Religion is such a bone of contention in the world.

If everyone just believed what was in their own heart and let others believe what was in theirs, the world would be a MUCH better place. And if you don’t believe in anything, that’s fine too.

Live and let live and mind ya damn business!

Take Pa, for instance.

He grew up as an Irish-Catholic alter boy in Astoria, Queens, New York.

Quick side note: One day Pa served as alter boy at mass; when it was over, the priest berated him because he claimed he didn’t say ‘AMEN’ when prompted. Luckily, his father was there, caught wind of what was going on, and yelled right back at the priest – telling him he heard him say it! This was HUGE because you DID NOT disagree with priests back then much less yell at them. I love that story ♥️

Anyway, until the day they died, Pa’s parents were devout Catholics. And even though he married an Italian girl instead of becoming the first Irish-American pope… well…. at least she’s Catholic 🫤

I was raised Catholic too. Teara and I received all our sacraments, and our parents had to endure our whining and crying every single weekend because we didn’t want to go to church. Lol resorted to bribing us with Burger King afterward but we still complained.

Seriously though, it was so fucking boring.

I believe anything good that’s happened in my life is a direct result of the penance from those 1 hour masses that felt like 100 hours.

PJ was also raised Catholic, so we had a full mass at our wedding. I thought it would make Pa happy, but I’m pretty sure it just made everyone miserable. He didn’t care either way. Teara got married at her venue by a judge and he was just as happy.

In fact, by then he had already started listening to Shabbat on the radio on Friday nights.

He’d sit outside in the backyard, smoking a cigar, with our beloved dog Daisy at his feet. Let me tell ya… this man was as happy as a pig in shit.

We thought it was a joke when we found out he listened to Shabbat. It didn’t make sense. He wasn’t going to church anymore, but still considered himself Catholic… and listened to a Jewish ceremony every week. Um… ok?

But he kept at it, and then found Shabbat on TV. To this day, he watches it every weekend… and yet, still considers himself Catholic.

There’s no war going on in his mind about which is the “right” religion. He just likes it. he wouldn’t even tell anyone if we didn’t ask him about it. He’s just doing what feels right for him.

Shabbat Shalom translates to “Peaceful Sabbath”, and Pa is living that. Mostly because he does what he wants and minds his own damn business! Everyone should follow suit.