Journey 2013: Gratitude

[mathnerd314]

I'm catching up on Grey's Anatomy right now, despite being home on Thursday night*. I'd planned on madly cleaning the house and baking in advance of a NerdFamily deluge. The phone has been ringing every night with calls from the College Alumni Phoneathon, which I ignore because, hello, I give faithfully every May. This time I checked when the phone

Comments

[sunflowerakb]

I checked out the article on being single and Jewish and I think it is something that is not just true of Jews but also other faith traditions. I would be interested in a further discussion. facebook might not be the best forum but it might be an interested blog series...

[mathnerd314]

If I tell you that my one-sentence reaction to this article (and several others like it...there's been some stuff in the American Jewish world recently that's spawned a lot of articles like this) is, "There probably aren't many Jews like you (and me), so figure out some way to be useful." (I mean, probability alone....) Yeah, I need to write about this.

I'm curious if this is common in other traditions. From the outside, it looks to me like megachurch Christianity probably doesn't have this problem. Catholicism doesn't seem to have a good setup for singles in their thirties and forties, but that's my perception. You're offering to weigh in, right?

[chemgal18]

I'd love to be part of the conversation, too. I actually feel like a single thirty-something in faith communities since ChemGuy isn't part of them. Even if he were part, the "no kids" thing still means that there's not an easy slot for me to slide into/small groups to join/etc, to form community-within-a-community, so to speak. It's even stranger in a primarily college town, where the congregation seems to be split equally between college students (who bring lots of life and energy, but no organized activities for anyone who is not a student) and 50+ somethings who live in the area. My hunch is that most 30-something couples with children go to the parish in town that has a grade school associated with it, but many of that congregation's views are on the extreme end for Catholicism and voiced loudly and clearly, and I felt particularly out of place there. It's been quite a challenge to find anything that feels welcoming and like it could be "home". But I'm also willing to admit that I haven't pushed and pushed to try to make it

[sunflowerakb]

yep, I'm willing to weigh in on the discussion.

[sunflowerakb]

my parish as a young adult group which is 19-35 which I've participated with a little bit. Although, I did talk with the Deacon in charge and asked him if i could participate even though I'm 36. And after he got over his shock at my advanced years (initially, he didn't believe me), he said of course! and has encouraged me to attend as I am able. (a lot of their events conflict with choir rehearsal) There is also a 35 and over singles group in the greater geographical area that brings together singles who attend different parishes. so far, it seems to be mainly single women but it has been a great way to get to know other Catholics. Again, their events often conflict with choir rehearsal.

sorry it took so long to get back to this post,