Reclaiming Christianity

       We all have our bad days. For me it was a confession that turned super awkward when I asked the Jesuit priest to enroll me in the brown scapular. He said he didn’t know the prayers. I had the prayers there on hand but instead of telling him that I panicked and just acted like I didn’t. I practically tripped over myself leaving. Then vented to my mom and somehow tried to make the priest the bad guy to cover for my embarrassment. Then I ended up in a conversation with a “friend” who is a huge Latin mass fan. She made me feel validated… But the only reason she actually disliked this priest was cause he was a Jesuit… Boy did that make me feel like an ass. That was the moment I realized I really wasn’t being fair and clearly other people in the parish were not being fair. Which just made me feel even worse.    Jesuits, similar to nuns, get a bum deal. They dedicate their entire lives to the church, to the service of us the faithful, and they take a vow of...

   Where do we even begin with such a heated topic. What happened to Charlie Kirk was a tragedy and murdering people is never okay. Nonetheless erasing history is also not okay. Whenever we try to have an honest and fair discussion about Charlie Kirk’s legacy any terrible thing he says is reacted to with, “But you’re taking it out of context.” I ask you in what context is saying a woman loses her beauty when she turns 30 acceptable? In what context is saying people getting shot is worth it acceptable? And in what context is calling a black pilot who had to pass all sorts of rigorous certification unqualified acceptable? Yes his insulting speech was to back up a political position and argument, but there are better ways. Demonizing others is not the way. There’s no excuse or defense for his vile language. Many Christians are horrified by the way he has been elevated to saint status. Others saw this coming. If you grew up in the Christian faith which most Americans did then by a...

      JD Vance and I actually have a lot in common. We were both born to drug addicted mothers who frankly lived in poverty and we both came from an evangelical background and converted to the Catholic faith by choice… But that’s where the similarities end. We spend a lot of time in this country talking about JD Vance’s strange interpretation of the Catholic faith but I think we’re missing a bigger issue. His interpretation of his own childhood and family is what we should really be talking about.     JD Vance treats his past as an obstacle to overcome, and his mother as a cautionary tale. To be fair it’s not hard to do in these types of situations. It’s the easiest conclusion you can come to to rationalize the life you’ve lived. The problem is though that just because it’s easy to come to that conclusion doesn’t mean it’s right. Sure we can sit here and blame the poor for being poor, blame the addict for being an addict, blame our parents for the crap...

   When I first joined the Catholic faith in 2017 I chose to follow the personal act of donning the mantilla. When I say I had no idea what I was getting into… I mean it. The moment I showed up at the church San Juan Capistrano Mission Basilica wearing a veil and a skirt I immediately found myself ostracized. Everywhere I would go within church people would glare. Even during the communion rites themselves I was glared at from people in the pews. They looked at me with disdain and disgust. And this judgment wasn’t just found in the pews of the church but in the RCIA director herself who treated me very differently than every other person in the class. I was devastated. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong or why the way I dressed bothered them. In fact I didn’t even know the hateful judgementalism that the mantilla had come to symbolize. I was hurt and I felt rejected. I was trying so hard to fit in, but wasn’t. To me donning this veil was simply a way to show my devotion to t...