Hitting publish

Kevin and I at the Vatican.  Just because.

So a sweet friend asked me some questions about Catholicism in the comments section on a previous post.  I took the time to hammer out a response in the form of a blogpost, because it's entirely too long for a comment.  But I haven't published it yet.

I'm honestly not sure what kind of a blog I'm running here.  It is part mom blog, part adoption blog, and part Catholic blog, with a lot little bit of random thrown in for good measure.  I spend my days navigating the waters of motherhood, homeschooling, and faith.  We go to Mass and spend time with friends.  I clean my house and read good books.  We're busy.  Oh, so busy.  And then I write.  Here.

The truth is that I don't want my blog to center around apologetics because nothing I rehash will be as succinct or complete as what is already written in the Catholic Catechism or in dozens of books by people smarter than me.  I can point you towards good resources and I can tell my own story, but beyond that, there are others far better suited for that sort of thing. 

At the same time, I want to answer your questions.  My friend asked some good ones, like what are Protestants missing out on? and what about papal infallibility?  So, I'm torn.  I don't want to have a big ol' debate here or alienate readers (okay my post is really not all that exciting), but at the same time, ecumenical dialogue can be beneficial and anyway, someone asked.

So, I don't know.  But that's why there's not been a blogpost from me lately.  I suspect that I'm still mildly uncomfortable with the whole Catholic identity thing, because even though I was a closeted, wannabe Catholic for years, it was only a few months ago when I officially and openly "switched sides".  I keep going back and forth about the post partly because I don't want to take a stand in explaining my-beliefs-that-aren't-necessarily-YOUR-beliefs.  But is that me being ashamed of Jesus?  And of the Gospel?  Sadly, I think so.  Sigh.

This whole conversion experience has been incredibly humbling for me.  Because I was raised in a Christian home.  I was always that kid that knew the Bible stories and the Sunday School answers.  I never experienced persecution or even suspicion of my beliefs.  But now, in Catholic circles, I'm the new kid.  The one who doesn't always know whose feast day it is and who, up until recently, would regularly genuflect on the wrong knee.  And in non-Catholic circles, I feel uneasy when my daughter {proudly} shows the physical therapist her picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Will this woman think we don't have a personal relationship with Jesus or are trying to buy our way into Heaven or that we worship Mary?

Heaven forbid someone actually finds out we're Catholic, and that I have an opportunity to share about my faith.

Ridiculous, right?  Well, yes.  And I apparently decided to be all transparent and tell you about that here.  And now I'm going to go think about my other post some more and hopefully, eventually, I'll have the gumption to hit the publish button.