Surprise - I'm Catholic

The other day I went to mass at the school where I taught English this past spring. The mass celebrated the last day of school before the kid’s summer vacation. What I find interesting is the look on one of the student’s faces when I went up to receive communion. The girl looked at me, pointed, and said “you too!?” . Later that day, in class, she came up to me to ask if I was Catholic. She seemed pleasantly surprised to find out that I am Catholic.

This makes me smile for two reasons. The first reason, is that she assumed since I speak English that I am not Catholic. Which is such an innocent, yet scary assumption. Her assumption is insight to how people start to form think of other unfamiliar people and cultures.

Second, this 10-year-old’s reaction was so genuinely delighted to find out that people from other parts of the word share in the same faith as her. Of all commonalties we shared during our classes this seemed to bring her the most joy.