C is for Church or Catholic

Religion has become an increasingly more important part of life since I met my husband. At the time that we met, we both were looking to rejoin a church that had very much been a part of our childhoods. Still, both of us had been disenfranchised. However, as I saw my son growing up, I knew that faith needed to be a part of his life. As he started asking questions and as we started having conversations, I knew that I wanted to take him to church and allow him to have the same relationship with God that I had. This has led my family on a journey I wouldn't have foreseen ten years ago.

Doug and I started going back to church about six months into our relationship. Part of this was motivated by my insane thought that we were going to get married soon and we'd need to be a part of a church. The rest of it was motivated by Doug and I searching for connection. We started back to St. Sabina church in Florissant. This is where Austin started PSR, where I healed my relationship with the Church, and where I remembered why it was I loved being Catholic.

Fast forward to now and I am an active parishioner at St. Joseph's of Cottleville. I count money every third Sunday with Doug and I am an extraordinary minister of communion. I love my Church. Some people will interpret this love as blind devotion, but what I think makes my faith stronger is that I a) don't need to prove to people that I am right and b) I've "re-discovered" my faith only to become stronger in it--in other words, I saw the flaws and still went back. It's like true love in a sense.

Now, though, what I love the most about it, is that I am getting to see my son discover it. He attends PSR as his dad did when he was a child as opposed to Catholic school as I did. I was afraid this would be received as it was for Doug: punishment and extra school. Instead, Austin, with little prompting from us, heavily embraces his faith. He loves going to PSR and he loves learning more about his faith. He never whines or tries to get out of church and it's exciting to see him really happy about it all. I hope this continues because in the end, church is something important for me that has gotten me through a lot and I want him to have the same touchstone.