An aside: We have a fellow in our area who reminds me of you and Salvation (in terms of your devotion, knowledge, and ability to educate fellow Catholics). He has acted as the server at many of our Latin Masses. Now I am afraid he is leaving the area. What a loss for us! I'm sure your parishes cling to you like Locktite also!
Another personal aside (really aside): A book came out recently about a fairly well-known deceased physicist. Turns out the biography references my brother who was the closest working colleague and "best friend" of this individual for several years.
Though the author (who interviewed my brother in 2008) does an exemplary job throughout most of the work, for some reason he felt the need to include a less-than-flattering description of a certain episode in my brother's past. Seemed gratuitous to me, but unfortunately is probably factual.
Anyway, the physicist who is the subject of the book was an atheist and although brilliant ("Second to Einstein" as my brother describes him), was not the kind of person an observant Catholic would want to spend much time around outside of strict professional involvement. He is widely acknowledged as having been the originator of the "Many Worlds Hypothesis" -- although Bryce DeWitt later coined that term -- which I see as a way to convince people there is no Heaven and Hell (or God and Satan) but rather a never-ending series of parallel universes where all possible outcomes occur. In other words, a handy tool of the devil to weaken Christian beliefs. In fact, it worked with his daughter, who committed suicide expecting to join her deceased father in a "parallel universe".
So, anyway, my Catholic appeal after this long and somewhat sordid personal story is to pray for my brother, who was somewhat influenced by this guy along the way. To what extent I don't know (not close to him and he lives on the other coast), but I strongly suspect he did not emerge spiritually unscathed. The episode I referred to earlier, although not at all uncommon, is not something I am proud of, though it happened decades ago. Really not too keen on having it in print, however! The passage also mentions my dad's name for background (who was an excellent Catholic) so there is no question which family is being talked about. Sorry for the long story. I didn't really proofread this. Prayers for my brother and even the weird physicist and his daughter welcomed.
Ping to a personal story in #158 in case you are interested (you were selected for this ping because there has been some small amount of personal/family interchange in the past lol).
A common trope in science fiction stories for many years, but not something I'd ever considered taking seriously. I'm sorry about the poor publicity for your family, and I'll pray for all of you and the late physicist. My brother pays much more attention to science news than I do.
For some reason, our brains were built to specifications which go beyond material reality as we know it.
So: an never-ending series of parallel universes, eh? Just another "fix" to fill the God-shaped hole. I will certainly bow my head and pray for your brother and for all souls who feel inexplicably out of place, souls who all their lives have been longing for...What?