ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle
June 3, 2019
By Maureen Maas-Feary
I didn’t go to Catholic school, though I grew up Catholic and wished I could have attended a special school and worn plaid jumpers.
Our church was the center of our small town. Attending Mass every Sunday provided a secure sense of belonging. Later, I experienced predictable teenage rebellions, complaining about going to church and rejecting religion totally.
In my mid-20s, I started needing the church. I had a joyful wedding at the same church where my parents and older sister were married. That day marked our family’s last huge family occasion. We lost my great aunts first, and then my mom, whose time came way too early. I promised her as she died that I’d have kids and bring them up Catholic. I did my best, prodding my daughters through the same rituals I’d grown up with. They even enrolled in a Catholic high school, my dream realized vicariously.
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