Ten Years!

On August 1, 2005 Faith of the Fathers blogs were started.

There were four of us posting then, and alas, the only one left is yours truly.

It has been an enjoyable ride for the most part, but not always a smooth one.

There were a couple of occasions when finances forced me to disconnect from the internet, and after I returned from the last such event, everyone else had left. One due to her health, one due to some life changes, and I believe the other just lost interest.

Now I am having to deal with unreliable internet service, and I am doing extremely well if I am able to make one or two posts a week, when I had been making 3 or more per day!

Ah technology. It’s enough to make a man want to apply a hammer firmly to his computer.

Anyway, we have managed to hang around for 10 years! 10 years!

As an old friend used to say, “who would’ve thunk it?”

Anyway, thank you to all of the readers, subscribers, followers, and casual passersby of Faith of the Fathers blogs.

Many of you (you know who you are, and so do I), have given me lots of inspiration, guidance, and support...both spiritually and materially...when I have found myself in need.

Thank you one and all!

God Bless you all, and may Our Lady keep you in her care!

Embarrassed Again

As many of you already know, I was fired from my previous job back in January, as I told you in a previous post here.

At the time, I did not want to go into the details of the reason I was given for being fired, so I will now. My former employer had told me, and the young lady that I worked with, that he was going to have to cut hours. She had found out a few weeks earlier that she and her husband were expecting their first child. She had to miss some work due to some related problems, and then she was laid off. Meanwhile, my hours were cut from 40 per week, to 26 per week. No one else had any hours cut.

Then, my former employer hired four new employees. One was full time, and the other 3 were part time. So in talking to another employee, I had complained about my hours being cut, while no one else was cut, and the fact that new employees were hired. I suppose that my having been with this company the longest did not count.

Any way, my employer was told that I had complained about my hours being cut and his hiring more people, so he said he was firing me because I had complained.

So, I finally found a new job 2 weeks ago. I started out at less pay per hour, but at least I am working and getting 40 hours per week.

The thing is, being unemployed for 3 weeks with no money coming in, combined with already being in a financial bind because of my reduced work hours, has really put me behind on my necessities, like the rent, power bill, and such.

It was also time to renew the license plate for my car, and have it inspected. I have not been able to have that done, because the check engine light was on, and they can not inspect a car until the reason for it being on is repaired. I had the repairs done by a mechanic friend, and I now owe him $270.00 for the parts alone.

I have been getting by on food by eating ramen noodles, beans and rice, and pasta. Sometimes I get tuna and maybe chicken when it’s on sale.

I owe a months rent, and a power bill (I have been using a portable kerosene heater to heat with to reduce the power bill), and still can’t get the car inspection and license renewal done because I only have $3.50 left in the bank. In other words, I am already in the red over $800.00 before I even get started.

So, once again, I am asking my blog readers and friends to please make a donation to me through PayPal. I hate to ask you to do this, but I have nowhere else to turn.

If you can’t make a donation, your prayers are surely needed and deeply appreciated!

Thank you for reading and following Faith of the Fathers blogs!

Your brother in Christ,

Steve Smith

St. Francis Dedication

The following video is from Catholic News Herald, Diocese of Charlotte

St. Francis of Assisi Church was dedicated by Bishop Peter Jugis of the Diocese of Charlotte on Aug. 16, 2014, in Jefferson, North Carolina.