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Sounds to me like you are being bullied and you need to complain to the administration. After all, if this same sort of thing was done to a student because they were gay, transgendered, black, green, whatever, it would not be tolerated.
I am not Catholic but I had the good fortune to work in a Convent of Franciscans who ran a nursing home/assisted living place when I was a kid. I had a lot of respect for the Nuns and I enjoyed getting to know them. Some of the Novices were not much older than me. We had many conversations and I learned a lot. I will try to pass on some of this information.
The commitment to be a nun is forever. You embrace the sacred life and opt against the secular. You chose a life of great sacrifice and great reward. The message I got from my friends the Novices was that you had to experience the secular life to be able to embrace the sacred life forever. And that's why people aren't born Nuns. They have to experience life to be able to make that decision. There is no shortcut. You need to let yourself experience the life you have today. Don't wear the Habit till you have to.
Finally in every 'story', there is always your side, my side, and the truth. Examine your own motives. Is it possible your extreme piety is a subtle judgement of others? By all means, be true to your self and your beliefs. Engage in the life you have today. That's the only way you will have the skills you need to make the right choice.
Ever since I was young I have dreamed of being nun or serving the lord in a positive way. I work hard in school( I am currently a senior in high school) and attend sunday school/dutifully every week. I also volunteer for my church to help with various of volunteer projects often. Anyways I wanted to mention all above so you can get the sense of how devoted I am to my faith.
However I guess the problem is that everyone seems to look down upon me because of faith. Now before you think I am being a drama queen let me recount some incidents that have happened to me a lot every time I am asked about my faith:
1. My biology teacher asked my classmates and I what we wanted to do when we get older, I mentioned the possibility of being a nun. My biology teacher gave me a weird look and then snickered. He then preceded to say," Well you always did strike me as being a bit of a prude Nancy," which of course caused the whole class in burst into laughter.
2. This one girl in my English class has this annoying habit of referring to me as "Sister Nancy," I have repeatedly told her to stop do that but she ignored me. She does it on purpose and in a very condescending way.
3. One boy, who knew how I much I love The Virgin Mary, thought it would funny to photoshop the The Virgin Mary's head onto the body of Nicki Manaji in a provocative pose and post it on my locker. I wasn't amuse but apparently every other person in my grade thought it was funny. This boy also wrote Mary is a wh*re on the paper, which I guess was in an attempt to anger me.
4. My English teacher forced me to attend a counseling session at school because she worried about how "obsessive" I was about religion since most of papers I tried to relate to religion. I tried telling her I was not obsessed but religion is the thing I know best compared to other subjects which is why I naturally try to relate it to my papers. She still thinks I am crazy .
5. Another guy who is an atheist(I have nothing against them) straight up told me I was delusional nut because I still believed in God. He also went on say that deep down I was probably a sl*t of will become one in the future(for some reason he doesn't believe that I am a virgin?!). I was honestly so shocked by how nasty he was to me I didn't know how to respond. This another classmate of mine.
I have tons of stories similar to these. People honestly seem to hate me because of my devotion to my religion. I have been picked on since the ninth grade and I am getting tired of it. When did people start to openly hate those who chose to devote their lives to God? Wasn't that once an honorable position? Please help me, I don't think I can take this anymore.
To the OP (NancyFancy):
I am not one to call someone a "troll", for how would I know that detail about anyone? And it seems rather rude to do so.
However, out of curiosity, I looked into your profile to see if you listed any details about yourself. It said the following:
Interests: Cooking, Reading, Dancing, & Riding my bike
Education: Student
Sex: Female
Marital/Relationship status: Engaged
Favorite Music: Jazz & Pop
Favorite Books: Call the Midwife Series
Birthplace: Charlotte, North Carolina
Hair color: Blonde:
Eye color: Blue
Heroes: My mom!
