I was born, baptized, and raised Roman Catholic. As a child I attended Catechism every Saturday and Mass every Sunday with special Mass for every holiday. Growing up it wasn’t that big of a deal to me, it was little more than a thing I did with my mother and grandmother and that was that. As I grew older, I was able to notice that, little by little, what I was taught as a child in Catechism and Church had an effect on everything I did; holidays, interactions with friends and family, views on things taught in school, and my identity in regards to those around me. It seemed like everything always came back, in one way or another, to my religious experiences as a child. I didn’t realize this, though, until I was older (late teens, early twenties) when I consciously made the decision to convert to Eastern Orthodoxy. This changed my view of self and further influenced the effect the culture of the Church had on my life (shifting from a Western view to a more Eastern one). This essay will be about how my experience with Catholic (and later Orthodox) culture can relate to Richard Rodriguez’s experiences in Late Victorians and how they effected my reading of the story. The first name mentioned in …show more content…
I was working security at the Pacific Science Center and had to work from 4pm until midnight on a Sunday this last June. I had went to Divine Liturgy that morning, got ready and headed to work. I had no idea Seattle’s pride festival was that day but when I got to Seattle I was engulfed in it. I had to walk around the Pacific Science Center observing naked, or half-naked, men women partaking in their own pride event. I missed the parade but there was still plenty to take in during the aftermath. I can honestly say I didn’t enjoy it, but regardless I had to deal with what I was seeing and adjusting that to with how I was raised and what I