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I have lived in Front Royal for 13 years now. I feel terribly alone. There is no parish school. Yes, there are many homeschoolers, but with Dads commuting or working for a poor salary at the couple of Catholic Apostolates here, folks are too busy and/or too poor. Our community suffers from too many scrupulous traditionalists and judgmental types. With very large families, who can you invite over? If I invite my two closest friends over, that's 21 children in my 1000 square foot home. Our pastor has squashed what community there was, by ceasing to hold coffee and donuts after Masses (it wasn't making money) and denying usage of parish facilities for almost anything. If you have your baby baptized, you can't have a reception there. It has been a major stress for me, and I've had a couple of kind friends host parties for me when my kids receive sacraments as we cannot do that. Father also tells us not to bring our children to Mass and will stop his homily to stare at a parent while they try to climb out of ridiculously wide pews with a crying baby. As a mom, I feel unwelcome at my parish. As a homeschooling mom I am too busy trying to educate my children and keep on top of the mess (one acquaintance recently got written up by Social Service for toys on the floor and dishes in the sink) for any play dates or social events, and most people I know don't even have birthday parties for their children at all. I used to be able to talk to other moms on the phone and get together, even go over to someone's house to help them out. It is not much help bringing my 6 kids (including 3 under 5) over! So I can go weeks without having a real conversation with another Catholic mom at times. If I didn't live here, I wouldn't move here. - Anon.