First off, WV is such a different place than Seattle. The more I'm away the more foreign it feels. It's really amazing. I mean, smoking in bars, what?! Way to go state with the highest or second-highest obsesity rate in the country. But really, it's a beautiful state, great for mountain biking and anything out-doorsy, just not so much for academia.
So I was raised Catholic. New-agey Catholoc, but Catholic none-the-less... and not go to-Catholic-school-Catholic but still go-to-church-every-week-until-you're-18-Catholic.
Anyway, I'm so not religious now, not that I really think I ever was. I'm not really into that whole god thing and don't accept 90% of what the Catholic church stands for. You know, the whole feminist thing doesn't quite jive with the anti-birth control, no woman priests stuff. I mean, I am a pretty hard-core scientist (you know 4+ billion year old Earth, climate change, evolution which actually the Catholic church is fairly reasonable about) on top of "living in sin" for a couple years before a civil wedding + a ceremony officiated by an unofficial friend (well, an official friend but an unofficial officiator), none of which are really Catholic things to do.
But, that said, I read every stupid article I see on the pope or the Church in general. In fact, I see "the Church" with a capital 'C' and know exactly what that means. I still have the whole mass memorized and could do rosaries if I felt the urge. Important parts of my brain are taken up with Niocene Creeds and Hail Marys. I also tend to stand up for the Catholic church a lot, mostly for reasonable things. I'm very unlikely to stand up for its dealings with the molestation cases and everything but for some smaller issues (evolution), I'm certainly an apologist.
So, taking a cue from some people I know, mostly of the (fallen) Jewish persuasion, I've decided I'm a cultural Catholic. I'll celebrate the holidays (my Advent calendar is justified) and follow the news in the church. I was born on Easter, so that's an important holiday for me, probably more for the bunnies than the resurrections, but whatever. I'd definitely be lying if I said that the Catholic upbringing didn't influence my life profoundly. I don't know how long this will last, but after admitting this, at least I won't feel completely silly reading every little thing about the pope.
My identity = Cultural Catholic West Virginian + Biking Feminist Yuppie-ish Glaciologist
Where the hell did all that come from?
