The Story of Catherine
Catherine was nearly 50 when her mother died of cancer. She had been brought up a Catholic and attended a Catholic girls’ school, but her parents were not utterly surprised when she stopped going to church after she left home for University. This had happened in other families they knew, Catherine had always been argumentative, and they thought that perhaps she would return to the fold when she settled down and had her own children. She married a science graduate, however, who encouraged Catherine’s resentment of authoritative statements about life, the universe and everything, and the new family remained essentially secular. Catherine’s mother did try to persuade her to baptise the two girls, but avoided pushing the issue too far, and the two women remained close. They phoned often and saw each other about once a month, despite Catherine’s busy life at home and at work.
Her mother’s death unsettled Catherine badly. She missed her mother in more ways than she had expected. She was now the oldest woman in her birth family, her younger sisters looked to her for a lead, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for this. Playing a major part in organising a Catholic funeral did not make her want to go back to her roots, but did make her feel there was something missing in her life. It didn’t seem enough, somehow, to go back to the busy pattern of work and home, negotiating the office politics with grace, nagging her daughters about homework and ferrying them to clubs and parties, and maybe ringing her sisters more often than before. Her friends were sympathetic but a little at sea when she started to ask questions like ‘what is it all for’?
You and your spirit |
