Do you go to a private school then, Brehon?

I am forced, by school rules, to go every Sunday to Matins or on some weekends to Evensong. It does not make Christianity popular, and the devout Christians amongst us tend to keep their heads down. Whereas Muslims and Jews hold thier faith as a badge of pride. A good sign, I think, that we are fairly tolerant...

Our church gives an insane amount of money to the youth ministry program which was a huge part of my life for 4 years.

There were 33 people from my church who went to World Youth Day, and the church paid about $600 of the cost for each participant.

Plus, my sophomore year, the new youth and family center opened, and the youth group was given this huge room. It had this high dome like ceiling in the main section which had a perimeter that roughly 75 people could sit around the edge of, a separate section with carpeted risers, a kitchen, two offices for staff, a workroom for the leadership team, a meeting room, separate bathrooms, two huge storage rooms and a coat room. That was all for the youth ministry.

Our priest has always made youth a priority. He went with us to Europe and I feel comfortable going up to him and talking to him about anything. It really does make a difference.

On Saturday, we had this young priest who says mass at our church once in awhile. I was lectoring, and I hadn't actually worked with him before, but we ended up discussing my future and how my faith played a part in it. It was very cool.


Really, I don't know how much I believe of my religion anymore...but my religion brings out the best in me, and you can't really argue with that.

My old church was full of old stodgy people who cared more about putting an elevator in the church than about paying for our pastors. Seriously, this elevator debate has been going on for years and they still haven't come to a consensus. Most of the people there have gotten along fine without it (as old as they may all be), yet they still insist on buying it...with the loads of cash the church doesn't have lying around...

They had some...interesting priorities, which is why we left.

Most of the churches I've been to were great, and so were the people. There was one though who gave me a bad experience.

It can be really strange depending on the church. My old church was a rather traditional Lutheran church and the new one my parents are looking at is Nazarene (a lot more casual). The new one, though, seems to have an overly strange obsession with the cross. I mean, I know it's important to all Christians, but the cross was an instrument of execution. How would it seem if people worshiped a guillotine? It's just...weird. But again, that's an outsider speaking. I never found it odd when I was Christian...

That does sound kind of strange...

As for the question about going to church, I don't actually go, but I'd like to...sort of as a personal experiment.

Cultish, yes. The pastors have these trigger phrases at my family's church, that when they say them, the congregation repeats another phrase. It's unsettling.

I still go every so often, but I really stopped going weekly after I graduated high school. Even during the last couple years of high school, I only went because my parents did and when they stopped going (they didn't like the church we were going to and hadn't found a better one), I stopped going.

When I do happen to go now, the services tend to bug me more than anything. I think it's because I'm now looking at the services with an outsider's eye, which makes the services seem a bit cultish at times. As a result, I really don't like to go and will only do so if I have to, which isn't that often anyways.

The only time I've ever even been inside of a church is when my friend had her sweet sixteen party in the basement of one.

I go to church, the majority of the time by myself. I've gotten out of the habit of going every week though, because then it's more going because I feel I have to instead of because I want to.

I'm on a first-name basis with the 3 priests at my church and there is a really great community of parishioners, and I think that helps.

Every now and again. I never really get anything out of it. The homilies have been lacking real world connections.

I use to go to church since I was a child, until some months back when I stopped going all together.

No. I've had a bad history with churches.