to the heights

The Answer to Loneliness

by Father Brian J. Soliven on Sunday May 14, 2023

“Good morning Father,” says a young man. “My name is *Michael*” (name changed for privacy). “Does St. Mary’s have a young adult group? I’ve been looking for a group of Catholic’s my age. Our culture has become more and more godless that I feel I need to surround myself with people who are like-minded. Sometimes it can be lonely…” That last sentence, “It can be lonely”, struck me in the heart. It reminded me of when I was a young college junior at UC Davis. I was starting to take my Catholic faith more seriously at this point in my life but I was having difficulty finding peers who wanted to love the Lord in the same way. Afterall, Davis, much like most college campuses, is notorious for being hostile to religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular. Christian beliefs are roundly mocked as intolerant and backwards, especially if you maintain traditional beliefs on the hot-button issues of our age, like abortion and human sexuality. Oftentimes you feel like a lone blade of green grass in the middle of dry desert dunes.