Religion/Worldview: Christian
The things that seem a bit off or strange to me are the following:
You say you want to be a nun and yet your list your "Martial/Relationship Status" as "Engaged". Even I (a non-Catholic) know those looking to serve as a nun aren't allowed to be married.
You have said multiple times in this thread thus far that you are very very much into your religion/faith, to the extent that said interest/preoccupation even overrides many other actual or possible interests and hobbies. And yet, under "Interests", you list "Cooking, Reading, Dancing, & Riding my bike" but not anything related to your Catholic religion/faith (e.g, studying the Bible).
For "Religion/Worldview", you say "Christian" but not specifically "Catholic".
For "Favorite Books", I see nothing faith based (such as "The Holy Bible", et al).
Taken as a whole, it seems just a wee bit "strange" but here most especially your stating that you are engaged to be married. Yet, at the same time, you say you want to become a Catholic nun (????!!??!!!!????). How do you reconcile this? So as soon as you get accepted into the nunhood, you will drop your fiance or divorce your husband? And if the Catholic Church knows you are engaged or married at the time, do you expect them to accept you for becoming and serving as a nun?
How would you address these points brought up by myself? I mean no condescension nor derision toward you here; these are just simply being posed to you here as intellectually-honest questions about what appear to be seeming incongruities or discrepancies in the overall picture you paint of yourself.
Not sure how that squares with the interest in becoming a nun, unless she is thinking of herself as a potential "bride of Christ"...
Nancy, seems lots of folks here don't quite understand how everything you've posted fits together with your stated ambition. Can you please enlighten us? Thanks.
The things that seem a bit off or strange to me are the following:
[*]For "Religion/Worldview", you say "Christian" but not specifically "Catholic".
Taken as a whole, it seems just a wee bit "strange" but here most especially your stating that you are engaged to be married. Yet, at the same time, you say you want to become a Catholic nun (????!!??!!!!????). How do you reconcile this? So as soon as you get accepted into the nunhood, you will drop your fiance or divorce your husband? And if the Catholic Church knows you are engaged or married at the time, do you expect them to accept you for becoming and serving as a nun?
I grew up in a Catholic family and seriously Catholic city and have never heard anyone call themselves Christian. They ALWAYS call themselves Catholic. Christians are something entirely different in their views.
And I have NEVER heard of a Catholic nun who was married. I don't know if anyone else even has nuns these days. The Catholic Church has had a major decrease in nuns and priests over the decades.
Anyways I wanted to mention all above so you can get the sense of how devoted I am to my faith.
There are two things that you do not discuss among people you are around. That is religion and politics. You keep saying you keep bringing up to friends and even in class, your religion, and how religious you are. You want everyone to know about your religion and you wanting to be a Nun. If people are of another religion, you are waving a red flag in front of them. If they are an atheist or of another religion, you are challenging them and trying to push your religion to them.
Your religion, and if you are very far left or far right politically, are not something you should bring up and wave in peoples faces. If you want to gain respect for you and your faith, do it by being an example of the person you are, and never bring up religion. Religion is a personal thing, and when you bring it up like you do, you are telling people of other religions you are better than they are in your opinion.
Stop doing it, and you will see the problem goes away soon. Keep doing it, and you are going to continue to be hurt by it.
Quote:
4. My English teacher forced me to attend a counseling session at school because she worried about how "obsessive" I was about religion since most of papers I tried to relate to religion. I tried telling her I was not obsessed but religion is the thing I know best compared to other subjects which is why I naturally try to relate it to my papers. She still thinks I am crazy
She is right you are obsessive when you try to turn school assignments into religion. That is out of place. Religion is a private thing, not something you through out in every school assignment. In fact, it should never be mentioned in a school paper. Going to church, doing things at or for the church is very commendable. But it should stop, when you go to school, or are around non Catholic friends.
The more you push your religion to non Catholic friends, and in school papers, the more trouble you will have with people. What you are seeing, is people are tired of your constant religious preaching to them. You are making them miserable hearing and reading your constant preaching about you and your church, and they are going to make your life miserable till you stop it.
