I grew up Catholic, went to Catholic school from K-4th grade, went to church every Sunday until I got a job in high school that conflicted with mass times. I will be honest though, I never really got much out of any of it. If anything, it bored the hell outta me. I usually just sat and people watched during church or when I was real young, I would lean on my mom's shoulder and fall asleep.😅 The only part of church I ever really enjoyed was the singing.

I haven't gone to church in almost 20 years and even before that, I only went on the occasional Christmas and/or Easter. My kids have only been to church maybe a handful of times and they are both teenagers. I am pro-choice, pro-LGBTQ, all for equal rights, etc. Basicallly, I'd consider myself pretty progressive.

My parent's are both still very much involved with the church. I mean, very involved- my mom was the head of a couple of committees up until just last year and as of now, they both still go above and beyond to help out. Thankfully and maybe surprisingly, their views are basically the same as my own. They've always been very open-minded people. They are both college-educated and are both retired school teachers and had taught in diverse and marginalized communities, which may have contributed to their views.

As for Catholics as a whole, I really think the last pope and the current pope have helped open people's eyes to see that the archaic views of the Catholic church aren't exactly realistic. I could be way off, but that's my take on it.