How do you experience the “interfaith” community? Let Peace Be.

Last updated on: February 26, 2014 at 11:56 pm by Women of Spirit and Faith

How do you experience the “interfaith” community? Let Peace Be. 2014-02-26T23:56:34+00:00 Women of Spirit and Faith

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.

I thought I was “interfaith” before anybody ever coined that term. In my family, one was either Roman Catholic and had a chance at eternal happiness, if one obeyed well enough and was sorry enough for one’s sins, and all others who were eternally damned. Poor things; we prayed for their souls, and we collected pennies to send missionaries to save the souls of “poor Pagan babies.” We were very religiously regressive in the 1950s and 1960s, even for pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism.

Religion was a big deal in our very strict Roman Catholic family in South Louisiana. All nine children attended Roman Catholic school and wore Roman Catholic uniforms, which included girls covering our heads to enter our church. We were forbidden to attend any services that were non-Catholic, even weddings and funerals of our blood relations. This rule was adhered to so strictly by my mother that she didn’t even attend her own brother’s wedding to a Methodist woman.

I was always sneaky in my spiritual journey. I knew that the black nannies whom I so loved when I was very small weren’t Catholic, but I still loved them and knew they loved me. At the age of six, I was sent with my four-year-old brother to stay with my uncle who had married the Methodist, with the admonition that I help him say his prayers every night. I loved that my Methodist aunt angrily admonished her children when they laughed at my Catholic prayers. My maternal great-grandmother wasn’t Catholic, and I was allowed to spend the summer that I was eight with her. My very holy older sister was sent with me to make sure I practiced my faith. I loved grandma and her non-Catholic black lady that came to help her on her farm.

We were taught that anybody who hadn’t been baptized into the Roman Catholic church was simply not eligible to enter into heaven. There was a whole string of mortal sins that could get you an eternal ticket to hell; suicide was one. When a beloved older, former military serviceman uncle committed suicide, he was not allowed a Catholic burial, and we were not allowed to speak of him again.

We always knew who, in our parish congregation, was in the state of mortal sin because they weren’t allowed to receive Holy Communion. There were always a lot of men sitting through communion, and almost never a woman doing so. I never wondered how my daddy, who beat his children unmercifully and swore worse than any sailor, could go to communion every Sunday. Every Saturday evening he would take a bath and go to Confession. Upon his return home, he would say, very pleased with himself, “I’m now clean, inside and out.”

We were taught to look into ourselves every night to see what sins we had committed that day, not to be able to make amends with each other, but to apologize to God. If we didn’t apologize to God for every sin, and we died in our sleep, we would wake up in hell. We were told not to worry if we knew our big brothers were too bad to ever go to heaven. We would see them suffering in eternal hell and would still be happy in heaven.

Even at the age of six, I knew there was something false about this kind of faith. I actually made a conscience decision to be as bad as I had to be to join my siblings in hell, if it came to that, but I’d keep chickening out as they upped the ante. I then decided to try to drag all of them along with me wherever I ended up. They cooperated with that plan, only to a point. I never stopped looking for a solution to my dilemma, knowing that I’d never be happy in heaven if any of those I loved were in hell.

When I was in high school, Catholic, of course, the Roman Catholic church decided that we could, after all, associate with non-Catholics. We even had a few girls of different race and some of different religions in our school. After graduation, I did something really daring in marrying a Lutheran.

In the years that have since transpired, I have been at Seders, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, Pagan ceremonies, indigenous worship circles, and many other rituals, opening myself to interfaith spirituality. I have made friends with people from all over the world, with differing faith practices. I have never felt less fear in my faith.

I have adopted no set spiritual practice in the form of ritual. The closest I have come is probably the huge meals I used to serve at my home to people of all races, religions, and creeds. Let Peace Be.

—

Yvette Autin Warren is the author of:

We’re Already Eternal – Manifestations of The Sacred Spirit

Our Tennessee Mountain Home – Tales of Folks and Foods From Our Appalachian House in the Holler
Our Tennessee Mountain Home II – Coker Creek Christmas and Other Appalachian Tales

inter-being.

Interfaith

Previous Post

February 24, 2014

Coming up with our own version of the Divine

Next Post

February 28, 2014 Tell us about the Divine Feminine in your life

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 28-day meditation challenge A new world Alchemy: Occupy Your Sacred Self Ancestors and Spiritual Evolution Consciousness Ending violence against women Holiday season: quiet time or chaos? How has She blessed you in 2011? inter-being. Interfaith Invitation to blog: What does a world transformed by the Divine Feminine look like? Sounds like? Taste like? Smell like? Living the Divine Feminine Mother Work Mothers and mothering On Feminine Ground Owning Our Wisdom Parliament of Worlds Religions Personal rituals or practices that keep you in touch with the Divine Feminine Reclaiming the heart of our humanity Reflections on WSF retreat Sacred Love Stepping Stones on the Spiritual Path The next generation Tugging at your heart Uncategorized Videos: women of spirit and faith What are you longing for? What are you noticing? What are your dreams/intuitions telling you? What gets stirred up in you when you hear the words "War on Women"? What happens when women lead? What is "the Divine Feminine"? What is the Devine Fem calling you to do? What wants to Emerge? When we act as the Divine Feminine... Who inspires you? Why I am a... Women of Spirit and Faith

Select a Month January 2017 December 2016 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 July 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz