Whose team are you on?

Growing up, I’ve dreaded going to gym class. I would be tired by the time we finished our warm-up runs; I can’t hit a baseball; I shot at the wrong basket in basketball (but luckily, I missed). However, I would have never expected to dislike going to gym class because of my faith. It was sixth grade, and somehow the topic of religion came up, and the girl that I was chatting with said, “I’m Christian.”

Having grown up being taught that Catholics were Christian, I was excited to meet another sister in Christ! “Oh, me too! I’m Catholic!”

Her face scrunched up with disgust. “Ew, you’re Catholic?! I hate Catholics!”

I was completely taken aback by her response. “Why?”

“Because Catholics worship Mary!” she accused.

“Wait, that’s not true—” I began to reply, but she had already completely turned around and started talking to a different group of people.

            Ouch. I’ve never felt so misunderstood about my religion before this. I don’t think we talked much after that conversation.

After that awkward termination of a potential friendship in gym class, I began to notice that the disunity in Christianity and the misunderstandings that arise from it. Ever since the East-West schism in the 1300s and the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century, Christianity has been divided. In recent years, there have been many attempts to bring together the different Christian branches – otherwise known as ecumenism. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has taken big, radical steps towards ecumenism. For example, Lumen Gentium clarifies that Catholic Church is NOT the only way to get to Heaven, debunking myths saying that the Catholic Church condemns non-Catholics to Hell. (But this is not to say that if you are Catholic, you’re guaranteed a free ticket in either. In fact, the Catholic Church has only declared marvelous individuals who are in Heaven and has never condemned any individual, no matter how cruel and hateful, to Hell.)

One question that I get pretty often is “Are you Catholic or Christian?” And when I say that I am both, I am likely met with confused reactions, like they don’t know which folder to file me under in their mental cabinet.

            Christianity is the big umbrella for the belief in Jesus Christ as the human yet divine savior of the world. Catholicism is a subset of it, as well as the Orthodox Church, Protestant denominations, and others. Unfortunately, like the story above, I’ve had some uncomfortable encounters with people who didn’t see Catholics as Christians. I have also met wonderful, loving, and caring Christians who loved me as a member of their faith without trying to convert me to another denomination.

However, there are many misunderstandings that still need to be cleared up. Although there are indeed differences among the Christian denominations, we overlook the many shared similarities. We should be more active in understanding each other, by putting ourselves outside of our comfort zones and being open to hearing each other out. After all, aren’t we all looking for happiness? Don’t we all ask ourselves what is our purpose in life? We all make mistakes and we all can use some love in our life.

The challenges to render relationships within Christianity and with the rest of the world are similar to those regarding any social diversity issue. Assumptions are made and walls come up. We holler at each other while clamping our hands tightly over the ears, and we wonder why the other can’t hear what we’re trying to say. To break this cycle, we need to listen to each other. I was once told, “If you choose to reject something, at least know what you’re rejecting.”

If that classmate of mine had just waited for me to finish my sentence about how Catholics don’t worship Mary, but revere her immensely, maybe we could have found a way to get along and even become friends, instead of being all awkward for the remainder of the school year. It seems that gym class has not only taught me that volleyball really isn’t my thing, but also that at the end of the day, we should be on the same team.