Ranting, Pushy, Uninhibited Teen Catholics

I've realized a lot of things since the last time I posted an article. Well, maybe not realized because I've known them all along, but I've allowed truths to reveal themselves to me.

All of us religions that worship God, well that's just it. We're all worshipping the same God. Why should it matter what holidays we celebrate and for what reason? I mean, don't get me wrong - I still take my holidays serisouly and do my best not to celebrate the commercialized versions of each of them.

I didn't mean to criticize Pagans or Wiccans or Atheist, although I know I was definitely doing some bashing of the other religions. What I wrote came out more harshly than I meant it to and that's not excuse. This is probably another one that should be posted under journals but I doubted if it would get read there or not.

To be honest, I'm not the perfect little devout Catholic that I pretend to be. Yes, I love Catholicism with all my heart, but I break the rules, too. Ha. Hypocritically, I read an entire series of books about the Wiccan religion. It's about a girl who discovers it and becomes a more powerful witch. Sweep. Has anyone heard of it? The Church teaches that magic and witchcraft are the devil's works, but I've read Harry Potter more times than I can count, too.

My goal wasn't to convert anyone or put down other religions, although I now realize that's what I've done. I've shamefully given my religion a bad name that it didn't necessarily deserve. That doesn't mean I don't stand by what I've said about Catholicism in previous articles.

Believe me when I say that my goal was never to be the annoying, hypocritical, pushy preacher! I was only trying to spread the good word of my own religion. Obviously, I took things too far, if the million bashing comments weren't proof enough of that. And I'm not just doing this because of that. I'm sorry for the turmoil I created and the way I portrayed myself. That's not the kind of person I want to be seen as.

Catholicism is a great religion. Everybody's open to new members. I've never heard a homily that didn't move me at the services. We all come together as a big Christian family under the roof of God, and that's how it should be.

Of course, there's the occasional glitch in our community. Catholics aren't perfect - far from it. We don't pretend to be almight and friends with God, himself. We're all just striving to live good lives and make our way to Heaven so we can join our savior in Heaven.