Faith and Culture: Can One Exist without the Other?

All my life I’ve blindly accepted being a Catholic.  Going through something without much thought isn’t very difficult, especially when I have so many other things in life to worry about.  Will I find a job that I love, will my husband and I be good parents, will I ever pay off my student loans. Why add extra stress to something that has existed in my life on a regular basis since birth.  Catholicism in our household was as regular as brushing your teeth. Just as brushing your teeth is a basic ritual for most people every morning and every night, so was getting up every Sunday morning to attend mass with my family. It wasn’t questioned, just expected.  
 
Over 30 years ago, my parents emigrated from Croatia, a country about 90% Roman Catholic. In our home we had pictures of religious figures on our walls such as Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Growing up we attended CCD, also known as Sunday school, and took the basic Catholic rites of passage. Just like moving from 1st grade to 2nd to 3rd and so forth, as a Catholic, you have baptism, communion and confirmation. This was the process growing up until about 8th grade. There were many, many Sundays my two sisters and I wanted to simply sleep in, but the result was always an argument with our parents until we eventually caved in to our parent’s demands and dressed in our Sunday best. Eventually, I just learned that fighting wasn’t worth the effort and sucked it up.  My mom’s favorite thing was to play Croatian music videos and blast them until we woke up. Basically, week after week, year after year, until I moved out at the age of 24, Sunday’s at 10:15 am we were out the door driving to mass. 
 
Religion and culture are almost blended and not interchangeable. I have felt that if I choose one, I must choose the other. Just think about this, when ethnic groups such as the Croats, began immigrating to the U.S., it was easy to find other Croats. You just had to find the nearest Croatian Catholic church. According to the author of “Croatians of Chicagoland,” Maria Dugandzic-Pasic, Croatians purposely built their own church in order to have a place of solace and join other like-minded people because they were outsiders and they needed a place to feel inclusive. From that point on, everything revolved around the church; Croatian school, Croatian dancing, Croatian picnics, Croatian music fests.  In turn, it became this very collective community. The same can be said for other nationalities, Polish, Italians, Irish, Arabs and Mexicans where religion plays a big part in their country of origin.  
 
Up until a few years ago, I never would have imagined this internal battle with faith and culture.  I was taught that Catholicism was an unchanging status, just as my eye color would always be brown, my faith would always be Catholic.  The day my mother asked me why I was Catholic because I disagreed with her views toward sexual orientation and abortion, is the same moment I realized that my religion was not a fixed status.
 
As I slowly pull away from the Catholic dogma I also risk the possibility of being abandoned and judged by those who follow the same culture.  If I decide to leave the religion I grew up with, am I leaving my Croatian culture as well? Can I have one without the other?

All content © Marija Jurcevic