Background of my Religion Though my father spent most of his life in Jolo, since his parents are Roman Catholic,

he is also a Roman Catholic. My mother is a Roman catholic too because her parents are. These things, basically, make me and my sisters descendants of God too. Ive been breathing as a Roman Catholic for almost twenty years now. I was born and raised as a believer of the Holy Trinity. Of course, as a Roman Catholic, I was baptized too in a church with fourteen sets of godparents. You may wonder why. Maybe because I am the eldest among the four children in the family and I came to life two years after my parents got married with each other. I guess my parents friends just got so excited welcoming me to the Christian world. At home, we are always taught to do the Christian ways. Back when I was a child and as far as my memory can serve me, we, my sisters and I, were always reminded to pray before we go to bed. We kneel before the altar, do the sign of the cross, and pray in chorus. Sometimes, we even recite the prayer very loud but not up to the extent that our parents will scold us, just to let them hear that we really are praying before we go to bed, since their room is just a wall apart from ours. Another thing, we should always be complete when its meal time. My father, mother, my three siblings, and even the yaya should be sitting around the table once we were already called to eat. The meals should always start with a prayer. We are all reminded by our father about this. Its included in his house rules. But sometimes, we tend to forget to pray. Since my father is strict especially with this matter, he tells everyone to pray even though we have already eaten a portion of our meals. I went to three Catholic schools when I was in nursery up to grade school. First was in Dominican where I spent my nursery to kindergarten years. I got my first formal schooling there with teachers who are nuns who are called the Missionary Dominican Sisters of the Rosary, if Im not mistaken. They are Dominican nuns from different parts of the world, majority of them being Filipinas. And since it is a catholic school, everyone enrolled there are Christians. It was through them (the nuns), that I came to have a better introduction of my religion, especially about God, Jesus and Mama Mary. We were taught how to do the sign of the cross, sang Christian songs, know the story of Jesus Christ, practice how to be good, and many more. We also always recognize activities pertaining to Christian events like Christmas and Holy Week, portraying the scenes, and the like. The second Catholic school that I got enrolled in as grade one was WICAS (ICAS today). This school, although teachers are not nuns, is administered by priests. I spent the rest of my grade school years in Pilar College. This school also does not have teachers who are nuns, and not governed by priests, but rather, by nuns, the RVM or Religious of the Virgin Mary sisters. We always have our mass every first Friday of the month with the gala as our uniform. Just like in Dominican and ICAS, we always start and end our classes with a prayer. We also acknowledge religious activities like the Way of the Cross. It is in this school that I was able to really open my mind about my religion, and to be a better Christian. I am presently enrolled in a Jesuit school and have been a member of its ARO community as a lector (ALECS) for almost three years now. Although some may say I look like a Muslim, I am proud to say that I am a Roman Catholic.