Questions of Faith
Aside from preschool, I attended Catholic schools for all of my education - kindergarten through college. My father was raised Protestant but converted to Catholicism before marrying my mother, and his family rarely discussed specifics of religion at family gatherings. My hometown is heavily Catholic, though I don't know the exact figures.
Add those all up, and I was exposed to very little diversity in matters of faith during my younger years. In high school, I knew a few individuals who were not Catholic (including a friend who seemed exasperated by the cycle of kneeling and standing during mass), but most people who said they weren't Catholic at that age had simply "lost" their faith. Even in college, students who discussed their decidedly less-than-Christian activities over the weekend also discussed which Ash Wednesday service their friends wanted to attend. Then, on Ash Wednesday, people left their ashes on their foreheads all day and no one batted an eye.
When I moved to another state and began teaching at a Catholic school there, I expected to be surrounded by more individuals who reflected my faith back to me. I quickly made friends with a chemistry teacher. She was my age, funny, and friendly. She helped me navigate the school and kept me sane during so many rough periods.
After some time, I also learned she was Jewish.
To be honest, until that point, I had never had a serious conversation with someone who was not a Christian. I never dove into the details of faith with anyone who didn't believe Jesus is our Savior. Since meeting CC, I have had many deep and enriching discussions about our beliefs, however.
CC is very knowledgeable about Jesus. She participated in the masses at school and answered questions about the Catholic faith like an expert. She has since married a Catholic; they had their marriage blessed by the Church, and their son was baptized. She even once asked her husband if he wanted her to convert.
"Do you honestly believe Jesus was the Messiah?" he asked her.
She replied honestly that she did not. It wasn't for lack of knowledge or involvement in faith; Jesus seemed like a great guy to her, but in her heart, she did not believe Jesus was the savior.
My new friend complicated my understanding of my own faith. It's fair to admit I am a Catholic in large part because that's how I was raised. In an earlier post, I bemoaned the lack of cultural traditions my family observes because we have no strong ties to any particular heritage. That's not entirely true, though, because we observed all of the sacraments and traditions of the Church. As any cradle Catholic will tell you, it's not easy to simply let all of that go.
Now, here was someone who was born into a different faith and who continued to profess it. To add interest to the story, my friend was adopted as an infant. She grew up Jewish because a couple chose to provide her with a warm, safe home.
If only Christians can enter heaven, will her husband and son reach paradise while she has to remain behind? Is she, along with so many other non-Christians around the globe, going to be punished simply because of the circumstances of her birth? Did her adoptive parents, through their loving act of bringing her into their (Jewish) family, actually condemn her?
To head off some potential objections, I am aware that individuals convert to Catholicism regularly. I actually have an in-law who was raised Jewish but felt strongly from an early age that Jesus was the real deal. She's now a proud Catholic. On the other hand, I also don't know who I'd be today if I had been born into any other faith. Would I have found Catholicism? Or would I still belong to the faith of my birth?
Since I can't answer that with complete certainty, I don't feel qualified to say that I am definitely right and CC is definitely wrong. Maybe we are both worshiping God in varied ways suited to our life stories. Maybe both make God happy. I really, really hope that's the case because I want to be able to hang out with my dear friend in the afterlife!
Add those all up, and I was exposed to very little diversity in matters of faith during my younger years. In high school, I knew a few individuals who were not Catholic (including a friend who seemed exasperated by the cycle of kneeling and standing during mass), but most people who said they weren't Catholic at that age had simply "lost" their faith. Even in college, students who discussed their decidedly less-than-Christian activities over the weekend also discussed which Ash Wednesday service their friends wanted to attend. Then, on Ash Wednesday, people left their ashes on their foreheads all day and no one batted an eye.
When I moved to another state and began teaching at a Catholic school there, I expected to be surrounded by more individuals who reflected my faith back to me. I quickly made friends with a chemistry teacher. She was my age, funny, and friendly. She helped me navigate the school and kept me sane during so many rough periods.
After some time, I also learned she was Jewish.
To be honest, until that point, I had never had a serious conversation with someone who was not a Christian. I never dove into the details of faith with anyone who didn't believe Jesus is our Savior. Since meeting CC, I have had many deep and enriching discussions about our beliefs, however.
CC is very knowledgeable about Jesus. She participated in the masses at school and answered questions about the Catholic faith like an expert. She has since married a Catholic; they had their marriage blessed by the Church, and their son was baptized. She even once asked her husband if he wanted her to convert.
"Do you honestly believe Jesus was the Messiah?" he asked her.
She replied honestly that she did not. It wasn't for lack of knowledge or involvement in faith; Jesus seemed like a great guy to her, but in her heart, she did not believe Jesus was the savior.
My new friend complicated my understanding of my own faith. It's fair to admit I am a Catholic in large part because that's how I was raised. In an earlier post, I bemoaned the lack of cultural traditions my family observes because we have no strong ties to any particular heritage. That's not entirely true, though, because we observed all of the sacraments and traditions of the Church. As any cradle Catholic will tell you, it's not easy to simply let all of that go.
Now, here was someone who was born into a different faith and who continued to profess it. To add interest to the story, my friend was adopted as an infant. She grew up Jewish because a couple chose to provide her with a warm, safe home.
If only Christians can enter heaven, will her husband and son reach paradise while she has to remain behind? Is she, along with so many other non-Christians around the globe, going to be punished simply because of the circumstances of her birth? Did her adoptive parents, through their loving act of bringing her into their (Jewish) family, actually condemn her?
To head off some potential objections, I am aware that individuals convert to Catholicism regularly. I actually have an in-law who was raised Jewish but felt strongly from an early age that Jesus was the real deal. She's now a proud Catholic. On the other hand, I also don't know who I'd be today if I had been born into any other faith. Would I have found Catholicism? Or would I still belong to the faith of my birth?
Since I can't answer that with complete certainty, I don't feel qualified to say that I am definitely right and CC is definitely wrong. Maybe we are both worshiping God in varied ways suited to our life stories. Maybe both make God happy. I really, really hope that's the case because I want to be able to hang out with my dear friend in the afterlife!
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