Trigger warning: mentions of hell, death, anxiety Today is Ash Wednesday. This is a day when Catholics in particular decide to put ashes on their foreheads, and remind each other to repent or else. “Remember you are dust and to dush shall you return.” I grew up Catholic, hearing these words many times throughout my childhood. The last few days, those words have haunted me. Honestly, it’s been longer; closer to several months. I’ve been struggling with so much death... Read more

Hello, Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you all had a good day. If you didn’t, then I hope you heal and find peace. On Christmas, I found it funny how pristine and white, red, gold, and green all of the parties are, when childbirth is a messy affair. My own church was decked out in white. Try and bring the mother who’d just given birth, and the child who’d just been born, into these celebrations, and I’m almost... Read more

I have a very complex relationship to All Saints Day and Halloween growing up Catholic. When I was a child, I went trick or treating, like most other children in America. I have pictures from when I was two years old, dressed up in a big giant pumpkin. In preschool, I dressed as a Care Bear. I didn’t understand much about that night, except that Halloween meant dressing up and candy. Four-year-old me understood that dressing up is fun, and... Read more

I am nervous to start writing here, I will be honest. I hope I’m always honest, here and elsewhere. Let me introduce myself. My name is Mary. I’ve been writing about religion in my trusty journal since the beginning of this year. I have a lot of thoughts, and I’m still thinking, and I will think for the rest of my life. I am twenty years old. Like many in the modern-day world, my family raised me Catholic, and what... Read more