#OctPoWriMo: Oct 2nd & 3rd
OctPoWriMo #2: Catholicism
The Blessed Virgin Mary can be found in stone sitting in your garden.
She sits in the place of where your rose bushes used to be.
She holds her rosary beads with her head down in prayer.
As I walk by she bows in reverence, never looking up at me. (more…)
Faith and Religion: Why Are They Even A Thing?
Photo by Michael Peligro
The other day a friend of mine had brought up a her attendance of Catholic confirmation classes at her church in a group text message with me and one other friend. The other friend had chimed in with her experience of having been confirmed in the 4th grade.
The first friend voiced her confusion about her statement. “You don’t get confirmed until 10th grade in high school.”
I agreed with the statement. I remembered how my friends who had went to Catholic school with me did their confirmation their first year of high school, and asked a coworker sitting next to me, who was also raised Catholic, about when confirmation usually happens.
“Yeah, it’s usually like the first year of high school,” I responded.
I have to admit, I gave my friend a hard time about it, not necessarily because I didn’t believe that she was confirmed by the Catholic Church, but because I found it strange that everyone was okay with having a sheltered child, who had not yet learned and experienced all that was out there, commit the rest of their lives to the only religion she knew about. (more…)
The Intent for Lent
I let the steaming hot java pour into my Beatles thermos, poured a little hazelnut creamer in to the black liquid, and capped it off with the thermos’ matching black top.
“You sure do drink a lot of coffee,” my sister said to me while watching me prepare my beverage in the kitchen from the living room.
I looked at her, “I maybe have a cup or two a day. No big deal.”
“I don’t think that’s a good thing,” my sister looked almost disgusted at my actions. “Everyone is so addicted to that stuff to where they have to have it everyday. You know it’s bad for you if you’re having headaches and getting cranky if you don’t have that daily dose of coffee.”
“Well, I’m not addicted to coffee. I can stop at any time.”
“Sure.” (more…)
Religion In Politics: Why Is This Even A Thing?
“I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters – and the Church does not speak for me…No one asked me my religion [serving the Navy] in the South Pacific.” President John F. Kennedy addressing fears that his being Catholic would impact his decision-making to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960
More than fifty years ago, during a very memorable presidential election campaign, the American people were concerned about the religion of their possible president. Though many people regarded Catholicism as another sect of Christianity, many people believed that the leadership of the church would take over control and ruin everyone’s lives. The problem with this assumption is that it heavily influenced the opinion by the American people of then presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. The belief was that if Kennedy was elected then the Pope, or the Bishop of Rome and the spiritual head of the worldwide Catholic Church, would then become a partial ruler of the United States by influencing Kennedy’s decisions. (more…)
