Finnegan's Awake

Nothing makes me simultaneously happier and more devastated, as a writer, than when people feel strongly enough about my columns and articles to post harshly worded comments about them. To all detractors and vitriol spewers, I say, thanks for reading and for expressing your opinions. This is, after all, an opinion column, and I may very well be wrong sometimes.

That said, I try not to respond directly to comments, learning the hard way that it’s useless, and also believing my columns that stand for themselves. But there is one interesting point raised in the comments on my previous column.

User GeorgeDillon writes: "Why are you such a hyprocrite? You just want a romantic Church wedding instead of some dingy registry office affair. But you're not a Catholic, so buzz off."

Dear readers, I've been away for awhile, as you may or may not have noticed. Through the ever-continuing Church scandals, statements from the Pope, Ireland's involvement in the volatile situation in Israel, and an apology from the British PM for Bloody Sunday, I've been silent. There are two very good reasons for this: I've been in grad school and I've been engaged.

Both are conditions which hijack a person's brain, allowing her to focus only on things related to Feature Writing class or wedding dresses. (I've even started a separate blog, The Bride and the Journalist, for those inclined to follow my analysis of, reporting on, and documentation of the wedding planning process.)

Which brings me to today's column. As I return to the rest of the world and ponder the state of the Catholic church, the thing weighing most on my mind is that I will be getting married in a Catholic church in about 18 months. Growing up, this fact was a foregone conclusion, but as a free-thinking adult, I realize that I can choose exactly where and how I will get married (although I would NOT mention that to my grandmother).