The text below is a comment on the post on this blog of Friday, January 23. It is anonymous. It may not be intentional of the writer to remain anonymous, in which case, please contact this blog so that your name can be published. The text also appears as a comment under the relevant post.
It’s published here because it may be missed by some readers. It’s worth a read. And to the writer, thank you.
"Observing commuters rushing to and from work on a daily basis one is tempted to ask where do priests, sisters and brothers encounter people in their daily lives.
"Mixing and engaging with people exclusively when talking about God and the Gospels can be a rarified experience.
"When one thinks about it when exactly are priests engaged with the public? Do they meet them in the workplace as equals, do they travel with them on crowded trams, trains and buses, do they meet them cycling on cycle lanes."
Your words eloquently sum up my life since I first signed in, in January 1972, as a Male Night Telephonist (MNT). Remember, in the Posts and Telecommunications (P&T) telephone exchanges then, men worked the night shifts and women the days. I was beginning my requested leave of absence from the Order modelling the "failed" worker priest lifestyle so to speak. After two years I received a positive response to my requested laicisation and departed for Canada, where I have lived and worked in three provinces over fifty years in a variety of jobs; the longest being for twenty-five of those years as a workplace counsellor for injured and marginalised workers.
There are wonderful rewards for "being reduced to the lay state" i.e. laicisation! You have blessed me, and many more, by your reflective commentary. Thank you.
January 25, 2026
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