While I was growing up my parents would argue a lot. I thought their fighting was just a normal thing that grown-ups did. As I got older I would try to
intervene and stop them from fighting.
One night when I was 12 years old I woke up at about 3AM and heard my father yelling. I came downstairs to see my mom on the phone with
911. I sat down on the couch with my dad. I found out eventually that my parents were getting a divorce and this was the last night that they were
spending together before moving out. I remember my Dad yelling that he didn’t understand how you can be in love with someone and be married to
them for over 20 years and just stop being in love with them.
The police eventually came to our house to try to get my dad to agree to leave for the night. He did not want to because he worked for our house and
so they told him he either had to leave or they would take him. He was mad at the officers and asked for a moment to say goodbye to me, saying
you would want that chance too if you weren’t going to see your son again for several months. The police officers told him to stand up and place
his hands against the window because he was under arrest. I immediately ran upstairs and went to the bedroom that overlooked our driveway. I watched
as the officers took my dad into the car in handcuffs and drove away. This was the last time that I saw my dad for several months.
I immediately fell into a deep sadness, having a very hard time ever wanting to go to school or do anything else. I suddenly could only see my dad
every other weekend and had to walk far away from my house for him to be able to pick me up. My parents tried to have me see counselors, but they
were not ever any help. No one ever told me why my parents would no longer be together other than that they did not love each other anymore. I
could not understand how they could stop loving each other after being married for so long. It was not until I was 22 years old and heard Dr. Morse
speak that I ever heard anyone talk about how much divorce impacts children. I grew up very lonely, only ever having one or two friends while at
school and never having a social life outside of school or sports.
I still do not feel like I have a family that I can go home to. I rarely visit my family because it doesn’t feel like home, and I have a hard time
feeling like they love me. We did not go to Church after my parents’ divorce, and I eventually became an agnostic. I only ever knew of God and
never saw him as being three persons who loved me.
I was gifted the grace of faith at the beginning of this year and since coming back to the Church have found an incredible amount of love and support
for the suffering that I have gone through and still carry with me today. I am so thankful for the Church’s teachings on the indissolubility of
marriage. I still carry a lot of pain with me but I have found immense relief in knowing that I am a victim, my parents separation was wrong, and
that I was not wrong for being hurt by it. It helps knowing that my parents are still married in His eyes and that God still very much so loves
our entire family.
Looking to the future, I am happy that God has gifted me with the incredible grace of a vocation to religious life with a Fransiscan Order. I am happy
that I am finally home-sick when I am away from the brothers as they truly feel like family. I am also able to finally fulfill the deep desire
that I have always had within me to spend my life serving those in need.
Submitted by S. R. December 2015.