The Black Sheep
This essay is not meant to offend or insult any religion and its purpose is solely to show my experience being the outsider and what it taught me. In fourth through eighth grade I was the only non-Catholic student in my entire class. I went to a private Catholic school named St. Raphael Catholic School. I made great memories there and even better friends, but I always felt a little different. I was not allowed to participate in certain events/ tasks or I was addressed differently than my friends were for being non-Catholic. At the end of my five years at St. Raphael I learned to stand up for my beliefs but also to respect other religions.
As one can tell St. Raphael Catholic School was a school primarily made with the purpose …show more content…
There came a time where the students began to learn about taking the Eucharist (bread and wine). Catholics believe that the bread becomes the body and the wine becomes the blood of Christ. I started to raise my hand in class only for the teacher to say, “Its’ okay Emily, your religion and you think that only certain wines are the actual blood of Christ”. First, my question pertained to the homework that was due the next day and second, not only was that random but also entirely not true that my religion or I thought that. I felt almost as if any question I asked would somehow come back to the fact that since I wasn’t Catholic I wouldn’t understand. Whenever I asked a question in religion class I would get an answer followed by the word “however”. The “however” transitioned my teachers answer to explaining what Lutherans believe. I began to grow thicker skin and to realize no matter what I will have different ideas than other people whether they are Catholic or …show more content…
Certain topics that were controversial but the Catholic Church had very strong opinions on were abortion and gay rights. Very few of my peers went against their faith so I knew that if I disagreed I would stand apart in class debates. I wanted to hold a belief not only because I was Lutheran and that’s just what Lutherans believed or because my friends thought a certain way but because I genuinely believed it. I continued to look more into abortion and learned that there a time limits in which you are allowed to do it and that there are not just effects on the mother from having an abortion but psychological effects such as if the woman was raped and kept the child. One of the biggest things I learned was that perspective is everything and in order for you to make the right decision (or what seems right to you) you must take time and think about both sides. Once I knew where I stood on certain topics and issues I felt religion class was no longer a waste of time but a learning opportunity and that I needed to be
This essay is not meant to offend or insult any religion and its purpose is solely to show my experience being the outsider and what it taught me. In fourth through eighth grade I was the only non-Catholic student in my entire class. I went to a private Catholic school named St. Raphael Catholic School. I made great memories there and even better friends, but I always felt a little different. I was not allowed to participate in certain events/ tasks or I was addressed differently than my friends were for being non-Catholic. At the end of my five years at St. Raphael I learned to stand up for my beliefs but also to respect other religions.
As one can tell St. Raphael Catholic School was a school primarily made with the purpose …show more content…
There came a time where the students began to learn about taking the Eucharist (bread and wine). Catholics believe that the bread becomes the body and the wine becomes the blood of Christ. I started to raise my hand in class only for the teacher to say, “Its’ okay Emily, your religion and you think that only certain wines are the actual blood of Christ”. First, my question pertained to the homework that was due the next day and second, not only was that random but also entirely not true that my religion or I thought that. I felt almost as if any question I asked would somehow come back to the fact that since I wasn’t Catholic I wouldn’t understand. Whenever I asked a question in religion class I would get an answer followed by the word “however”. The “however” transitioned my teachers answer to explaining what Lutherans believe. I began to grow thicker skin and to realize no matter what I will have different ideas than other people whether they are Catholic or …show more content…
Certain topics that were controversial but the Catholic Church had very strong opinions on were abortion and gay rights. Very few of my peers went against their faith so I knew that if I disagreed I would stand apart in class debates. I wanted to hold a belief not only because I was Lutheran and that’s just what Lutherans believed or because my friends thought a certain way but because I genuinely believed it. I continued to look more into abortion and learned that there a time limits in which you are allowed to do it and that there are not just effects on the mother from having an abortion but psychological effects such as if the woman was raped and kept the child. One of the biggest things I learned was that perspective is everything and in order for you to make the right decision (or what seems right to you) you must take time and think about both sides. Once I knew where I stood on certain topics and issues I felt religion class was no longer a waste of time but a learning opportunity and that I needed to be