[Sparrow]

i think part of the why may just be it's a familiar place to jump off from having the hard conversations with your kids about morals, doing the right thing, and why bad things happen. Catholicism is certainly in the collective zeitgeist especially where religion is spiritual /and/ cultural. most people have the language and the narrative already in their brains and find it an easy way to relate complex issues to children. parents don't get a special wisdom handbook in how to raise up a human; religion can be a helpful structure.

there /is/ inherit magic in being in a room full of people real intense in the same frame of mind. i've felt what the baptists call 'the spirit moving' in church /and/ during amazing performances. the stranger next to you can be in and of the same place during a service or a show and it's a connection that you can totally feel. it's cool.


edit: blah blah blah those connections help build empathy; kids are sociopaths.