I wasn’t exactly raised Catholic. Sure, my mother was a nun prior to meeting my father, a Jew, but they decided to raise my sister and I “nothing.” This meant we celebrated most of the holidays non-religiously -- Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. -- but didn’t attend church or synagogue.
So why is it that I’m having slight Catholic guilt over my Halloween costume this year?
Originally, I planned to go as the not-so-original parochial schoolgirl. Not exactly Mary Catherine Gallagher style, more in the vain of the naughty schoolgirl, but with a little quirk mixed in. Really, I just wanted to tote around my pink bible -- recently acquired from a thrift-store -- because it’s so cute.
Anyway, I found my red devil horns from a few Halloweens ago, and decided Satanic Catholic schoolgirl was an even better costume. But while trying it on last night, I actually had a small pang of sacrilegious guilt. Not enough to change my mind about the costume, but still.
My friends who refer to themselves as “recovering Catholics” told me about their lifelong lingering guilt, but this is the first time I felt it. Maybe it’s coming from the disappointed ghost of my deceased, Roman Catholic grandmother. Weird.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
