Catholic memories

I went to a Catholic parochial school for my K-12 years of school. We were the typical Catholic family. We went to church every Sunday. We also attended mass at school on holy days. I was able to get all of my Catholic education at school in Religion class. In our area, the public school system did not have a good reputation. I am sure my parents struggled to give us a private education.

During my many years, Religion class always took a different form. Some years it was a joke. I had a teacher that made us do Religious crossword puzzles all of the time. I am fairly certain I did not learn much in her class. Then I had a teacher who made us watch Star Wars and somehow made a connection with Religion. My memory has blocked the movie as well as anything I may have been taught in her class. I had a few nuns teach me in elementary school and there were several nuns in high school. I remember Sister Susan chasing me around the halls because my skirt was too short. Those were the days.

I remember going to church every Sunday but not always willingly. I found the homilies to be boring and often times no connection to me as a child. So I basically sat and waited the hour for the mass to be done. I did not want to have my children go through this as well. The Methodist church we have been attending offers Sunday school for the kids during service. So they get to learn in a somewhat fun manner and we don't have ancy children that we have to tend to during service.

We did give a lot of thought on how to raise our children. I never thought that a public education would be for my children. Our ultimate decision was that we could not raise our children in the Catholic church. I do not believe in all of the Catholic teachings and would not ask my children to.
The school issue for us was solved when we moved into one of the best school districts in Maryland. They will get a good education. We still are not sold 100% on the church we have been attending. I hope we can figure this one out soon.

Why does this come up? We went to a Catholic church on Thursday for the funeral of our neighbor's mother. The church was beautiful. The service was lovely. It is funny how it has been so long since I have been to a mass but still remembered all of the responses. It was communion time when the priest made it clear that you are not invited to participate unless you are Catholic and have the same beliefs regarding the Eucharist. And that is when I remembered why we would not raise our children Catholic.