Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Family, Parenting and Religion
When the World is Returning to Life

When the World is Returning to Life

Last updated on: April 1, 2023 at 2:33 pm by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

When the World is Returning to Life 2023-04-01T14:33:50-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

snow on moss

image via Pixabay

She was just one of those people I met, a long time ago, when I was at Franciscan University.

She wasn’t somebody I knew. She was only somebody who hung out with somebody else I knew, so I saw her from time to time. Once I went with her and a group of friends on a hike at Raccoon Creek State Park, in March, when the world is returning to life. I was in my good shoes, which got horribly soaked and muddy, because I’d just come from class and didn’t want to go back to my apartment to change them. She was wearing jeans and a jean jacket– a little light for the late winter. She explained that this was new for her. She didn’t wear jeans when she was home with her family. At home, she wore ankle-length dresses at all times.

“My family lives way out in the country on a farm,” she explained. “It’s a sort of Catholic Amish cult. I call it ‘Camish.'”

I murmured sympathy. I was still in denial that the Charismatic Renewal was also a cult. That epiphany would come much later. It’s hard to realize you, too, are in a cult, at Franciscan University, where there are so many eccentric and abusive Catholics that your own abusive Catholic upbringing seems mild in comparison.

The air was warm that day, but there were still glassy snow drifts under all the trees. We came across a hollow log that had fallen over the path, and I was too timid to climb on it, but she got right on the top and walked from one end to the other.

“It reminds me of Narnia,” I said, gazing around at the snow. “Aslan’s come back, spring is coming, and the White Witch doesn’t understand that it isn’t just a thaw.”

The others agreed that it was just like Narnia.

Later, we sat on the fishing pier together, letting our shoes dry in the sun. Somebody lit up a hand-rolled cigarette that he promised was just tobacco, and we laughed. Somebody took his dog off the leash for just a minute, and the dog immediately went bolting onto the ice which was already broken in the middle. There was a sickening moment where we were certain the dog was going to fall through, but he didn’t: he ran right up to the edge of the ice and then back to the boy with the leash, wagging his tail.

“You should have kept him on the leash!” I scolded. “What would you have said if he’d drowned?”

“At least he went out with a splash?” joked the girl who was raised in a cult.

On the way back to Steubenville, the girl revealed she was homeless. Her name wasn’t officially on the lease of the place she’d been staying, and her housemates had thrown her out after she suffered a severe bout of depression and a week in the hospital. They said the depression scared them and she couldn’t stay. Since then, she’d been going from house to house of other people she knew, sleeping wherever she could.

She’d also recently had her car and her phone taken away by her parents.

“I didn’t burn any bridges,” she insisted. “I didn’t cut ties with them. I just asked them for some boundaries, that’s all. But they didn’t want boundaries. They said that wasn’t honoring my mother and father. I had to obey. So they came that weekend and took my car back because they were paying for it. And this week I found out I’d been cut off of their phone plan. They don’t speak to me anymore.”

“I don’t speak to my parents either,” I said.

She ended up staying at my apartment for a weekend and sleeping on the sofa.

I lost track of her for a few weeks, and then I saw her again on a hot day in the late Spring– happily driving a car, while I was walking to school on the sidewalk. She stopped and picked me up.

“This is my roommate’s car!” She said. “I’m borrowing it for the day. You know that feeling when you’ve got a car and you can just do whatever you want?”

I didn’t know, because I’d never had a car.

“So you’ve got a place to live now?”

“Yes!” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “Far away from campus. My roommate is a Lesbian and everybody knows it. Today she bent over to pick something up and accidentally elbowed me. And she said ‘Accidental boob caress! Accidental boob caress!’ And I laughed. I like her.”

I was shocked and, secretly, impressed. Nobody admitted to being a Lesbian at Franciscan University. It was forbidden to even think about such a thing. I wouldn’t admit I was queer, even to myself, for another ten years.

The girl was not wearing her jean jacket that day, and she was in shorts. I could the self-harm scars crisscrossing her upper arms, and the L-O-V-E etched into her thigh. All were months old.

I don’t think I ever saw her again.

Wherever she is, I hope she is happy.

I hope they’re all happy– all of the people I’ve met in this place, all of the people who have been destroyed by cults like those. I hope they all got away from here, and found happiness.

I hope I find happiness myself.

It’s easy to believe in happiness just now, in March, when the world is coming back to life.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows an d Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Family, Parenting and Religion

Education and Religion

Previous Post

March 30, 2023

A Word on Trump's Indictment

Next Post

April 1, 2023 The God of Love and the Madness of Palm Sunday

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Thank you for bringing so much goodness into the lives of so many children.Ran across ..."

alwayspuzzled

The Passion of the Red Oak

"This current administration has had me reflecting on the Nuremberg trials and the like, for ..."

axelbeingcivil

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

"You're talking about supercessionism, the idea that Christians "replace" the covenant that the Jewish people ..."

Alex

Yes, the Old Testament is About ..."

"Oh I'm sure it did."

Mary

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Pentateuch" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Five books Ten scrolls Wisdom literature Prophetic writings