June 2025

In her 1952 autobiography, "The Long Loneliness," Catholic activist and journalist Dorothy Day noted, “We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.”

The U.S. Surgeon General issued a report in 2023 stating the country was in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Despite the connectivity of social media and the freedom to gather post-pandemic, Americans seemed less connected, less involved with each other, less of everything that disrupts the feeling of being alone. What can we do – as individuals, congregations, schools – to recognize and ease the loneliness in ourselves and in others? Perhaps it starts with remembering that, at our core, we are connected, and we are one in each other and in God. In this issue of the Outlook, we consider the epidemic of loneliness.