The Journey

 It will not surprise you, dear readers, that I am a Catholic, though by the previous pope's eyes, a bad one. I have issues with some of it all.  And, well, since wife can't sit up for long, Mass is right out.  So we, wife and I, mass together at home, so to speak.

Yes, the wife is Catholic.  She converted before our marriage so we could get a Catholic mass and have little Catholic children.  Sadly, no children.  It is what it is.  I have my problems, she has hers and now in old age we are good with it.  Now if only my nephews and nieces would start popping out replacements, but that's a whole different story.

What?  She converted?  Worse than that, she's a double convert.  She started in Church of Christ and was a good daughter of that sect of Protestantism, until that sect (the part that she belonged to, maybe not all of it) showed it was more about worldly things and, my feelings, more siding with Downstairs than Upstairs if you catch my drift.  This happened due to many horrid and horrible things and so at 17 she was at the point in her life that she no longer wanted to be CoC.  She acknowledged that there was 'something out there' more powerful and splendid than just ephemeral creatures.

She did, what in her old CoC stomping grounds was right up there with being Catholic (not a good thing) or even worse, a free thinking person, would do and began to research various religions of all flavors and varieties.  The 'Eastern' Asian religions, including the various Indian sub-continent varieties held no truthful feelings for her.  (Me?  I kind of understand Shintoism with its acknowledgment of spirits and non-human powers that are linked to places and things.)  The other Protestant sects were right out, as they felt too much like the CoC.  Catholic-Light, being Episcopalian or Church of England, sorry LSP, held no sway with her.  Neither did the Orthodox Catholic sects.

It was a neck-to-neck race between Roman Catholicism and Judaism.  Which was won due to a very sound and smart rabbi, who challenged my extremely smart wife with hard books about Judaism rather than not-so-learned texts and discussions with Catholic priests (also a little bit of foreshadowing for later.)  So, yes, when I met her my wife was semi-Jewish as she was seen as not-quite-a-Jew but her children would be, a weird thing about Judaism.

Come the time I fell in love with her, she with me, I proposed to her, she finally accepted and plans for marriage were then set in motion.  We both wanted our children to be raised religiously, and she decided to convert to Roman Catholicism for several reasons, appeasing my mother and also so that we have one service a week to go to, and so we could have a Catholic wedding with Mass (partly to appease my mother.)

Ah, time for conversion, no?  So we go to the local Church and present ourselves as penitents wishing to marry and convert and marry.  Ah, the wheels of conversion start to roll.  Wife starts her conversion process and is immediately assigned, in her words, a baby priest who was fresh out of seminary.  So new the price tag was still on his collar so to speak.  And he hands her a kid's version of Roman Catholicism to study, one chapter a week (24 chapters, which would put her conversion somewhere around April after our wedding date... more on that April date coming up...)  Wife is, as I have said, very smart.  She sees calculus equations in her head and the flow of music.  Very very smart.  Why she chose me I only put down to luck, God's will and maybe she saw something in me that I didn't see in me.

She read that simplistic book cover-to-cover, all 24 chapters, in one sitting.  And shows up to the next session with Baby Priest asking about things she should not have been asking about yet.  She proves that she understands all aspects of Roman Catholicism as put out by the book and Baby Priest, Baby Priest acknowledges that she has met the requirements for becoming RC, and then she drops the bomb on said Baby Priest.

Said Baby Priest said they'd set the conversion ceremony for some time in Lent because that's what they always do.

She counters with, "Since it says here according to your book you gave me that once someone acknowledges God and wishes to convert, that their soul is in peril if said person dies before converting then the soul will not enter into Heaven, right?  So why are you making me wait from October to April for my conversion?"  (Note:  Wife can, um, get forceful, like a momma bear, when she needs to.  As she was saying this her presence expanded.  Priest, on the other hand started from a forward leaning position in his chair to what appeared to be cringing in a ball in the corner.  It was somewhat, okay, very amusing to watch from the sidelines, kind of like watching a tier 1 tennis player stonk on an amateur.)

Baby Priest uncurled from his metaphorical cringing ball, stood up, said "Wait here for a minute or two while I check with the pastor," and ran out.  Came back 5 minutes later with, "How about we do it this coming Sunday, which Mass will you be attending?"

So you're probably wondering where this is all going?  

Tuesday's post by Tuna (Chant du Départ: Politics is in my Genes!,) in response to TB's comment about Sydney Sweeney and the possible shifting of Hollyweird to something somewhat righter of Stalin, well, see the comments below.

Toirdhealbheach BeucailAugust 5, 2025 at 7:26 AM

Very nicely done, Tuna. Just the right balance of analysis and opinion.

RE Sydney Sweeney: I will say in certain quarters - the dreaded "Modern Audience" this has kicked up quite a fire storm. The irony of a philosophy of "Live and let live - as long as I agree with you" is not lost on many. And doxing, in whatever form, is just wrong - although I also that even different from two years ago, being a Red voter in entertainment is carrying less and less of a stigma. I would be lying if I did not say that figured into my own entertainment choices.

The Current Resident has done a lot - but to your point, it can all go away again unless it gets enshrined in law. I do wish all the changes had included more fiscal discipline.

Perhaps the strategy is to role The Vice-Resident in once the initial heavy lifting has been done to maintain things and deepen the changes, in some way "making" the policies his own in a way he can point to in the future.

Reply

Replies

1. 
   TunaAugust 5, 2025 at 7:45 AM

   Hollywood is slightly shifting, because they don't really have any other horse to back right now, but I think Sweeny will not have to worry much, since it's not her acting skills that are getting her the work. As for entertainment, have you seen the stuff Angel Studios is putting out? Good quality stories.
2. 
   BeansAugust 5, 2025 at 11:13 AM

   Pure Flix and Ignatius Press are also two great houses.
   
   Pure Flix is the one that put out the "God's not Dead" series. Amongst other great titles.
   
   Ignatius Press does a lot of very Catholic (go figure, Ignatius, duh) stuff. We're currently starting the 10 episode "Catholicism" series, which is a very nice delve into the whole of... Catholicism.

So this is about said Bishop Robert Barron's "Catholicism" Series.  Said Bishop being the narrator and he's very well spoken and full of energy, one of those teachers that entrances you. Which, though we are now halfway through, is so good as I'm learning stuff about Catholicism that being born into it never answered and she is getting the deep stuff Baby Priest couldn't answer.  It is everything that I wished Sunday School and CCD (Sunday school for teens) never taught or dealt with and is much better than the 24 chapter book that she was handed and read in one night.

You can buy the dvd set or watch it online.  And peruse other thoughtful titles about stuff that may expand your world view.

I know, not a thrilling post of derring-do by juvat, a historical drama by OAFS or a political post by Tuna, but it's a little something something.

You're never to old to question, never too old to learn.  And never to old to learn about something that you supposedly knew about all your life.

(I would have linked to some really good Gregorian Chants, but they're all at least 1 hour long so find them on your own, on youtube or other services.

I like Gregorian chants.  They set my mind straight a lot.)