[Ann Archy]

I always thought Catholicism is a RELIGION....not a CULTURE! We don’t all have the same FOODS....some holidays are important to some Catholics and some are more important to others.

[Twink]

Yep.

And surprisingly, when I read about all these people who attended “hippie like Catholic schools in the 60s and 70s” I think back to my own Catholic schooling in the 70s and 80s. It was far from “hippyish” and it was incredibly strict.

“We don’t all have the same FOODS....some holidays are important to some Catholics and some are more important to others.”

We sure don’t. But I think because Catholics tend to be part of “ethnic” cultures, people assume all follow the same things. For example, we do 7 fishes dinner on Christmas Eve. My mom and her family always did it and I continue to do it. My dad’s side didn’t do it (Irish) but loved coming for Christmas Eve for 7 Fishes Dinner. St. Patty’s Day has its own foods too. St. Joseph’s Day also has the food thing (St. Joseph’s cakes).

The Church doesn’t encourage these things but appreciates that some cultures have traditions that don’t harm anyone.

[Rockingham]

Pre-Vatican II Catholic America had a stronger sense of religion and a culture that was in critical ways distinct from Protestant America: regular fasting and abstinence; penance, communion, and other sacraments; saints and holy days; the sanctity of marriage and family life; the Latin mass; nuns and priests in abundance, often from Ireland; a separate educational system with uniforms and religion and moral instruction integral to the curriculum; regular prayer; and a keen sense of life's events and circumstances as having spiritual significance, both individually and communally.

I can still recall my class praying together out loud in Catholic elementary school for the health of an ill classmate, the safety of astronauts in orbit, for delivery from Godless Communism, and for the repose of the soul of John F. Kennedy and that his family be consoled in their loss.