By: Gina Reis (University of Minnesota)
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So I thought I would address the main topic in which, I’m sure, many college kids have NO interest: religion. This word, along with anything related to it—God, faith, Christianity, etc.—is a college kid’s curse word. Understandably so—we have enough people telling us what to do, we are already following many rules, why tack on one that acts as the base as your entire being?
Tonight I attended a family friend’s confirmation. I was raised Catholic and went through all the basic steps: First Communion, Reconciliation, and Confirmation. Like many kids, I never wanted to go to church and hated the fact that I had to get up early on Sundays and put on nice clothes. And we Catholics know how to do mass—the service is never less than an hour, and then we just always have to stop by for donuts and coffee after and ‘mingle’. I’m not saying I do not enjoy my faith—I was very much involved during high school and a lot of my friends were “church friends”. It was funny though: even our church youth group somehow managed to have a certain hierarchy of the “cool kids” and the, um, not so cool kids. You would think this wouldn’t exist at church, but I think high school equality is nearly an impossible feat.
Anyhow, being at the confirmation tonight (which happened to last a whopping 2 hours), I found myself evaluating what it really meant for me to be a Catholic. I mean, since college, I haven’t been attending church regularly (or at all) and I’m not involved in any youth groups like I was in high school. According to the Bishop and the entire Catholic Church, this is a no-no. Sitting through the Bishop’s homily, I found myself checking off everything he said, classifying me as a “bad” Catholic. In that same church six years ago I was confirmed, reassuring myself as a young Catholic woman. Apparently I wasn’t doing such a good job.
I think religion is a daunting topic for everyone, but for college students, it’s an even harder feat. This is the time in our lives when we just want to have fun, and sometimes devoting yourself to a certain faith makes experiencing college just too hard. It’s hard to commit yourself to attending mass every week, to go to confession on a regular basis, and to not have sex or even drink underage without feeling that good ole Catholic guilt.
I guess you could say I have strayed away from the Catholic Church, but I look at it as making my faith my own. I do not regret growing up Catholic and am proud to be Catholic, but as I get older I realize that my faith is up to me. I am happy with myself as long as I have a relationship with God and I stick to my own morals, as well as the Golden Rule, that’s a keeper. I’m not saying by any means that every person needs to be religious, but I do think it’s important for everyone to have some sort of faith—whether that’s in a Higher Power or not. Let’s face it: college—no…life—is no walk in the park. We need something, anything to keep us going.
