I Don't Understand

I was born and raised in Connecticut and like all good Italian boys I went to the Catholic Church and Sunday School. However, I never did understand the Catholic religion. Back in those days the Mass was said in Latin and of course that helped to confuse matters more. I am writing this article purely to stimulate conversation on my blog, I am not putting down Catholics.

Here are some of my early childhood memories of going to church. First of all, every time we drove by a Catholic church we had to make the sign of the cross. We were not allowed to attend services at any other church except a Catholic church. Friday's we were not allowed to eat meat. Saturday we went to confession and told the priest all of our sins. He would give us a few Hail Marys and Our Fathers to say and all would be forgiven. Sunday we would take Communion and we were not allowed to eat or drink anything before receiving the Sacrament. (Since I was enemic, this often caused me to pass out in church.) After church we would go to Sunday school were we read from the Catacism, and memorized prayers. The Nuns who taught Sunday school were very strict and often wacked our knuckles with rulers. I never read the Bible or knew how to pray to God except by repeating the prayers that we learned in Sunday school.

I did not even know that you could make up your own prayers, and talk directly to God. We always prayed to various Saints or confessed our sins through a Priest. I attended the Catholic church till I was around 13-years old and then I lost interest in religion. I received my First Communion and Confirmation like all good Catholics, but I never knew God.

I started to read the Bible when I was 18 and serving aboard an Aircraft Carrier during the Vietnam War. I did a lot of praying while I was in the Navy, but still was not close to God.

When I was in my early twenties, I got married in the Catholic church but never attended regularly. Ten years later, I was divorced and still did not understand the Catholic Religion.

My second marriage was at a Justice of the Peace and we attended Baptist church once in a while, but not very often. Ten years later, I was divorced again and still not close to God.

The third time around I married a Methodist and we began attending church every Sunday. We went to Bible Study together and I started reading the Bible frequently. I learned that it is possible to pray directly to God and I started to understand what religion was all about. I became involved in Emmaus and Kairos which are great ministries and my wife and I have been active church members for the last thirteen-years!

I still don't understand the Catholic religion, so if you care to enlighten me...please do. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts about various religions. Please leave a comment.