A junior will soon take a firm stand regarding her faith

This Sunday is an important day for me, perhaps one of the most important days of my life.

On Sunday, at 20 years old, I will receive full communion and be accepted into the Catholic Church.

I quietly began contemplating my faith just over a year ago. As my faith grew, so did my voice and soon enough I felt proud to announce my decision to become Catholic.

In some ways, I think I feared opposition and judgment but quickly learned that it did not mat­ter what people thought. That les­son is one I am glad I learned.

I feel like people our age think it's clich?© to be religious, as if it conflicts with the social norms of our 20-something personali­ties. Our culture tells us that our instead of church on Sundays, we should still be sleeping.

By default, we assume the things we want to do will otherwise con­flict with any sort of religion.

When people ask me how I came about making my decision to be­come Catholic as a college stu­dent, I always say the same thing. I found faith and a relationship with God on my own accord and that I am grateful for.

I am not a perfect person nor will I ever be a perfect Catholic, but my religion helps me build a foundation of morals that I am proud of.

I by no means write this column to push my beliefs on others, rath­er I write this as a celebration of my accomplish­ment and as a testament to the way I view my faith. The first leg of this life-long journey of faith closes this weekend and I feel more thrilled than I can even say. As kids, we were always excited to hang our good grades on our fridges and in many ways, this is my good grade.

Ashley Duvall is a junior public relations major from Vernon, NJ. She can be reached at ashley.duvall@student.shu.edu.