Being Catholic is great. Being in the South is great. But when you combine the two things, it can be weird. While there’s a history of extreme Catholic hate in the South (looking at the KKK), I am not making any claims of persecution these days. This is not the Starbucks red cup disaster. I’ve heard tales that up North, there’s a Catholic everywhere you look, but down here, we are far and few between, and sometimes, it feels mildly outcasting.

Sometimes, people just don’t get it.

“Do you worship Mary?” No, but she’s really cool. “What about the Pope?” Cool hat. “Do you pray to saints?” No, you pray through them, with them, ask them to pray for you, but not to them. “How many gods to do you have?” One. “Well, I know a former Catholic who says y’all do this, this, this.” Wow, they sound like a bad Catholic.

We are not that different than any other Christian religion. And yes, we are a Christian religion. I will never forget the time my fifth grade teacher called me out in front of the class, “I’m a Christian, I know Christians celebrate Christmas. Erin, do Catholics celebrate Christmas?” I know, the idea of standing up for your faith, beautiful. But at 11, I did not want to defend the fact that I was a Christian to a 60-year-old woman who just put it in 30 11-year-old minds that I was not.

Sometimes, people say insensitive things.

I know the Catholic church has had more than it’s share of mistakes. I am the first to admit. I have probably seen Spotlight more times than anyone. It’s a 2,000-year-old church; it’s had a lot of time to make bad choices. It’s all interconnected; it spreads easily. But people really feel the need to talk about when you mention that you are Catholic like it’s your fault. Lots of Christian faiths have had big problems. Some were even founded on ideas that make you go “YIKES” in retrospect, but they haven’t made history books. I could name them, and I won’t. You are not the mistakes of those in power in your church, and neither am I.

Or when they want to debate. “Well, I’m this, and I disagree with you on this, that, and the other.” Cool. I probably definitely know more about your religion than you know about mine, so like, let’s not do this please.

Or when someone finds out you’re Catholic and says something like “I still love you.” Or worse, “Jesus still loves you.” If I knew that stuff was up for debate, I wouldn’t have entered into this conversation.

Once, I had a friend hit me with a, “I could never date a Catholic.” Oops, I’ll leave. But it’s totally a thing. It’s surprising how many people down in the South so explicitly don’t like Catholics. If you’re not Catholic, you’re probably thinking I have some kind of persecution complex, but I don’t. I feel like I have to enter situations like “Hey, just so everyone knows, I am Catholic,” before I hear someone badmouthing Catholics, not even the church, just Catholics. Because that totally happens every once in a while.

But it’s really awesome.

You have friends say “I come from a really big, close Southern family.” But you know they have nothing on you.

Some people think the church is really old fashioned, but it’s pretty chill. We have that “Everything is fine in moderation,” rule, which we are probably misusing, but it’s a total “get out of guilt free,” card for your little mistakes. But it makes for fun Catholic parties. And the church is getting a lot more progressive than people give it credit for these days. S/O to Pope Francis.

I grew up in a town with 30-something churches, with many overlapping affiliations but only one Catholic church. So when you find a Catholic, you have a friend, not a, “Oh, hey, same religion! Cool!” friend, but a real friend. And we can be pretty chill about our faith. In my life, there have been so many occasions in which people try to convert me as if my faith was wrong or just lesser, and I don’t want other people to feel like that. Catholics in no way feel that you have to be Catholic to be good with God; you just have to be a good person, and that’s cool.

And the best part of being a Catholic in the South is when Lent rolls around, and Friday Fish Fries and Southern cooking make for the most wonderful meals/parties anyone has ever encountered.

In conclusion, go forth to love and serve The Lord. And be unapologetically Catholic.