Reflections of the Past

Going to start with a history. Since I am verbose, I will break it up into four or five separate posts. Might as well throw all this out there at the beginning.

I am a cradle Catholic, child of a childhood convert Catholic and an adult convert (from JW) Catholic. One set of grandparents were Catholic (one Italian immigrant cradle variety married to an adult convert) and the other set were Jehovah’s Witnesses. So. If you can see the potential for…oh, I don’t know…conflict, let’s say…just raise your hand now.

I attended parochial school from 1st to 5th grade. The education there was unmatchable. I was one of those little girls who went early to school so I could go to Mass before. Such wonderful memories of walking in the dark to get there during the winter months.

Moving put me into the public school system, but my mother was faithful about having me attend my CCD classes up to my confirmation. I made a TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) as a senior and followed up by working several TECs over the following years. I also worked Catholic Youth Camp faithfully, through college. I attended Mass without a thought because I loved it.

I am going to say right here and now I was “saved,”sure of my salvation, in a relationship with God my Father and Jesus, my LORD and Savior, in the Catholic Church. I had several people question me later in life about my salvation. I did not know that many Protestants assume Catholics are not Christians (how Christ-like) and that Rome is the “Whore of Babylon.” Now I know. Still am incredulous, but now I know. Sadly, I was at one time almost brainwashed to this way of thinking myself.

I will also say that I did not always live and make choices that honored GOD or my parents for that matter. But unfortunately I’ve been a sinner, no matter the flavor of denomination I’ve identified with.

Post-graduation I moved hours away from family and moved in with a young man and my first desertion of the Church began. Five years later, I found myself on my own and began attending Mass again.

I married a cradle Catholic who had also attended a parochial school, but he had a significantly different experience with the Church, not limited to the statement, “Don’t you bother reading the Bible. We will tell you what it says.” Yes that is what he was told. Some priests really did say that. .

We were married, not in the Church, not by a priest although we did attend Mass for awhile together. Then he stopped going, and I attended solo. Then I stopped going on a regular basis.
We both come from very “matriarchal” families, where the phrase, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t no one happy.” was the rule. We were to fall into this pattern long before I was really a mama. I wore the spiritual and financial pants for a very long time.

Other bad choices led us to run away from where we were and land near my parents. My mother had quit attending Mass and joined the local Assemblies of God church. Out of loneliness and habit I followed.

~ by throughadarkglass on June 19, 2007.