by Jacki Popadich

We're all roamin' Catholics, really, when you get down to brass tacks. If we aren't constantly searching for ways to let our faith grow, it will only grow stagnant. Every now and then God will give us that kick in the butt to say, "Quit having a lazy faith."

Before I begin my story, it is important to know that I am what is known as a "church brat." My mother was (and still is) the youth minister at the parish where I grew up. I taught a Sunday school class as well as being an active member of the youth community there and a member of several Diocesan youth committees. With a background like that, you would think it would be a piece of cake to keep up with my faith during my college years.

That's what I thought at least. It turned out to be a lot more difficult. In college, I made a lot of new friends who deeply challenged my beliefs. After a while, it seemed that the twelve years of catechism I had learned wasn't enough to challenge them back. They asked questions that I couldn't answer -- and I wanted some answers!

So I started checking out other religions and faiths to see if they had the answers to my questions. I talked to people who were Orthodox, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Lutheran. After that, I started to look into the concept of Buddhism, which seemed to satisfy my curiosity for a while because it was (on the surface) so foreign to my faith experience up to that point.

Around that time, my mom was organizing a pilgrimage to Rome for World Youth Day. One of my dreams was to travel to Europe, so I asked if I could come along. Naturally, my mother said yes, but with one major stipulation: I'd have to do all the Catholic stuff along with everyone else. No problem, I thought. (I would have done just about anything to go to Italy!)

I felt kind of guilty though, agreeing to be something that I didn't consider myself to be. So I figured I'd go give the Catholic Church another shot. I walked into the church on Good Friday for the first time in almost a year, and it felt like coming home.

Looking back on that time of my life, I've noticed some things about my faith and myself. It's a lot easier to back up your beliefs when you belong to a community. In my first years of college, it was so much easier not to get up on Sunday mornings to go to church. If I had gone, I probably could have answered some of those people challenging me. I also could have been a part of a group who shares my beliefs and could have given me the support I needed.

A fire needs oxygen or it will go out. Faith needs action or it will stagnate and die out. I wasn't living my faith, searching my faith as well as I could. So naturally, without the proper nurturing, my faith went dead for a while.

My story is not a unique story. It has happened throughout history, and will continue to do so. It is the story of all of us, starting from the Hebrew scriptures. God wants to be in relationship with us, and we keep looking everywhere else. We can change though, and that makes our story one of hope. I've been a roamin' Catholic, and it's good to be back home.

In what ways has your faith grown stagnant?
What do you do to renew your faith?
How do you deal with challenges to your faith?