The Post Where I Talk About Religion and Church

The headline brought you in....didn't it?

I went to private Catholic school from kindergarten through 12th grade. Actually I had the choice to attend private or public school for high school but most of my friends were going to private school so I figured why not. And honestly private school wasn't too bad. The worst part of it was the uniforms but they were pretty relaxed on that for the guys when I was there and all the girls had to wear skirts, so there wasn't too much of a downside for me.

Religion was, of course, a requirement. And it wasn't terrible. I only remember 2 things from my religion classes and both came during my junior year of high school.

1. Our school didn't have air conditioning but there were ceiling fans, which during warm months were always on. Well we got a kid who was sitting underneath the fan to through a banana up into the fan and of course it pretty much exploded over everyone sitting under the fan. The best part of that is the teacher didn't believe the kid when he confessed.

He stood up and said he did it and the teacher (honest to god) said "No you didn't Bradley, sit down." I couldn't believe it. She blamed it on Rob, who was what one might call a class clown or trouble maker. Honestly, she didn't believe anyone for a solid couple of days and then finally accepted that Brad must have done it since the WHOLE CLASS told her.

2. The other story is about cheating. Yes that's right I cheated.....in religion class. Shhhh....don't tell anyone, okay?

Tests were all taken on scan-tron sheets and were typically handed back (and gone over) in the same class. Well a group in first period would write down all the answers and it would make its rounds. I had religion in the afternoon and would get the answers during history class in 4th period.

But I was smart enough to never ace the tests. I always made sure to make 3-4 questions wrong on purpose so it wasn't obvious. Well it worked out for me. The ring was broken up and anyone who had a majority of the answers right over the few tests was questioned, including yours truly. And you know what saved me? Yup, making a few answers wrong kept me from getting into trouble.


But anyways, I am getting away from the main part of this story. Religion and Church.

My family went to Church with some regularity. It was never every week but probably closer to every other week. It was always nice when my parents would go out on Saturday night. If they didn't get home before midnight we knew we weren't going to church and I hated church.

As a family we stopped going to church when we stopped being a complete family. Actually we had started going less and less and then my parents got divorced. That happened when I was 18 and I have only been inside a church once since then, for a friends wedding.

So I haven't been to Church in almost 10 years and honestly I don't miss it at all. Church never really served a purpose for me. I went but I never felt anything or got anything out of it.

For the past year I have driven by old Church every morning on my way to the bus stop. And from time to time I think about going back. But not because I miss the religious side of it. More cause I miss the togetherness of it maybe. I mean I have so many memories of being in that church whether with family or with classmates.

I remember sitting in the entrance way a couple Christmas Eve's cause the building was so crowded. I remember crawling around under the pews during practices for special masses the students were a part of.

But I think mostly I miss going to breakfast after church. We would always go to Church with my grandparents and then afterwards we would go out for a nice Sunday brunch. I loved that. Although I am sure I loved it more now than I loved it when it was happening but still it was always nice.

Either way I am now what many would call agnostic. I do not believe in what most religions preach but at the same time I am not 100% sure they aren't right. Which is why I am not an atheist. I have no problem with anyone believing what they want but I would love to debate the myths of religion with you.

Anyways the point of this post was really more a reflection of a time when Church and Religion were important to me and my family. Although to me it was never about the Religious or Faith part and more the family and friends part.

Oh and yes that is the actual church I attended at the top of the post.

Is there anything from your youth that you miss?