For some reason I always think of Helena as a convert upon marriage: though Patrick's reminder not to genuflect suggests the cradle.
But her "I have been in Protestant churches before, you know" retort could mean that she grew up in them, and converted in order to become a Merrick. Of course, she's certainly been a Catholic for as long as Patrick can remember, given that her conversion-upon-marriage would have preceded his birth (I assume!!). He might simply not know, or not really ever have taken on board, that she had a life before that.....
"So unlikely, it would have to be true" is EXACTLY my take on the Christian story (as, like Miranda, a skeptical Jew -- atheist, really -- who teaches the Gospels as literature, and enjoys them very much from that perspective). The impossibility of the story is what underwrites its veracity. As Tertullian never actually wrote, "Credo quia absurdum est," or in plain English, "You can't make this stuff up."
I see from Wikipedia that my attitude has been officially denounced as un-Catholic by ye olde Pope Benedict, however, so I stand suitably chastised.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-09-19 03:57 pm (UTC)But her "I have been in Protestant churches before, you know" retort could mean that she grew up in them, and converted in order to become a Merrick. Of course, she's certainly been a Catholic for as long as Patrick can remember, given that her conversion-upon-marriage would have preceded his birth (I assume!!). He might simply not know, or not really ever have taken on board, that she had a life before that.....
"So unlikely, it would have to be true" is EXACTLY my take on the Christian story (as, like Miranda, a skeptical Jew -- atheist, really -- who teaches the Gospels as literature, and enjoys them very much from that perspective). The impossibility of the story is what underwrites its veracity. As Tertullian never actually wrote, "Credo quia absurdum est," or in plain English, "You can't make this stuff up."
I see from Wikipedia that my attitude has been officially denounced as un-Catholic by ye olde Pope Benedict, however, so I stand suitably chastised.