The Perils Of A Catholic Upbringing

Taking a trip to Atlanta recently, I was reminded of my youth and my heavy duty Catholic upbringing, Catholic schooling and of course, Catholic churchgoing.

After daily contacts with Priests and Nuns their words echoed sometimes for minutes, but there are several things I do retain and the trip to Atlanta opened the floodgates and the memories came pouring through.

Sister Magdalene and Father Bromfield were a great double act, not in a funny way but in a ‘care for the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and reach out and touch’ way. Admirable sentiments that should be taken seriously, even by the Catholic church.

Walking down Peachtree Street, or was it Peachtree Avenue, or Boulevard, everything’s Peachtree something in Atlanta, I saw a person dressed in nothing but rags and the poor woman was carrying her worldly possessions in two plastic bags. The words of Sister Magdalene and Father Bromfield entered my head and would not go away.

Sure, some people would be seeing only rags, but I saw the inner beauty, I wanted to care for this woman, feed her, replace her rags with finer clothes, I wanted to reach out and touch. So I did.

And I Ended Up Like This

All Because I Reached Out

MADMIKESAMERICA HOMEPAGE