Right up front, I am gonna say it...we are not religious folks. Oh the horror! But yup, its true. Has been for a while. Both hubby and I were raised Catholic. That might just explain it all LOL. I was never super involved with the Church. Rudy was as a teenager. As we grew up and reached the age of reason, we both starting thinking for ourselves. It was one of the many things we had in common when we met. Over the years, the Catholic guilt still poked at us...even though we had a perfectly acceptable wedding my in in-laws backyard, we caved to pressure and had a Church wedding as well a year and a half later. All 4 kids are baptized. We sent 3 of our kids to CCD. Jenna got her communion and was confirmed, AJ and Nick have both had communion. Noah, however, has never had any inkling of religious education because by the time he was old enough, we finally shed the Catholic guilt. Most of it anyway. While my mom has finally let up, and no longer hounds us about going to church and such, my MIL still does. It all came up again this week when she was trying to get Rudy go enroll Noah in CCD this coming fall because, of course, he is "behind." Aside from the fact that the church we would go to charges a lot of money to enroll in CCD classes (which, look, I would not mind paying $10 for the book, but come on...why do I need to pay the church $150 to teach my kids about their faith? And there is NO homeschooling in religious ed, unless you already homeschool for regular school...and even then, its on a case by case basis.), we have had several conversations with my MIL about why we no longer relate with the Catholic faith, the main one being we do have minds and beliefs of our own and our ideas do not jibe with the Catholic church's teachings. For instance, we believe in gay marriage, we believe women should be given equal opportunities (ie, women should be priests, girls should be altar servers, etc), we believe in birth control, yada yada yada. Of course for all that we are going to hell LOL. (we never told MIL when Rudy got snipped, because he did not want to hear any lectures on THAT. lol) Instead of respecting our decision, my MIL continually hounds Rudy (not me so much, because I rarely speak with her...not because I don't want to, but because when seh calls him, its usually when he is at work and so I am not around at those times.). Whether its about religious ed for the kids, going to church or reading/watching daily videos on YouTube (not sure exactly all she checks out, but it mostly relates to Fatima and Mary, etc.). Just when we think she has stopped, she brings it up again. It is enough to make me scream STOP IT ALREADY!!!!!!! But I don't. Neither does Rudy. He just says he does not want to discuss it. My FIL seems to respect our choices, for which I am thankful...no double-teaming there. And while my own mom is not particularly happy, she also respects it. She's be happy if we went to ANY church, not necessarily a Catholic one. My MIL would most likely have a fit if we did such a thing. But I can not walk into a church and proclaim to believe the things they teach when i don't. Now, my mom has about 95% the same thoughts and beliefs as I do, yet she still goes to church and professes her faith. Great, if she can reconcile that with her own conscience. Even better that she does not hound us anymore. maybe because she understands finally why we think the way we do. And I surely do not want to alienate my MIL, nor does Rudy...so we do keep our mouths shut for the most part. But UGH it gets annoying! I should NOT have to defend myself or my beliefs to anyone. Don't judge me! lol.
Ever see the movie "Dogma?" It was so on point for us!! But my MIL would faint and curse it to hell, I am sure of it!!
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