Don't give up on your religion, but stop trying to shove it down everyone's throats so to speak.
I think the problem is that everyone knows about all your devotion. Stop talking about. That's weird. It's not normal to walk around all day telling everyone how much you love Mary and how devoted you are to religion. It's not normal not to be able to write about anything else. It does sound obsessive.
I'm not saying bullying is OK - if you are being bullied, then you need to speak to the administrators of your school about that. That is wrong and you should definitely report it, and it does sound like that is the case. Definitely the picture thing and the comment from the teacher should be reported immediately. (although I don't believe any of this is real)
But as far as people thinking you are weird because of your religion- no one likes it when people talk about their religion unless they share that religion. So don't talk about it. No one wants to hear it. Join a bible study group or talk about it with the priest or other church members, but leave your classmates alone.
I'll take a leap, Mnseca, and say you are probably okay with people wearing the Muslim attire? People getting beaten because they have a can of beer? Sexual assault victims being stoned to death for adultery? That religion is different, right?
OP, it's because you are in a faith that believes Jesus is fully man, fully God. The world doesn't like that. The world is uncomfortable with the idea that they might be wrong or bad or condemned. When in reality we are all condemned without Him. I encourage you to delve deeper into scripture to see what God's word says. Just one-on-one. You are the light, the salt. And the meek shall inherit.
You may want to look up the ACLJ, make contact and get their opinion on the whole situation, which seems to be harassment at the least.
I grew up in a Catholic family and seriously Catholic city and have never heard anyone call themselves Christian. They ALWAYS call themselves Catholic. Christians are something entirely different in their views.
And I have NEVER heard of a Catholic nun who was married. I don't know if anyone else even has nuns these days. The Catholic Church has had a major decrease in nuns and priests over the decades.
Then Catholics have got their religion all wrong. Technically, "Catholic" is not a religion; it is a denomination of Christianity. Thus, when OP says her religion is Christianity, she is being accurate. As for the engaged thing, I suppose OP consider herself engaged to God, but that's really reaching.
Don't know what you people are talking about. A lot of people say "Sunday school" who are any kind of Christian, including Catholics. I feel you guys might be more my parents age (I'm 26). I never once have heard my non-Catholic school friends talk about going to "Catechism." They all said Sunday school or PSR. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and like I said went to Catholic school for years and years.
I don't know OP at all, but dismissing her because she said "Sunday school" is ludicrous.
Catholics actually raised as Catholics do not say "Sunday school". "Sunday school" is a very Protestant term. My guess is that the Church deliberately shunned the term.
Moreover, Catholics are required to attend Mass on Sundays and other holy days. The OP doesn't mention attending Mass or any type of church service at all IIRC, only that she attends Sunday school and is "active in her church", whatever that means.
Sorry, but you can't truly have a vocation to become something without understanding all of what that choice means. You can not become a nun without being a practicing Catholic. The OP isn't one. At best she's a confused adolescent who needs some serious counseling ... at worst, he/she/it is a troll.
Then Catholics have got their religion all wrong. Technically, "Catholic" is not a religion; it is a denomination of Christianity. Thus, when OP says her religion is Christianity, she is being accurate. As for the engaged thing, I suppose OP consider herself engaged to God, but that's really reaching.
Sorry, dude, but ss20ts dead to rights about how Catholics describe themselves. It's not a factual thing but a semantics thing. Catholics do NOT describe themselves as "Christians" but as Catholics. They refer to the Catholic Church in general as "the Church", not "my church". When they name the particular Catholic church they attend or were baptized in, they say "Holy Spirit" or "Blessed Sacrament" or "St Joe's", not "my church". They go to CCD or religious ed not to Sunday school. It's a specific way of referring to Catholic traditions and practices that comes from the commonality of Catholic religious experience in the US.
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