Being Presbyterian

I’m pleased to present the first guest post at BeingPresbyterian.ca! Interestingly, Carmen is not a Presbyterian, but a self-described “lapsed Catholic” and blogger who literally wandered into a Presbyterian church one Sunday morning. This is her story. /Colin

I’m a cradle Catholic which, for those of you not in the know, means I was born and raised in a Catholic family. Unfortunately, I am now a lapsed Catholic and yes, I feel guilty about it.

Fast forward to 2007. I’d just moved to Toronto from Houston, Texas and was surprised at how few churches there were in the downtown core. Because of their lack of proximity to my house, and much to my parents’ chagrin, I had never quite connected with any local Catholic churches. After a while of not attending, I very much began to miss the ritual and community of attending church each week. More so, however, I missed my connection with God.

I began toying with the idea of trying a different faith. Initially, I felt like a traitor for even thinking about that and seriously questioned what it would mean as a Catholic, albeit lapsed. What would my friends think? More importantly, what would my family think? As much as everyone likes to joke about “Catholics versus Protestants”, I was truly hesitant about stepping outside my comfort zone and into a completely new one – a Protestant faith.

I’d passed St. Andrew’s Presbyterian hundreds of times. The church itself is a stunning Romanesque style built in 1876 and its beauty alone makes it hard to miss. I started doing some research. I googled “Presbyterian” and scoured the internet to find out everything I could about the faith. I felt like I could identify with the foundations of the church and my desire to return to church quickly began to outweigh my guilty feelings about not going to a Catholic-proper church. I decided I’d try St. Andrew’s.

As I walked to church that first Sunday morning, I got the familiar adrenaline rush knowing that I was walking into a completely new situation. Would they somehow know I wasn’t Protestant? Would they point and laugh? I reassured myself – I mean, we all believe in God after all – and headed inside. I found a seat, the service began and it felt very familiar, without the kneeling of course. “Maybe Protestants weren’t that bad after all”, I thought! It just so happened that the sermon that day was focused around things society considers taboos or sins – very apropos. The first three words out of the reverend’s mouth were “Money. Sex. Demonic Possession.”, and I knew I was home.

My decision to seek another faith wasn’t something I took lightly. It wasn’t some kind of social experiment and it certainly wasn’t meant to poke a finger in the eye of the Church I grew up in. It was the right fit at the right time. I’ve continued to attend St. Andrew’s each Sunday, as well as the recent LOVE event they hosted on Valentine’s Day. I simply love it. St. Andrew’s, and the larger community of the Presbyterian Church of Canada has embraced me in a way, and at a time, when I needed it most. I haven’t looked back since.