Unity in the Community

I've lived in Seattle for nearly 2 years and I have to admit, I feel as if I almost have everything a girl could want to be happy in the big city. But there are 2 things that I miss.

1. Sherry Neill.
Duh. She's my amazing mother.

2. A Community of Faith

Growing up, I had a very strong community of faith. I come from a large Catholic family--going to church involved a large van and people going early to save the whole pew for the family. Additionally, I was involved in the CCD at St. Bernard's and alot of my friends from school went as well. As I got older and began to get involved in clubs such as Young Life and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, I felt I had a larger group outside of family to be a part of.

When I decided on a college, I knew that I wanted to go to a small, Catholic school and I found Gonzaga. And community and Gonzaga go hand in hand. Most of my friends were Catholic and we all attended mass together, in a large group. And the friends you didn't go with, were at mass anyway and you'd meet up with them at the post-mass cookies and juice session.
I had some amazing experiences at Gonzaga, which further deepened my knowledge of Catholicism and really made me understand my identity as a Catholic. And I feel as though I got to this point because of the community around me.

And now, in Seattle, I've found going to church is kind of difficult for me. I go to mass alone every Sunday and every Sunday I am reminded of how alone I am--my family is miles away and my Gonzaga community is dispersed across the United States. And while I do need and appreciate my time alone with God, it's still hard for me to go every week all by myself. Genesis 2 highlights my feeling: "In a perfect and sinless world, where man enjoyed perfect community with his Creator, God, looking at His creation, said, “It is not good for the man to be alone." Mass has always been a joyful thing for me--the tradition and ritualisticness of it is comforting and a giant part of who I am, but for the first time, I felt like a huge part is missing.

I wish there something like a Young Catholics club existed in Seattle. As I sit alone in my pew, I see tons of families, young couples, lots of elderly people but rarely do I see a young person around my age attending mass by themselves. And I'm thinking to myself, 'where are all the young Catholics?'. I have a few friends out here who are not Catholic but belong to other churches that are overflowing with community. They have retreats, weekend getaways, community projects, bible studies...etc...etc..etc!

I think that it's just really hard to be a young adult and Catholic--I really do! The Church is very good about catering to the young children, even the high schoolers and there are all types of programs for older people wanting to deepen their faith, but their is a lag in the middle. We get lost in the shuffle and it's then that many people my age turn to the churches that celebrate their youth and want them to be a part of their community.

In conclusion, being Catholic is a huge part of my identity and I love being Catholic. But I just miss the 10pm masses, the social justice projects on the weekends, having someone to discuss the homily with, cookies and juice after mass. But most of the time, I just miss having someone to hug during the sign of the peace after the Our Father.