Appreciation Thread for WilliamPitt

[theboss]

397. Becoming a Catholic was an odd experience

My wife and I got married in at a university chapel. It's a church with a reverend and with some "spiritiual" trappings, but certainly not a religious service.

She was raised Catholic. I was raised Protestant. Religion was never that big a thing with us in adulthood, even though it was in childhood.

So, we start talking about kids and the religious thing comes up. We agree that if we are ever going to go to church, we need to be on the same team. We talked "non-denominational" but I'm weirdly conservative in some very specific areas. If I'm going to church, I want a freaking point of view, you know. I may not agree that I'm going to Hell, but at least tell me it's a possibility.

She's got a ton of residual Catholic guilt so converting is not a great option. I agree to go to RCIA on a trial basis, just to see what it's about. And much to my shock, I find a lot about the Catholic faith to be really really beautiful. I'm not a weekly church goer and I certainly don't agree with some of their positions....but I've never gone to a service and not come away with something.

I've also found that in some ways, it's a really open-minded faith. The idea that I've had really interesting conversations about life and politics with a priest over a beer blows my mind because I grew up with ministers who acted like the Pope of my town while simultaneously talking about how down to earth they were.