Grasping the Unfolding of Life With Integrity

Ever since I found out that we were pregnant, I have been seriously thinking about religion, spirituality, and life, and how they each have affected and shaped my life. I don’t know if I would categorize myself as a good Catholic. Probably not. However, being raised Catholic by very traditional Mexican Catholics and also going to 12 years of Catholic School did have a very profound effect on my life, for the most part positive.

Catholicism gave me a set of beliefs, an internal compass; it gave me an identity, membership in a group, part of another family; it gave me scholarship and academia; it gave me traditions and rites to mark not only religious holidays, but important milestones in my life. It gave me the Sacrament of Marriage. All things that I still hold very dear in my life, even though for the most part, Catholicism is in the background. It comes and it goes but I always feel that I am welcome back no matter how long I’ve been away. And when I do come back, I feel the comfort of tradition, of the familiar.

Which brings me to fatherhood and our son. It is clear in my mind that I do want to pass down my Catholic religion and beliefs to our son. As he gets older and his mind develops, he can then choose for himself what he wants to believe in and whether to continue with Catholicism, just like I did when I became of age. I have discussed this with Mom2B and we are on the same page on this issue.

The most important thing to us is to make sure that our son will have a solid foundation of beliefs, values, traditions and myths that will help guide the child as he grows into a man and then to adulthood. For him not to be lost, so to speak, when confronted with the events of life (both good and bad), when facing ethical or moral questions, when having to make tough decisions. In short, I would like for my son to have an internal compass, a GPS device if you will, so that he can find his way no matter where he is at in life.

“The fourth function of traditional mythology is to carry the individual through the various stages and crises of life–that is, to help persons grasp the unfolding of life with integrity. This wholeness means that individuals will experience significant events, from birth to midlife to death, as in accord with, first, themselves, and secondly, with their culture, as well as thirdly, the universe, and lastly, with that mysterium tremendum beyond themselves and all things.”

–Joseph Campbell