From Catholic to Prodigal: Surviving College

<p><strong>My Spiritual Journey Testimony from Catholicism to the Wild Life....</strong></p> <p>(Part 1)</p> <p>I was born into a Catholic family on a Catholic island, Puerto Rico. &nbsp;When I was 2 1/2 my dad decided that he could make more money living in &nbsp;New York, so he went there first &amp; got a job in sales and then he &nbsp;sent for me and my mom.</p> <p>I remember growing up and going to church with my mom every Sunday &nbsp;—never failed rain, snow, sleet, we went to church on Sunday. My dad &nbsp;never went to church—he had an excuse that he had a knee injury and that &nbsp;didn’t allow him to kneel in church. God forbid he couldn’t kneel in &nbsp;church. Missing church was a mortal sin. Maybe my dad had a special pass &nbsp;from the priest.</p> <p>Once I did my first communion, we had to go to church on Saturday for &nbsp;confession to confess our sins that we committed that week, to be able &nbsp;to receive communion on Sunday during mass. I remember sometimes making &nbsp;up sins. So, yes, I lied during confession.</p> <p>In the early ‘70s we moved up upstate New York to a small town called &nbsp;Chester. The Catholic Church there, wanting to be hip, started doing &nbsp;folk masses. I joined the choir and I played guitar with them. We sang &nbsp;songs like “They’ll know we are Christians by our love”. I actually &nbsp;enjoyed going to church.</p> <p>When I went to college in ’73, I went to a small town in Vermont and I &nbsp;went to the Catholic Church there. It was old-fashioned and boring. I &nbsp;decided I’d rather go out and party on Saturday nights and sleep in on &nbsp;Sunday mornings. That started my life as a wild child. I was a party &nbsp;girl. I’m really surprised I survived college.</p> <p>First let me mention that my dad was a recovering alcoholic. He had &nbsp;stopped drinking, then met my mom and got married and had me. I have a &nbsp;very high tolerance for alcohol. Now, at that time, the drinking age in &nbsp;Vermont was 21 but in New York it was 18. My school was a half a mi