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#ThisNunsStory #OfGodAndMe Part 1:
I’m a 100% post-Vatican 2 London working class cradle Catholic. We always went to the folk Mass in our lively parish. We spent summers in Italy, which was more conservative, though my parents said it was nothing like the strictness they'd known
I’m a 100% post-Vatican 2 London working class cradle Catholic. We always went to the folk Mass in our lively parish. We spent summers in Italy, which was more conservative, though my parents said it was nothing like the strictness they'd known
Our local community was close-knit. My hairdresser mum did half the road’s hair, & we knew all our neighbours, helped each other out, I’d play with my best friend etc. Our Italian context even more so, as my dad came from a small village & mum’s family stuck together like glue.
I made my 1st Communion when I was 7, and have a strong memory of how I prayed after. Despite knowing several formal prayers, in both Italian & English, I very naturally - instinctively even - chose to speak to Jesus in my own way, using my own words and sentiments.
Aged 5-18 I attended Catholic schools, sitting A Levels with some folk I’d met on day 1! The 60s & 70s were filled with new ideas, music our parents didn’t like & boundaries being stretched. Against that, my high school the Ursuline Convent @uhswimbledon was a place of solidity…
… & tradition, which rooted us when our lives were full of changes & uncertainties. We had several sisters on the staff, incl the head. Each nun in the large community prayed for a class & we were each given our own bible. Catholicism was a given, even when we were rebelling!
I was a real bookworm, and read my way through books above my age, including my dad’s Reader’s Digest compendiums – which meant that aged about 13 I read I Leap Over The Wall, about a nun leaving her convent! 2 years later I found a biog of St Francis, who I thought was AMAZING!!
When I was 13 & 14 each of my parents lost a parent. Over the next few years we had various illnesses – home became a stressful, stifling place. I took refuge in religion, joined a new @YCWImpact group in my parish, plus the school prayer group, forming some strong friendships.
Some of us inevitably flirted with notions of religious life. I wanted to become a Franciscan and/or a missionary (spoiler: I did NOT become either!) I also wanted to go to university, but my parents couldn’t support me financially. Very few of our family/friends had degrees…
… & my parents had both started work much younger than 18. So, I sat my A Levels, got good grades, and thought I might go to uni after a couple of years of working, supporting myself. I left school and went to work in local govt housing. Out into the big wide world…
Phew - 0-18 crammed into 9 tweets!
Thank you for reading this far.
What happened next will be revealed tomorrow!
#ThisNunsStory #OfGodAndMe
Thank you for reading this far.
What happened next will be revealed tomorrow!
#ThisNunsStory #OfGodAndMe
