Background

Raised in a Catholic family, I went through the motions.  Not because I was forced, but because that’s just what you did.

Baptism (this one was forced)
Communion (all my friends were doing it, and I really wanted to taste the host)
Confirmation (all my friends were doing it, we were just a little older)
Marriage (let’s not go there)

I was an altar boy along the way and even went to an all-boys Catholic high school.  But somewhere along the way, I not only lost the faith, I completely discarded it.  I had a lot of questions about life and the workings of the universe; unfortunately, religion didn’t provide the answers.  I began to firmly entrench myself in the scientific method, believing only that which was observable, measureable, logical or inferable through related observations.  I had no time or patience for mysticism, spirits, angels, God or the fairies that live under the annoying patch of mushrooms that keep springing up in the corner of my garden.  I began to, and still hold the belief that such flights of fancy are the domain of fools and those not satisfied with what is right in front of them.

What need do I have for the supernatural when what I experience on a day-to-day basis, good or bad, is so amazing?  There’s a high-def world out there, you just have to be willing to take it in and appreciate it.

But I sometimes feel guilty for holding this view and it’s mainly because of my father.  You see, he’s one of the most intelligent guys I know.  He also revels in the natural world and gravitates towards a logical and methodical pattern of thought.  He’s a problem solver who thinks in the same patterns as I do; he just happens to be a devout Catholic.

I’ve always attributed our differences to being generational.  If dad had grown up alongside me, he’d likely hold my views.  But that can’t be the only answer…it’s too easy.  My primary motivation for joining my dad on this trip was to experience a new part of the world together, but travelling with him to a place that spoke to his spiritual core was also an honour to me.  I would be a spiritual observer; a practitioner of the scientific method in the holy land.