Faith Above All

Apparently all the good stuff happens at work. Here I am again, with yet another gem of a story. 

Out of the blue but in an attempt to strike up a conversation, an older gentleman asked me if I go to church. Seemed innocent and simple enough. I briefly mentioned that I haven’t been in quite a while but I used to frequent Cathedral of Christ the King, which is a Roman Catholic church here in Lexington. Without missing a beat and nearly cutting me off, he replied with, “Have you ever thought about becoming a Christian”? In my head I’m thinking, is this guy serious right now? He has to be kidding. No—he was as serious as they come. A true recruiter for Jesus. 

Once I gathered my thoughts for a comeback, I politely responded that Catholics are indeed Christian. He wasn’t convinced but somewhat accepting of my answer. I was then approached with, “Do you know the main difference between the Catholic church and Protestant churches”? I was afraid to even make an attempt at this one. I replied simply with, “No, what”? I’ll be damned if his answer was that Catholic churches have Jesus on their cross but the others don’t. Whoa, Nelly! Who knew? He continued with, “We also pray directly to Jesus but you have to go through priests. It’s just a business in the Catholic church”. 

At first I was kind of offended but then remembered this is nothing new. Growing up Catholic in the southern bible belt as it’s known, I was repeatedly reminded that I was going to Hell. I mean, I guess someone has to take one for the team. Might as well be me. Right?! I will however, be sure to save some seats for all the hypocrite heathens. You know—All the “good” people who told me I wasn’t good enough. Weird—see you at the gates!

I baffled this gentleman when I told him that I do pray directly to the Heavenly Father. Wait was I even allowed to admit that? He then proceeded to tell me that was wrong. Ahh—I knew that was coming. In my mind, all the thoughts,"Wait, what? How do you even know? And you just told me that’s what you do. Now I’m really confused". I think he meant it was wrong for me as a Catholic to bring prayer to Jesus myself, without the help of a priest or saint. I said, “It doesn’t always work that way. I have more direct prayer now than I ever did”. 

As the conversation continued, I would add in my two cents where I felt it was warranted. My simple statement of you don’t need religion to be close to God definitely got the wheels turning. He didn’t have a good comeback for that. How do you even respond to that? What was he going to tell me? That I was wrong and that can’t be true? Heck no, he wasn’t going to say that. Well, maybe he was but he didn’t. 

Here are my thoughts on religion, church and faith. Religion is congregation. It’s a sense of belonging, of fellowship. Church is typically referring to a building. A place of worship. Faith is a feeling. A deep connection. Some people need all of these things. Some just need a church; a safe place to practice their faith. Others don’t rely on religion or church but rather, carry their faith wherever they go. It’s not just a Sunday church service every week. 

We are all different in how we approach faith, church, and religion. I don’t think any of it is wrong. It’s just different. However, if you bring your faith into a church or religion and it does not align, be prepared to be told that you are wrong and you need to conform—or leave. Call me crazy, but last time I checked, none of us are God and we don’t make that determination. Rather than damn someone to hell for being different, it would be nice for a change, if we just engaged in open conversation. Why not learn about how someone chose the path they did? I am personally intrigued by the stories. If we just close our mouths for once and open our hearts and ears, things would be so different. Much different. Different in a good way.

Stop damning people to hell because they don’t share YOUR religion, or because they don’t attend YOUR church, or because they don’t have YOUR same faith. Be open minded to differences. Be accepting of them. If we all went to the same church and shared the same beliefs, how boring would that be? I’m so glad we don’t live like that and are free to choose how and what we believe. 

PS—Catholics are Christians!