The Word Among Us

July/August 2021 Issue

It’s Never Too Late to Forgive

I Found Peace after Fifty Years of Bitterness

By: Dan Dowsett

It’s Never Too Late to Forgive: I Found Peace after Fifty Years of Bitterness by Dan Dowsett

If only you were here, I thought, this wouldn’t be happening. My stepfather’s neglect had turned to abuse, and I hated that my biological father had abandoned us and wasn’t around to protect my mother, my brother, and me from him. By the time I was seventeen, my mother had divorced my stepfather, but the imprint of abandonment and abuse had seared itself into my heart. Not knowing what to do with the anger I felt toward my stepfather and my biological father, I escaped to the false comforts of casual sex and drug abuse.

A Gentle Witness. I met my future wife, Lou Ann, in high school. Even though I didn’t share her Catholic faith, she and I spoke long...

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