{"id":254,"date":"2013-11-21T09:04:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T14:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/cfv\/?p=254"},"modified":"2013-11-21T09:09:08","modified_gmt":"2013-11-21T14:09:08","slug":"on-being-a-catholic-in-alcala-de-henares-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/2013\/11\/21\/on-being-a-catholic-in-alcala-de-henares-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"On being a Catholic in Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/cfv\/files\/2013\/11\/Cross.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-257\" alt=\"Cross\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/cfv\/files\/2013\/11\/Cross-300x225.jpeg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/files\/2013\/11\/Cross-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/files\/2013\/11\/Cross.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>by Lauren Stark<\/p>\n<p>All my life, I\u2019ve been part of a Catholic faith community. From parents to Catholic schools to the Butler Catholic Community, I\u2019ve been blessed with faith-filled people who support me in my journey. This semester, though, I am studying in Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, Spain, and it\u2019s been quite different.<\/p>\n<p>Before I arrived, I was ready for a booming Catholic presence. But I quickly learned that practicing Catholics are hard to find. Young people especially don\u2019t care about religion here. And that realization scared me. But I knew my faith was important enough and strong enough to survive through this; it would just require a personal approach.<\/p>\n<p>At home, my favorite part of Mass is the community of believers. Here, I focus on the fact that I am part of a universal faith. What an incredible comfort that even though the words are in a different language, I\u2019m still participating in the same rituals, taking the same communion, praying the same prayers!<\/p>\n<p>I also rely greatly on my \u201cGod Sightings\u201d journal. Over a year ago, I started writing down one way I saw God each day. Studying abroad is filled with adventures and trials and struggles and triumphs, and I actively search to see God working through every stage.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I can feel comfort in the Catholic history of Spain. Some of the most beautiful sights here are the cathedrals. I was speechless seeing Gaudi\u2019s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and overwhelmed watching the five-foot botafumiero swing at the Santiago de Compostela cathedral. It\u2019s also been a joy explaining the facets of my faith and its churches to my non-Catholic classmates.<\/p>\n<p>In short, my faith has grown tremendously. I feel personally closer to God after these three months. But, of course, I can\u2019t wait to return to my church at home soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Lauren Stark All my life, I\u2019ve been part of a Catholic faith community. From parents to Catholic schools to the Butler Catholic Community, I\u2019ve been blessed with faith-filled people who support me in my journey. This semester, though, I am studying in Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, Spain, and it\u2019s been quite different. Before I&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/2013\/11\/21\/on-being-a-catholic-in-alcala-de-henares-spain\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1386,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/compass-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}