"She's Catholic," she whispered

My Moss grandparents, like many other protestants of their era, were a little suspicious of Catholic folks. They were concerned about them because they believed that Catholics were guilty of idol worship. And suspicious of them because - well, I guess because they were unfamiliar. My Aunt Patsy - Uncle Jim's wife was Catholic and he converted. I remember Grandmother whispering to me "She's Catholic," in the same way she had whispered, "She smokes." It really didn't mean anything to me. I was a Southern kid who had never really thought about religions other than Methodist, Baptist, and Lutheran.

The summer I was eleven my church sent me for a week to Lutheridge - a camp for Lutheran kids in the mountains of NC. There we did a lot of studying about the bible and learned Luther's interpretations of the commandments and the rest of "The Small Catechism." I think Grandmama picked me up from camp and already had Pam with her. We went directly from camp to Grandmother's house in Mississippi. Grandmama and Pam went on to Memphis and I stayed with Grandmother and Granddaddy. (It is possible that I am blurring two memories). Anyway, Grandmother really enjoyed reading The Small Catechism. She told me that she had always liked reading books that provided a further understanding of the Bible. She had access to a lot of these kinds of books in her young and middle adult years when her mother had a house on the farm and kept a "travelling library" in her home. Before branch libraries existed, the county library would seek volunteers that would allow a room in their home to serve as a small community library. The selections would be changed out periodically. It was this library that provided endless reading for my mother and her mother and my aunt until Grandma West died in 1958. I know she moved to Monroe County around 1935, but I am not sure when she started keeping that library.

I work in the library of a Catholic College, Benedictine to be precise. And, at the beginning of this semester, I started going to pray for an hour each week at the Adoration Chapel. During my hour of adoration, along with prayer, I have been reading the My Catholic Life series. This series is a summary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It has been interesting to me. It breaks down the meaning of the Apostles and Nicene Creeds. It provides an explanation for different beliefs held by all Christians and some that are held by Catholics in particular. I wanted to read this series because I have been working at the college for seven years and I just want to understand the faith better so I can be more effective with Catholic specific questions. This series has a lot in common with the teachings of Martin Luther.  I wonder if Grandmother would have been open to reading about it? I think she would have enjoyed it if she had given it a chance.