Staying Catholic In College

In the beginning I understood my Christin faith as an academic. I did as I was told, I read my bible, and I followed the Ten Commandments as any teenager does; when it suited me. I wasn’t a horrible teenager, I was raised in a small farm community that really didn’t understand someone with a vole at the end of their name, or someone who wanted to walk to the library and read rather than hang out on the steps of the malt shop/gas station. My formative years were the 1960’s. There was so much conflict and rebellion and hatred. By the time I graduated and was supposed to go out and make my way I was thoroughly confused with and rebellious. Problem was I wasn’t sure what I was rebelling against; the “rebel without a clue.” But, in the end I wound up being a successful trial attorney; I even ran for Congress! I became a Master of the Universe; I was a Goddess that walked on the earth. I believed that God already had enough on his plate, wars, famine, disease, atrocities; why should I plague Him further? After all, the Bible says: “God

I am saying this because I am born and raised Catholic in my entire life, through my years of entering the Catholic Church fully in my freshmen year I thought that I would have no future with this but honestly looking at my life now I went so far due to how much appreciation I had with my faith. My faith, as you can see created a big chain reaction that caused me to stay in tact in the time of stress which I will be discussing in a few seconds. Without my religion I would have not known what I am satisfied with, I have a really low self esteem and high anxiety, I feel like in a matter of minutes I would have given up my life and I could have not experience what could be done but luckily I am still living now and it is actually a great accomplishment for me as a human being to persevere, and to stay resilient with all the things that life has threw me

Usually people have a moment in their life that really explains why they are catholic or what keeps them going as a practicing catholic. I went to a confirmation retreat a few weeks ago, there was a girl that was in a severe car accident, she explained how she thought that she was going to die in that car. But, once she started praying and talking to God as she was waiting for help, she started to believe that she would live because she knew God was on her side. I haven’t had one of these moments, and I don’t necessarily wish that something like this would happen to me. I do wish that i would have a moment that would pull me a bit closer to God, even if it's just a centimeter.

The naivety of my childhood caused me to believe that I was not good enough, that I had to change myself in order to gratify the people of my church and maintain my dad’s good image. Whenever I went to church, I felt that I had to completely change myself in order to keep everyone happy, everyone but myself. As I got older and figured out that it is impossible for anyone to fully fulfill the expectations of others, I realized how restricted I had been my entire life. I finally came to the realization that people were putting me in a box unsuitable for me and expected me to fit in

In my youth, I believed in God, prayed to Him, and appreciated His apparent love for me, but there was no substance to my faith because I had a considerably vague understanding of my sins. I did not comprehend my need for forgiveness, nor was I told that I need to confess my sins to Christ and acknowledge Him as my Lord and Savior to have a personal relationship with Him. As I entered the fifth-grade, I was presented with and accepted the gospel in our high school gymnasium. I still had a rather vague understanding of my need for a Savior. Over time, however, I began to grow in recognition of my transgression and experienced a gradual increase in the size of the cross. I began to see God as a friend who loved me and overlooked my sins past, present, and future through the penalty paid by Christ’s death on the cross. While this explanation of the gospel is true, it was incomplete and lead to compromise in my

The past 7 years at Mary Queen of Peace have been a rollercoaster of so many different things. When I first joined Mary Queen in second grade, I was very scared of everyone. Through the years I have created so many different friendships and memories. Each and every teacher has taught me so much, even though when my parents ask “Did you learn anything today?” and I say no. I have learned so much in the past 7 years through amazing, different ways of teaching. I learned about things like Newton’s Laws of Motion through Fun Fridays with Mrs. Harris, how to write my mind through journal entries with Ms. Venneman, and my states with Mrs. Venker. Also, I learned about crazy math problems with Ms. Schaefer, and about different countries and their history with Mrs. Oberkirsch and Mrs. McDermott. But most importantly about my faith through all the teachers especially Mrs. Kelly.

I’ve always had a very vague understanding and relationship with Catholicism. Growing up, my family never did anything to practice our faith. For example, the only time we would go to church would be for family events like baptisms or funerals. I didn’t think much of it and whether it was good or bad that we didn’t practice. I also never understood why my parents put my sister and I into catholic school instead of public school. Whenever I asked, they would answer with “We went to catholic school so we want you guys to get the same education too.” I would always wonder why I went to a catholic school if my family never did anything to show our faith. Not trying to say that catholic school was bad for me, but shouldn’t kids who practice Catholicism a lot attend the schools.

