I have another piece over at Aleteia.org.

This one is about my trip to France to see the pope when I was in high school.

I was an atheist at the time and not eager to see the pope.

But I was eager to see the Eiffel Tower, eat croissants and wander around the Louvre.

That didn’t change but something did change on that trip.

Here’s an excerpt:

Then we got to Paris for the events of World Youth Day, and I could not avoid the in-your-face religion, and throngs of delighted, fresh-faced kids whose number I had to join.

On the subway, I would put as much space between me and my youth group as possible. Unlike me, these fools for Christ all seemed oblivious to the disdainful looks from the sophisticated Parisians around us. I was embarrassed to be an American. I felt empathy for these Parisians who seemed to want nothing more than to vomit these gross, over-exuberant, religious foreigners out of their beautiful city. I felt their disgust.

Read the rest HERE.