Reflective Essay On Catholic Education

I’ve had a Catholic education for the most part of my life. Faith has been instilled within my education for a long time. Attending Mass was a mandatory event that dictated where I would be every Sunday morning. This situation changed when I was entering my teenage years. My mother had to work more often than before. It was during this time that I stop attending Sunday Mass. Sundays would be filled with either long hours of tedious homework or video games. I never thought about going back to Mass on Sundays anymore. It became a rare event. I was never deeply interested in Mass or what the priest was saying during the services. I was often the kid that zoned out and then proceeded to doze off. For a certain amount of time, I was relieved that …show more content…
This attitude changed when I experienced my first loss of family members. During the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, many of y close family were grief stricken by the calamity that unfolded. My aunt affected the most. She would not leave her room after returning from work whenever I visited her. She was constantly on the phone reaching out to family. A large part of her family was affected by the earthquake. She lost cousins, uncles, aunts, and friends from this disaster. I didn’t know what to do to comfort her. She was an active churchgoer. I began to accompany her to church whenever I visited. Instead of dozing off, I listened to the priest. Those simple moments praying with her reignited my relationship with God. Prayer became a conversation. I felt like I didn’t have to be formal when praying. I thanked Him for the friends and family that I’ve met up until this moment. You don’t need a radical event to have a change of heart. A simple step to look at faith in another way is enough to strengthen your relationship with God. Being Christian is real and it flows from the …show more content…
He warns his son that he is a black boy. He must be responsible for his body in a way that others boys do not know about. He must be responsible for the worst actions of other black bodies, which, somehow, will always be assigned to him because of the color of his skin. He offers the reader a story about one his closest friends that he met in college. His friend was brutally murdered by a police officer while on the way to visit his girlfriend. Coates’ companion did not do anything wrong. According to the false report, he tried to run over the police officer in pursuit. Later reports identified the police as a chronic liar and stated that he had arrested a man on false evidence. The officer was demoted, restored, and then put out on the street to continue his work. This officer, given maximum power, bore minimum responsibility. He was charged with nothing. Coates argues to challenge the police is to “challenge the American people who send them into the ghettos armed with the same self-generated fears that compelled the people who think they are white to flee the cities and into the Dream (Coates 70)” Instances like these are happening every day either on media or in the shadows. Either way, we are slowly entering a period of time where we question the authority and legitimacy of law enforcement more. Coates gives the reader and his son advice to