The Twists and Turns Your Life Will Take

My nephew is being confirmed this Sunday and Astrid had some questions about it. I said, “Well, you know what baptism is, right?” “Yes, they sprinkle holy water on the baby and the parents promise that the baby will be Catholic.” “Right, so confirmation is when the baby gets older, and he or she makes that promise for himself or herself.” “Were you confirmed?” “Yes, when I was in sixth grade, but the problem is that in sixth grade, I wasn’t old enough to really know how I felt about things, so I was confirmed, but then when I went to college and started thinking differently, I decided I didn’t want to be Catholic anymore.” Astrid agreed with that, “Yeah, in sixth grade, you don’t know the twists and turns your life will take.” Then she asked how I stopped being Catholic. “Well, I just stopped going to church.” She giggled, “that’s all there is to it? I thought there was a contract or something.” I giggled, too, and explained that although coming to a decision about your spirituality can be a complex process, the execution can be fairly straightforward. It’s much more complicated to break your lease.