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Showing posts from August, 2011

How my Family found Spirituality in Sport

Just the Eight of Us. David, Natalie, Andrew, Sarah, Rachel, Meghan, Hannah, and Melanie. Sorry, Its Just Not for Us.   We were raised Catholic. Sunday mornings were reserved for mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on the White Horse Pike in the small town of Berlin, New Jersey.  It was well-known amongst all eight kids (and most of Berlins youth) that Church was a snooze-able affair and should be avoided at all costs. So every Sunday morning without fail, we hailed a torrent of excuses Mom’s direction: I’m sick. I’m allergic to Jesus. I don’t believe in God. Etc. Etc. She literally had to drag us, sometimes kicking and screaming, to mass.  Oh, the torture. We were forced to endure a complete hour (ok 45 minutes if you had Father Quick) of feigned stillness and silence. However, as a reward for good behavior, Mom treated us with Shop-Rite donuts. No jelly, please. So it was clear from the onset that the dogma of Cathlocism, donuts aside, had little effect on us Dawson kids. We b