I was raised Catholic. I was baptized at four, made my First Communion and Confirmation at eight, and learned how to love God. At thirteen, I strayed from the Church. I was actually quite against God for a while, and I was following my own beliefs and my own morals. I found to be extremely liberal, believing in equality, women's rights to their bodies, and a heavy fascination for body art and self expression. I refused to step into a church for five years. I was terrified of it, to be quite honest. But something happened to me in which these two worlds collided and changed my life. This is the story of how I found myself as a liberal girl practicing Catholicism and believing in God (again).

I stepped into a church once, for a classmate's funeral, the entire time I was in high school. That is, until my senior baccalaureate ceremony came around. Baccalaureate is a non-denominational religious ceremony to celebrate graduating seniors. I tossed around the idea of going for weeks, but decided to go celebrate with my classmates. I was nervous, but the ceremony was beautiful and I cried. For the first time in a very long time, I heard God speaking to me and expressing His love to me. I heard Him saying that I belonged here in His arms. I was safe, and I knew nothing would hurt me when I was with Him. Despite my beautiful experience, I did not step foot in a church all summer. Fast forward to last August, I arrived here at my beautiful campus and found amazing friends to attend mass with. I even joined a Catholic based faith-sharing group.

So, here I am. A practicing Catholic attending mass every Sunday, worshiping and loving God with all my heart, and still holding onto my beliefs. Catholicism teaches that homosexuality is a sin. But I believe in marriage equality, and I believe that people in the LGBT community deserve love and the same rights as everyone else. Catholicism teaches against abortion. I do not agree that abortion is right, but I believe that all women should have the right to their own body. I believe that tattoos, self-expression, marriage equality, and other beliefs that Catholics preach as "wrong" do not determine how much a person loves God. So, yes, I am a liberal Catholic. I believe what I believe, I have my morals, and I could not be more blessed with the grace of God.