If you know me in real life or have read a few of my articles, you know that I split my childhood between two small towns in the Florida panhandle. I spent the first ten years of my life in Niceville, and then spent my pre-teen to young adult years in Freeport. They’re only about 30 minutes apart, but they’re pretty different culturally. Niceville is positioned right by an Air Force base, so plenty of young military families are always moving in and out. Freeport is far more static, and a lot of the same families have been positioned there for three or four generations.
I’ve already talked about what it’s like to go from a small town to a school like UCF, but I thought that it’d be interesting to reflect on what it was like growing up Catholic in the Bible belt. The Bible belt refers to the southeastern United States, in which a large majority of people are Protestant or non-denominational Christians.
Being Catholic in Niceville wasn’t all that weird. Like I said, people were always moving in and out, so there was a fair amount of religious and cultural diversity. It’s not like the Catholics were running the town, but Niceville does have two Catholic churches.
Freeport was a different story. In high school, I quickly realized that out of the few hundred kids at our school, my brother and I were just about the only practicing Catholics. I began to feel a pressure to represent my faith; I was the Token Catholic of Freeport High. My dad was raised Protestant, so that definitely helped me with my understanding and explanations to people on Why Catholics Do This Thing. With this being said, I was a sixteen-year-old girl, not a theologian. My faith is very important to me, and so I knew a lot about the meanings behind our traditions and beliefs. Despite this, every now and then I lost my footing and probably offended someone unintentionally.
When I came to UCF, I was thrilled to find a vibrant Catholic community. It was a nice transition to find people that I can share my faith with. As much as I love UCF’s Catholic Campus Ministry, it’s not the only place where I spend my time and make friends. I don’t live in a little Catholic bubble; I never have, nor do I have any desire to. I think it’s dangerous and probably boring to surround yourself only with people who think just like you.
Back home, it was sometimes annoying to be asked things like “Don’t Catholics worship Mary?” and “Isn’t Lent longer this year?” (Not at all, and it’s been 40 days long for the past fifteen hundred years or so, my dude). Ultimately, I’m grateful for having this experience as an outsider. It exposed me to other beliefs and also led me to look deeper into my own faith.
