Emmanuel
FROM THE EDITOR
The first months of the Trump era have been “interesting.” Political
rumblings emanate almost daily from Washington as the new national
leadership attempts to define and implement a very different vision
and priorities for the country. Among the things we have learned
about the 45th President — apart from his penchant for “tweetstorms,”
governance by decree, and recourse to “alternative facts” — is that
he is apparently a workaholic. Reports have revealed that he sleeps
only four or five hours a night. In this, at least, he seems to mirror the
nation as a whole.
“Americans are definitely workaholics,” Cullen Murphy, the editor-
at-large of Vanity Fair, has said in an interview. “Maybe the overall
message of this . . . is that there is a kind of bedrock faith in the idea
that working hard pays off” (Business Insider, July 7, 2015).
Statistics show that Americans work more hours per week than
their European counterparts, take fewer vacation days, and often
let professional responsibilities impinge on their leisure time and
relationships. It may in the short term “pay off,” but at what cost to the
overall sense of personal health, well-being, and perspective? I am
reminded of the adage attributed to the late Senator Paul Tsongas:
“Nobody on their deathbed has ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more
time at the office.’”
Here we stand at the start of May and June and summer. The rhythm
of parish life slows; school and religious education classes in most
places are dismissed; church organizations take a break from their
usual activities; and parishioners and families go away on vacation.
This issue of Emmanuel is an appeal for balance in life, especially in the
lives of those who serve in the ordained ministry and in other roles
of pastoral and spiritual leadership. We must not neglect ourselves.
We mustn’t succumb to the societal pull of “workaholism” and its
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