2013 Legacies of Catholic Childhood
Beacon Press

	Rev. Marilyn Sewell
	Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt

Legacies of Catholic Childhood
Rev. Marilyn Sewell and Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt

Many UU's are "come-outers," so it is only natural that a good portion of them are former Catholics. But can you ever truly be just a "former" Catholic? This was the context of the panel discussion led by Rev. Marilyn Sewell, minister in Portland Oregon and Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, minister at the Fourth Universalist Society in New York City.

The first part of the session consisted of excerpts from Rev. Sewell's latest book, Readings from Resurrecting Grace - Memories of a Catholic Childhood. After that were selections from Frank McCord's Angela's Ashes, Brian Doyle's Altar Boy, Annie Callan's "The Anglo-Irish Treaty" from Swimming at the Joyce Museum, Sandra Cisneros' Guadalupe the Sex Goddess, Tobias Wolfe's This Boy's Life, as well as Rev. Bray McNatt's earlier work, I'm Afraid of the Dark.

All of these excerpts reflected specific experiences of growing up Catholic. Many in the audience could relate to them, particularly Frank McCord's story of his first confession, in which he was instructed how to put the wafer on your tongue without dropping it.

The second part of the session consisted of questions from the audience and comments from the panelists. Some of the discussion points were:

Rev. Sewell stated that although authors are often told to write about what they know, often you should write about what you DON'T know, or haven't really looked at. By doing so and by examining the subject in depth, you will come to know it.

Rev. Sewell: "I didn't leave the church, it left me; I am a "small c" catholic; I think that Unitarian-Universalism is what the Catholic church meant to be, and didn't make it. We can keep what we want to keep of our Catholic faith and make use of it in our UU faith."

Question: Can you say something about fear in the Catholic childhood?
Marilyn Sewell: A priest told me I would go to hell if I left the church; I was 13 at the time. The fear was there even years later until I began discussions with liberal religious ministers.

Rosemary Bray McNatt: At the age of seven, I couldn't figure out why God would condemn everybody to hell. I was already a Universalist but didn't know it.

Comment from an Irish Catholic who became a UU four years ago: "What was really strong was the SHAME that you would embarrass your family, more than the fear; my father kept telling me I would shame the family by leaving the church for UUism. His question to me was: 'Is it a cult?' We couldn't tell anyone."

Response: One of the things we do share with the Catholic church is the sense of community; that is so strong with them, and we should share that part of our common faiths.

Comment from the audience: "I see no conflict at all with me being a practical Unitarian-Universalist now and having grown up Catholic. We can all be enriched if every constituency goes to its roots and sees how it can bring forth those elements which make the most sense today."

Reporter & Photogrpaher Allan Stern; Web Designer Anna Belle Leiserson

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