Required Reading: "The Last Time I Went to Catholic Church"

Michelle Garcia's piece for the Advocate, "The Last Time I Went to Catholic Church" is a must read for theists and non-theists alike. On Pope Francis's recent comments about LGBT catholics, she says:

But we shouldn't be fooled. Pope Francis's words don't mean that the church's policy has suddenly shifted. They're still not fans of women assuming leadership roles, and it's not like seminaries will be recruiting at next years's pride parades. While gay men can ascend to the priesthood, women still simply cannot, and all Roman Catholic clergy still must remain celibate. And let's not even get started about contraception.

That being said, the more I see essays like this one being published the more I realize that despite twelve years of catholic school, I was never catholic. Yeah, I was baptized, but my baptism feels more like an embarrassing tattoo gotten over spring break. It happened, but it's not really something I'm proud of. And it's certainly not something that defines me. My family isn't catholic, at least the side of my family that raised me wasn't, a fact I was continually made aware by various "real" catholics. My parents are agnostic-ish (my dad goes back forth with the atheist label -- my mom is vaguely spiritual, but the most religion she ever gave me was teaching me how to read tarot and draw up an astrology chart), so my "good catholic" upbringing was far from typical.