I haven’t been to church in a very long time

My siblings and I are really winning in the game of disappointing our folks, as far as staying in church is concerned.

I have an older brother and a younger sister, and I really don’t know what it is that’s in the water in my parent's house because we can’t just seem to get it right.

We have really strayed from the proverbial path.

I miss going to church. I miss it so much but for some reason, I just can’t get myself to go, and it's not from a lack of trying.

I always wonder where young folks like myself get the drive to go to church, and why I'm lacking it.

The last time I went to church was in early June, when I had gone to see my mum back home.

Before that, I hadn’t set foot in church since the pandemic hit and we had to watch church on TV.

I think that’s when the devil attacked my faith because that was two years of Godlessness.

I am actually a pretty spiritual individual and love Church, so I don’t get where the problem is.

It's just a matter of getting up early in the morning on a Sunday when I’m not supposed to be at work and attending mass.

And it's mass, for Christ’s sake! Literally 45 minutes of my time and then I’d be done for the day.

That’s one thing I’ve always loved about Catholic Church, it’s so relaxed.

You can literally wear jeans, a T-shirt and slippers to church and nobody would bother you.

Then you partake in the Body of Christ and before you know it, you’ve been there 40 minutes and they’re reading the weekly announcements.

But maybe that’s also what I don’t like about it. I’m still trying to decide.

I think I want more oomph.

Perhaps a hip church with a hip priest with whom parents feel exasperated because he preaches in Sheng sometimes. Someone relatable to me as a ‘wayward’ youth.

I never thought I would ever stray from church because I grew up in a religious home.

My mum used to be an Adventist before she married my dad and decided she wanted to be a Catholic.

She is the headstrong, black sheep of her family, and I always wondered how that conversation with her strict SDA parents went down.

Did my grandmother almost have a heart attack? Maybe.

My dad is what you call a Catholic through and through. He should be beside the word Staunch in the dictionary: David is a staunch Catholic.

The two of them were a Catholic power couple back when they still had the energy.

My mum has sung in almost every Catholic choir she has come across over the years. My dad was a Sunday school teacher for more than 30 years.

And then there’s us, their heathen children.

My brother used to be an altar boy but he hasn’t been to church in, I’m guessing, 10 years.

My sister, as headstrong as my mother, wanted to be an Adventist herself after being a liturgical dancer in church almost her entire life.

The last time I checked, she had abandoned that pursuit.

Now she can’t even wake up at 7am on Sundays to go to attend Mass 20 minutes away.