Lessons from a ‘silent’ teacher after sudden loss of employment

After the [Gulf] war, Patty and I completed our degrees and started our family. I had made a career in the nonprofit world and was ordained
a priest serving the Anglican Church in bi-vocational ministry. We had a little farm in the Piney Woods of Texas and had wonderful Christian friends nearby. Things were going great: our sons were maturing into fine men, the bills were paid, and we were beginning to think about retirement.

[Then] my nonprofit secular employer fired me for “no cause” after six and a half years as its general manager. …

I asked, “What have I done wrong?” I was told, “Nothing.” … I was confused – every financial and managerial metric of the company had improved under my watch. This should not be happening!

I wanted to argue with them, to demand an explanation, … but in my mind, I heard, “… like a sheep being led to a slaughter …, he was silent.”

Patty and I had a mortgage, car payments, and two sons in college. I had six years of employee evaluations marked “Exceeds Expectations.” This [could not] be happening. …

Nothing was offered other than, “We think that it’s time to change directions.” Many employees came to my defense to no avail. …

… I felt like I had let my family down. I felt like I had let my employees down.

This forced my family to live in a storm where our faith was shaken, and our very financial stability was questionable. … We asked, “Where is justice?” and “How can God let this happen?”

…I had never been fired in my life, and I certainly never thought it would happen for doing a good job. … How can people just throw my family away and inflict that kind of hurt and pain without a second thought? It was a bitter pill and we suffered through months of depression, sleepless nights, hurt, self-doubt, and the general trials of unemployment.

… Months went by without a single job offer. …

Just as our savings were reaching the end and fear was beginning to creep back into our minds, an opportunity arose. … Another nonprofit reached out and offered me a better job than the one I had lost. We moved to a small midwestern town in a state we had never even considered.

God took this horrible, faith-shaking event in our lives and transformed it into a moment of hope, peace, and grace. A new ministry and a new blessing await us here…

We came through another great, dark valley with God’s help. It was [one] where we cried and faced hurt and depression. … It was a test and,
as always, the teacher was silent.

Excerpt from Catholic Stories of Faith and Hope: How God Brings Good Out of Suffering, by Steven R. Hemler (TAN Books, 2021), pp. 116-121.

STEVEN R. HEMLER is president of the Catholic Apologetics Institute of North America. He is also author of The Reality of God: The Layman’s Guide to Scientific Evidence for the Creator, and Search No More: The Keys to Truth and Happiness (both published by St. Benedict Press and TAN Books).