Being Catholic in the Real World

I like tell people that I spent five years in the glorious bubble known as Franciscan University of Steubenville. (4 as an undergrad at main campus with one semester at the mini campus in Austria, and one when Brian and I were dating/engaged as he played the role of assistant mens's basketball coach.) It was a great, Catholic environment up on its own little hill. And it was wonderful there. Everywhere you turned people were calling you on to live the faith. Everything was Catholic. You didn't have to think much about defending your faith because that wasn't necessary. Every class (yes, even my mathematics courses) had Catholic undertones. It was really pretty cool, and whenever I make a student loan payment each month I feel great peace knowing that it was worth every penny (most of which were shelled out by parents) to attend there. I wouldn't trade those years for anything. (Including going back in time and taking the free ride I was offered at a different college.) Nope. The debt from Franciscan is good debt for sure.

For five years now, I have been living the faith full time in the real world. I have broken out of the Catholic bubble, and oh does it feel good! I've always had a very Opus Dei mindset about the faith. I know we are called to live our faith deeply and truly, but I honestly feel called to live it out most in the day to day operations of my life. When Brian and I were dating this is one thing we both very much agreed on from the start. Although he had been in the seminary for a good period of his young adult life and I had spent most of mine living in my favorite bubble (I mean that as a good thing. The bubble allowed me to grow in my faith in ways other campuses and schools would not have allowed at the time for me.), we both felt called to live out the faith in our lives in the real world with our children.

So what does that look like? Does that mean we check the faith at the door each time we leave the house? Do we compromise the Church's teachings or beliefs? Do we not defend the Church when she needs it? No, no, no, and no. Living the faith in the world means the faith comes with us EVERYWHERE. We don't turn our home into a little Catholic bubble and just stay there. We come back to our little bubble to refresh and recharge and then venture out with the faith in our hands into the world every day. (I may add that I am a member of a Catholic Moms' Group, and that, too, is a wonderful, much needed bubble where one can go to recharge!)

We don't shut out the world. We listen to modern music (I'm a big fan of Britney Spears' Womanizer right now to run to. I know it's only like 4 years old. I'm catching up!) We go to concerts when we can. We watch modern day television shows (I am counting down until Grey's Anatomy premieres!) We read modern literature. (Mary Higgins Clark, anyone?)  We take advice from sources that aren't always Catholic. (Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Solutions has changed the way I eat and think about food. Dr. Laura Schlessinger's The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage has changed my entire view of how to be a good wife to Brian.) We enjoy what the world has to offer. (Now, clearly we don't indulge in the evils the world has to offer, but we enjoy what is good about the world.) All the while, we don't lose our Catholic faith or identity.

My faith comes with me when I tutor. When I'm particularly frustrated that a student hasn't done a homework assignment since the last time I saw them, I try to take deep breaths and remember to see them as God sees them. Brian takes his faith to work with him, too. How can you serve adults with intellectual disabilities without the faith? I take the faith to the gym. (There are some awesome Rosary apps out there, btw.) Matthew takes the faith with him into school, and I pray that continues for the rest of his school career. We take the faith with us to concerts. And we bring our Catholic ideas and ideas about our faith to whatever we happen to be reading and apply them there.

In a way, everyone lives the faith in the real world. We certainly know lots of modern, Catholic families striving to do the same thing we are. But there are those bubbles throughout the world where Catholics just associate with other Catholics. Franciscan is the biggest one, but at that time in young adult lives, I think it's needed. And some people are called to always live within the bubble. But our family is clearly not called to do that. We embrace this modern world and take it on on a daily basis. And when we need a little break and refreshing, we come back home to our mini bubble and gear up to take on the world all over again. Now, after five years, breaking out of the bubble is finally starting to feel normal and good. And I wouldn't trade this living in the real world thing for anything either. :)