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Going to a Catholic Church and to a Catholic School were all an important part of my up
bringing. My parents raised me as a Catholic and we went to church every Sunday. It didn't
matter if my parents had a brawl the night before, or even if they had a brawl on Sunday morning
before church. We all got dressed up and walked over to St. Joseph Church like one happy
family. I did learn something. I learned to believe in God, and all of the tenants of the Catholic
faith. I learned what the Catholic Church called sin. The venial sins were the small ones, and the
mortal sins were the big ones. I grew up believing that when God created Adam and Eve they
were created as Catholics. I had a deep respect and still do for nuns and priests I watched as the
nuns stopped wearing their traditional habits that all nuns wore at the time and tried to see how
far above their knee they could wear their dresses. I know that the priests enjoyed watching this
contest. I also had a great time talking to all the priests in school, in the community and in my
fathers bar. Two of the priests were my father's drinking buddies. They also attended AA
meetings with my father. I received communion, got confirmed, went to confession, and then
graduated from the eighth grade. That was the end of my religious experience.
My parents did what they could to provide a religious experience for me. The thing that they
didn't do was provide a spiritual experience. The religious experience that I had was one where I
participated in the traditions of the Catholic Church. Most of the time I didn't know why I did
what I did; I just did it. The participation was confined to Sunday morning, and it didn't really
matter what happened during the other six days. I was never taught how to take the teachings of
the faith and develop a set of spiritual principles that would become my value system as I grew
older. I never really matured spiritually.
People usually turn to God for help when their foundations are shaking, only to