Steve rocked gently in his chair as his giant hands, scarred and calloused by years of laying pipe across the Midwest, dug into his thighs. A barely audible moan escaped his clenched teeth.
In that moment he seemed more like a fatally wounded old lion than an enormously successful, self-made man.
Steve had always been a faithful Catholic, he promised me, almost pleading. He always went to Mass, prayed the rosary and paid for the expensive Catholic school tuition, from Kindergarten through college, even when he didn’t really have the money.
But now his beloved little girl had rejected the faith, and him along with it.
“How could it come to this?”, he asked. “How is this possible?”
I wanted to tell Steve that his situation wasn’t unusual, that it wasn’t his fault, that there was a crisis in the Church, not just among the laity but among the priests and even Bishops. I thought about telling him about the millions of parents who had done their best and still watched with horror as their adult children left the faith and rejected the values they’d been taught.
But at that moment, it felt wholly inadequate. Nothing I could say would change the fact that Steve felt a raw, aching pain that left him feeling…empty.
Steve and I sat alone in a deafening silence that afternoon before praying together for wisdom, healing and encouragement.
Those of us at Dynamic Catholic talk with men like Steve every day. Husbands and fathers who woke up early and stayed up late for years in order to provide for their families and set an example for their children, only to one day find that where they had labored to sew virtue in the garden of their daughter’s heart, walls of cold stone had spring up, seemingly overnight.
Of course, it’s not just men who suffer.
Wives and mothers grieve silently, too, watching the children they carried in their wombs, held to their breasts and cuddled, stray from the faith that had once motivated them to read stories of the saints, sing hymns without abandon and serve on the altar.
The problem is catastrophic; more than 30 million people have stopped practicing or have left the Catholic Church.
I want to admit something to you.
I travel a lot. Almost every week I’m in a different city somewhere in America. Not the big cities, but the places where real people live, work, raise their children and help strengthen their communities.
Many parishes I visit feel like assisted living facilities. The babbling and crying of infants that were a mainstay of Catholic worship in the 1950s are a rarity now. Many parishes have more funerals than baptisms. All across the United States, Bishops are closing churches.
We’re seeing the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church in America…and as bad as it is right now, it’s only going to get worse as those who have stopped practicing the faith will either not have children, or will raise children with ignorance, or worse, disdain for religion. Those pews of old ladies will soon be empty.
Who will do the evangelization of the next generation?
Who will speak truth to power in a society that daily grows in hostility to our values?
Who will answer the questions that every man, at some point in his life, asks of God?
And yet…you and I will not despair. We know Our Lord permits this time of darkness and suffering in our families, communities and Church so that an even greater good will result. In his wisdom and mercy, he has placed you and I here, at this exact time in human history. He’s calling us to use the talents and resources he so generously gave us to cooperate with his grace, to spread the light and joy of the Gospel and overcome the sin and darkness that surrounds us.
You’ve already been a part of this mission. Thank you. Your prayers and support over the last decade have helped us reach the masses with more than 40 million books.
But we must do more.
In 2024, we need 1,000 more supporters just like you. Men and women with a love for Jesus and a desire to play a role in the defense of the faith and the evangelism of a post-Christian society. Husbands and wives, fathers and mothers who feel the call of the Holy Spirit in their hearts but haven’t yet discerned exactly what the Father is calling you to do.
This message is for you.
If you’ve felt called to something greater, if you believe God has blessed you in this life, I want to invite you to explore with us the opportunity to participate in a more intimate and substantial way with our mission.
Just imagine an America in which every small town and suburb is flooded with the promise of Christ on TV, in the mailbox and on the smartphone. While politicians and revolutionaries seek to divide our people by race, sex and class, you and I will meekly follow behind them sowing the seeds of Jesus Christ’s good news for all men.
If that vision for our future resonates with you, see the form below to schedule a time to chat with me or one of my colleagues about the opportunity to support our mission in a more powerful way.