I’ve had my ups and downs with the church of my childhood.

On the one hand, as a “cradle Catholic”, I’ve received the sacraments, often get to Sunday mass, and am the product of a Catholic education, right through Georgetown University, with its Jesuit history. My father was a “daily communicant” – he received the Eucharist every morning before heading to his law office; his sister, my aunt, was a nun, a Sister of Charity with a PhD in classic languages.

On the other hand, I’ve felt both incapable and unwilling, for decades, to hew to the letter of the Catholic laws – there are so many of them, after all! – and have been appalled at the sexual abuse of minors by priests and the coverups. These have indelibly stained Catholicism for many years and pulled me away from the faith.

In fact, because of my yoga practice and interest in eastern religion, I’ve even jokingly described myself as “a lapsed Catholic and a half-assed Buddhist”.

But these days, I’m feeling more aligned with Catholicism than I have been since I wore a frilly white dress for my first communion in second........

© The Guardian