What I Learned Wednesday #16: Nope, Nope, Nope Edition

If I had kept these What I Learned Wednesday (#WILW) posts like I had wanted to, this would've been the 35th installment. Yes, I counted. I will try to get better at these, even after the Year of Faith ends. Oh yes, that's still going on despite what some of you may think. lol. ;)

Anyway, without further ado, here's this week's WILW.

1. Some Catholics will believe anything as long as it's on "the news." It saddened me to see just how many Catholics believed the MSM (mainstream media) this past week. I was expecting more of it from the English-language news outlets than the Spanish-language but I saw it on both. I personally watched Univision this past week (after a seminarian gave me the heads up that they weren't as Catholic-friendly as one would've thought) and I was unpleasantly surprised by the shoddy reporting. First they were talking about the "radical" words of Pope Francis (which have been twisted by almost every non-Catholic news agency) regrading homosexuality. Then, the next day, they reported more clarification (even interviewed a priest), which would've been great except that at the end of the news report they interviewed a gay Catholic man about how the Church needs to "get with the time." They ended the report with an open-ended question about whether Pope Francis and/or the Church would ever change. Way to confuse the audience, Univision. *sarcastic slow clap* Something I learned early on (pre-reversion) in my intro to Journalism course (freshman year of college) was that the MSM will always be biased. Always. It's no secret that it's anti-Catholic 99% of the time so I don't understand why people don't take the time to look into what Pope Francis actually said. I actually saw his response to the question from a reporter, which was in Spanish (thank goodness for being raised bilingual) and I saw how easily someone who doesn't understand Catholicism could twist the words. Instead of relying on media outlets, check out video/audio clips (as unedited as possible). Better yet, go to the USCCB or Vatican websites and check the Church's stance on homosexuality for yourself. It hasn't changed and it won't change, no matter how much people many want it to. Click here to read it straight from the Catechism via the Vatican's website.

2. Moving on from that unpleasantness, I was happy to learn (along with most of you) that the next World Youth Day (2016) will be held in Krakow, Poland. Yay! I only have two big World Youth Days before the cutoff age of 35 (I'll be 34 in 2019; no, I'm not ashamed to say how old I am) so I am determined to either go to this next one or (fingers crossed that it's in Ireland, the U.S. or Canada) in 2019. I know a lot of, ahem, "traditional" Catholics call WYD a "Catholic hippie-fest" but I like them. My first one was WYD 2008 in Sydney (happened two years after my reversion) and I've continually gotten something out of each. They've helped me grow spiritually so I am ignoring all the "hippie-fest" naysayers. Also, a little sad that some of y'all talked so much smack about the Masses and the music. Don't forget that some cultures celebrate their Masses different. I am not a fan of the clapping and dancing in Masses -- I'm a fan of the solemn, Gregorian chant, Latin Masses though not in a snobbish way -- but I do recognize and respect the fact that it's not celebrated the same way everywhere. I think some people missed the great homilies and words that Pope Francis spoke because they were being nitpicking everything.

3. Just when I was done with discernment, nope (nope nope). I have to discern both career vocation and vocation vocation again. My spiritual director thought it would be a good idea to discern what I will study in grad school (Speech-Language Pathology vs. Theology) as well as my "other" vocation (mother & wife vs. consecrated single). It's going to take a while so please keep me in your prayers. I am honestly leaning towards SLP (and I have been prepping myself for the exams and whatnot) but I've had enough people (spiritual director included) bring up an MA in Theology that I have to really discern things. There may be something that everyone is seeing that I'm missing (wouldn't be the first time).

As for the vocation vocation, I am in a state of limbo. I thought I was 100% positive that it was of wife and mother but I've been having my doubts lately. Not that I haven't had a chance to date; opportunities presented themselves but I haven't wanted to. I don't know if it's because I've become used to being single (and have been enjoying it) or because I haven't met/dated the right guy yet. I am currently suffering from the Emma Woodhouse "... I am not only not going to be married at present, but have very little intention of ever marrying at all" syndrome. I feel selfish for thinking this way but I've gotten a taste of independence (first time I haven't had any heavy adult responsibilities since the age of 12) and, while I would be happy to give it up for the right fella, I haven't had the need to give it up yet. Call it the curse of the Millennials or whatever but it's not my time yet. If it happens, it'll happen and I won't fight it. For now it's trips to Disneyland, staying up reading whatever I want, and enjoying going out with friends. Either way, I will be spending a lot of time in prayer. I pray not only for guidance but for my future husband if I am to marry in the future. I'm very grateful that I have a fantastic spiritual director to help me along the way. :)

... and this blog post is officially way longer than I intended. Oops. I really should've saved number 3 for a separate blog post but I didn't have a number 3 so I improvised. lol.

I won't make this any longer so I will say: thanks for making it to the end of this blog post. If I could give you all cookies and milk for getting this far, I would. lol.

I should go do something productive (currently on a mini vacation but still). Maybe I'll go finish one of the 5-6 books I have going on at least. I really should do something about that. lol.

As always, thanks for reading and God bless. :D