Religious programs have existed on college campuses for years. They provide a way to help students continue practicing their faith away from home. These programs are set up to help provide a sense of community and fellowship amongst those who have the similar views. At Stetson, one of those programs is Revive. Revive is a program set up to help keep the Christian faith strong. In doing so, they have prayer services, bible study, and Friday church every week. On their site they have a selection of churches to assist you in finding your home church away from home as well as provide ways for you to visit those churches. They host amazing events that bring Christians and non-believers together to hear the true gospel. Revive is a program that is not only for the Christian community, but it also includes those who are non-believers. As many might say, “religious programs should be separated from academics and campus life, or that programs such as these are judgmental and only promote ignorance.” I say that Revive proves otherwise.

"Oh you're Catholic" a common stereotype that labeled my being as homophobic, bible thumping or even a nun. The stereotype hurt me; however, I knew I was nowhere close to their predictions. After experiencing a stereotype firsthand, I started to become aware of the overwhelming amount of stereotyping that takes place in our society, specifically the modern over-generalization of the Islamic religion. Most likely provoked by the 9/11 attacks and unrest in the Middle East, where Islam is prominent, the Muslim religion is stereotyped as being radical and violent causing unnecessary prejudice against its followers.

Being a person of strong mindedness and being very strong willed, i fought for what i believed in and what i believed was that Christianity was a superior religion in an extent; I thought Catholicism was, in a sense, some religion based off of Christianity used in the wrong sense. I did not get the point of “telling our sins” to a “Priest” or going to Mass and most of their core values bothered me to a point where i refused to pay attention or even want to participate in my Religion class. As a part of our grade, we are required to keep a journal, in my journal i would write out my frustrations and why i refuse to participate. I would question the teacher in class and verbally express how much i thought Catholicism was a “weird” Religion. I am

Becoming religious is an aspect of the Grad at Grad that is almost always overlooked. It is almost always ignored because of the fact that students at Prep are never forced or influenced to be a certain religion. However, just because you are religious does not mean you have to commit yourself to the same religion as everybody else. In fact, at Prep there are many ways to express your beliefs no matter what you believe in. A good example of this is the option of rejecting the Eucharist at school Masses. When I was a freshman, I didn’t even know there was an option to reject the Eucharist. I came from a Catholic middle school and had only ever seen young children receive a blessing instead of the Eucharist as they had not undergone their First

On the morning of Friday, May 5th, I commenced a practice of the Catholic tradition Lent. Practicing Lent taught me that observant Catholics will sacrifice a principal of their life, but it is only short-term. Abstaining from meat and Netflix during school work felt accomplishing, thinking about my loved one was nostalgic, and partaking in charity and service was benevolent.

There are many ways to show Catholic faith around us. We do many things to show the Works of Mercy. We like to present kindness and compassion to others. Luke wrote “ be you therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” which means we should have mercy towards others. We all participate in Works of Mercy, reconciliation, and we all take part in pilgrimage.

When I reflect on my past, I recall a time period in which God was not as important to me as He is now. Nevertheless, I am regularly humbled due to how imperfect my faith and love can sometimes be. Some would agree that growing close to God is a life-long process. Therefore, we will always struggle against temptation, vice, and sin as we seek to grow in holiness. If we are honest, I think most of us can relate to this experience. Do we not all struggle in the calling to live totally for God and His glory?

My only ambition was to become a nun unlike other classmate (mostly Buddhism). Then after grade 9, I myself decided to enter Convent. To follow my aim, I had to be formed in formation program around 6 years and other 2 years in novitiate house which I undoubtedly passed through with many crossroads. In 2000 I professed as religious sister. My first two years as a junior sister was amazing adventures. I was eager to work effectively. I worked in a parish and school half day and continued studying in college for bachelor degree in evening. Unfortunately, in my third year I was burned out by tiring working and studying. It made me be confused about my vacation. I became a religious sister already. I completed my goal. What was the next? I lost my ambition. This idea poisonously infiltrated into my mind and depressed me. During monthly meeting with my spiritual director who is Redemptorist priest, I told him what I worried about. I was afraid that I had no genuine vocation. He answered with his experience as young priest. He told me that I asked wrong question to myself all along. It was not what my goal was, but it is about who my initial Goal is. I should step forward to be intimately to my Goal who I long to meet Him in my very last day as a faithful