Relativism has become the religion of many people. Violence and terror have become just another fact of life, sometimes seen as a video game for young people. Once again, the Catholic Church is in the news as the Clerical Scandals of the past have resurfaced. Instinctively many people know that there is something that has gone terribly wrong, but most people do not know how to put their finger on it. Others want to change our present situation but do not know how to proceed. That is what I hope to answer in this book. It is my contention that the world we live in is suffering from a lack of faith and a turn away from God as in ages past. As the great Saint Augustine has put so aptly, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” If we can each start with ourselves and those around us, perhaps we can change the world after all. So, as you can readily see this is a book about faith. In my particular case, it is the truth and richness of the Catholic faith that I was privileged to find over 48 years ago as a young man and as you will see I practiced without fully understanding for a number of years. But you don’t necessarily need to be Catholic to read it and get a better understanding of your own faith. In fact, I hope to challenge your understanding and get you to really think about what you believe or do not believe. I have chosen to begin this book with my witness because I believe it will allow those who read it to understand where I am coming from in the following pages. It is not only a story of my faith journey, but also a short description of my life. You see; I am one of those individuals who had left the church when the Priest scandals of 2002 rocked our faith. After a few years I returned to the church and happily practiced my faith for a number of years. Then I read a book called “Good Bye Good Men” and it hit a little too close to home and I left the church again for a while. I truly believe those two decisions were the worst mistakes of my life and impacted my family and myself more than I could have ever imagined at the time. When Pope Francis was elected, I felt a call to return to the church and my faith. As he addressed the faithful for the first time it was like he was addressing me. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit giving me one of those nudges that he has been doing in my life for many years. When I came back, I came back all the way with my entire heart and soul. I honestly found the Mercy and Grace that I had been seeking but missing all those years. It was as if our daughter Margaret Mary, whom we lost, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and the Blessed Mother Mary had me by the hand and were leading me back to Christ and the church where I belonged. In the fall of 2013, I attended a weekend retreat called Christ Renews His Parish (CHRP). The weekend was designed to allow men attending to examine their own faith by listening to others present their own faith journey. The real heart of the program, however, was to spend the next six months preparing to be the presenters for the next weekend. This required me to examine my life and I didn’t really like what I saw. I prepared alongside some folks who I have grown close to over the years since then and we successfully completed our task in the spring of 2014. I readily admit that I held back a few things when I first gave this witness and that is why those few who have heard it will find that it differs a little to what they originally heard. Since each witness had a theme, mine was on discipleship. So. For better or worse, here is the story of my own faith journey.