A road not taken
I went to a Catholic grade school for five years. We heard Mass every first Friday, as well as on numerous other occasions and feasts, and the whole school said the Rosary every day of May.
And, after a few years of confusion, I came to like Mass. I liked the regularity of it. After I left the school, I kept studying church history and ritual, and I liked it even more.
I went to a Saturday evening mass last week. It was a lot different than I remembered (due probably to the passage of time, and maybe also to parishoners on opposite ends of the spectrum) but I was still able to follow along. Catholicism appeals to me for its tradition, for its universality, and because one always knows where one stands, it seems. It wasn't something I can say I ever considered very seriously, though I had given the matter some thought since adulthood (in elementary school, I would have felt like a traitor to the cause if I'd even considered it!) But I realized, last Saturday, that that's a door that's closed now. As mentioned in my introductory rambling, I've been called to ordained ministry -- and that's not something that I would be able to pursue.
Bring on the ambiguity and tenuous doctrinal interpretation, then, I guess!
And, after a few years of confusion, I came to like Mass. I liked the regularity of it. After I left the school, I kept studying church history and ritual, and I liked it even more.
I went to a Saturday evening mass last week. It was a lot different than I remembered (due probably to the passage of time, and maybe also to parishoners on opposite ends of the spectrum) but I was still able to follow along. Catholicism appeals to me for its tradition, for its universality, and because one always knows where one stands, it seems. It wasn't something I can say I ever considered very seriously, though I had given the matter some thought since adulthood (in elementary school, I would have felt like a traitor to the cause if I'd even considered it!) But I realized, last Saturday, that that's a door that's closed now. As mentioned in my introductory rambling, I've been called to ordained ministry -- and that's not something that I would be able to pursue.
Bring on the ambiguity and tenuous doctrinal interpretation, then, I guess!