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...

   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...