Growing Up in an Interfaith Home Michael Wainwright

Although I do not affiliate myself with any particular religion, I have been a Buddhist nun at temples and an altar server at Christian churches. I can chant the meditations of Buddha in Thai and Sanskrit and recite Catholic prayers in English and French. My exposure to both religions has helped me to become comfortable in discussing and teaching others about them. Growing up in a Buddhist household, my family would never fail to listen intently as I explained the commandments, life of Jesus, and so on. Likewise, my classmates often found topics such as the life of Buddha and the different commandments between monks and lay people fascinating. My mother was intent on providing me with religious education and ensured that I received some sort of it outside of the home, no matter which religion it was.

When I first entered kindergarten at the Roman Catholic parish of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, I was too shy to tell anyone that I was not Catholic. Instead, a friend and I fabricated some information about myself so that I could fit in: I was baptized at Saint Matthew's Church on the same exact day that my brother, who is coincidentally also named Matthew, was born. My patron saint was Saint Rita, as it sounded similar to my...