March 13, 2019 Already a few minutes late for work, I sat in my car in the parking lot outside the office building with tears streaming down my face. Nothing was wrong with me. Nothing bad was happening to the people closest to me. So why was I crying? I was crying because of a story I was listening to on my car radio. In the story, a Bronx firefighter recounted his role in responding to the tragic death of two young children and his regrets about how he handled that loss (if you’re curious, Google “The Moth Bronx Burning”). I’ll likely never meet that firefighter, but I felt a connection to him. His sadness and regret made hurt for him. Why? Because I know a bit of his story. Sharing stories creates bonds. When people share their narratives, their emotions and/or their thoughts, it allows others to identify with them or at least to understand them a bit better. It creates empathy. Largely because of the size of our diocese, connections can be difficult to establish. Parishioners of St. Mary’s in Champlain may never cross paths with parishioners of St. Stephen’s in Croghan. So how can we connect? We can share our stories. We’re trying to do just that here in the pages of this newspaper. It’s our goal at the North Country Catholic to tell the stories of the people, organizations and communities of our diocese that are growing their relationships with the Lord and sharing those relationships with others. We want to tell the stories of the events and activities that are bringing people together. It’s our goal that these stories connect us, highlight what’s working for others and inspire us. But for this all to work, we need your help. We encourage all diocesan families to subscribe to the NCC and get these stories sent to their homes or email addresses. We also need your story ideas. While we have a handful of contributing writers spread around the diocese, we don’t hit every area. We don’t hear every idea. We count on you, our readers, to let us know when you hear a great story that should be shared. And we thank you for your continued support of the North Country Catholic. |
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