I was raised in and east-coast Roman Catholic university community. Since leaving that small progressive enclave, I’ve struggled to find a Catholic church where I feel welcome to be myself, or in some cases welcome at all. Here in the twin cities, I stopped trying. Now I attend an Episcopal church near my house. I have found them to be welcoming and supportive as I discern who I am and what I believe. Best of all, there is no expectation that I convert to Episcopalianism.
There is a Jesuit church near my house that organizes Lenten Ignatian retreats. Since I was raised to believe strongly in social justice and in discernment, which are both important in Ignatian theology, I signed up to participate. The group has only met once so far and I did not know anyone in advance, so I am curious what I will learn.
Last year I had participated in a Lenten group led by the priest. By the end of Lent, the group was just the priest and me, which felt awkward mostly because the priest actively disagreed with half of what I said and failed to understand most of the rest. The point of the retreats is to learn together and build on each other’s observations, not shut people down by invalidating them.
The image below is of an angel I made over 15 years ago. Read more about it on deviantArt. I was living in Malawi at the time and had not brought a nativity set with me, so I made one.
