Italy journey Archives – L.A. Guardian

In third grade at my Protestant elementary college, my trainer mentioned that unbaptized folks can be damned to hell. 

“Even babies?” a scholar requested. 

“Yes,” the trainer answered.

But we had additionally been taught that God was a loving god, so this didn’t make sense to me. How might a loving god condemn harmless infants? 

“What about people in [other places] who have never heard about God?” one other scholar requested. 

“That’s why we have to support missionaries,” the trainer responded. 

I raised my hand and mentioned, “But we believe what we believe because this is what we are being taught, and they believe what they believe because that is what they’re taught. How do we know we are right?”

This didn’t go over effectively. She mentioned one thing about God being omniscient and all-powerful, and if not for Satan, there can be no evil on the earth, and everybody would know God. 

“But if God made everything and knows everything in advance, didn’t he know Satan would be evil when he made him?” I blurted out. 

However badly my first query bombed, this one landed far worse. I used to be despatched to the Sardine Can, the within of a fridge field coated in blue butcher paper. I trembled. I’d by no means been in hassle in class earlier than; I had zero curiosity in being in hassle. I puzzled if God was going to strike me lifeless or if my mother and father would do it for him. 

After that day of punishment, I realized to maintain my inquiries to myself. Instead, I spent many afternoons within the public library, secretly researching different religions, their beliefs and customs. Thus started a lifelong fascination with comparative faith.

And so, I did. And I’ve used all the things at my disposal — together with journey — to assist make that journey wealthy, open and expansive. 

At the tender age of 9, I vowed to boost my future youngsters to be at liberty to ask questions on something, reply them to the most effective of my capability, discover others to reply the questions I couldn’t, have respectful discussions about unanswerable questions and allow them to resolve the trail of their spiritual discovery. 

Why cultural journey issues to youngsters

“Children often learn best when they can respond creatively,” says Robin L. Owens, Ph.D., professor of spiritual research at Mount Saint Mary’s University in L.A. “Art, storytelling and age-appropriate expertise can assist them course of what they’re studying about completely different religions in a manner that feels pure, partaking and accessible. 

“When children are exposed early to different religions, they are more likely to see diversity as something to appreciate rather than simply tolerate,” he explains. “That can help shape them into more thoughtful, compassionate and culturally aware people.” 

Rome as a residing classroom

My teen daughter started displaying a deeper curiosity in Christianity across the similar time my expensive buddies Paul and Dani retired to the beautiful city of Giovinazzo on the Adriatic Sea within the Puglia area of Italy. In 2025, they invited us to spend a few days in Rome with them after which keep of their new house in Giovinazzo, a renovated monastery in-built 1395 A.D. 

My daughter’s spring break occurred to coincide with Holy Week, and 2025 was a jubilee yr within the Roman Catholic Church. Where higher to expertise Christianity than to immerse ourselves within the Eternal City, the house of the Catholic Church? I believed. 

We jumped at our buddies’ beneficiant supply and booked our spring break journey, desperate to creatively reply to the tales of the folks of Italy. 

I’ve at all times felt that journey advantages youngsters and adults alike, however I figured I’d ask an skilled for some deeper insights. Eric Tierk, a licensed marriage and household therapist, began travelling together with his youngsters once they had been infants, ultimately visiting 71 international locations with them. “Kids who travel — particularly to foreign countries — become more flexible and emotionally tough because you have to learn to go with the flow when plans eventually change in a culture that’s different than ours,” Tierk says. 

 “Travel helps kids see that one person’s idea of God may be different than theirs,” he says. “Learning, ‘Oh! My belief system is just one of many,’ challenges our belief systems in a healthy way. It’s difficult to harbor prejudice when you’ve interacted with people and truly experienced their culture.”

Experiencing Holy Week in Italy

On Venerdi Santo (Good Friday) in Giovinazzo, we witnessed the procession of the statues of the Passion — crosses and sacred relics typically draped in black — carried by friars, clergymen and nuns wearing historical robes. It appeared the complete city of 20,000 folks gathered across the port to witness the various church buildings stroll their statues and relics to the piazza earlier than the procession. 

Some folks prayed on the sidewalks. Many sat inside gelaterias, bars and ristorantes, having fun with Aperol spritzes, panzerotti and different native treats. The procession lasted hours and culminated with the relics being returned to their respective church buildings, most of which had been open to the general public late into the night.

We entered San Giovanni Battista near midnight, paid our respects on the altar and lit a candle for my youngest daughter, who died in 2013. Our Italian buddy Dani identified vital artwork and relics whereas discussing the fascinating historical past of the almost 1,000-year-old church. Upon listening to Dani describe the historical past to us, one of many males working there invited us to climb down the ladder to see the nun’s crypt, a uncommon alternative. 

My daughter and I had by no means skilled something like this in America. We’d examine these customs, however nothing might have ready us for the real-life expertise. “There’s no way to unknow things, and knowing things experientially is the best way to know things,” Tierk says. “Despite intense research before each trip, I’ve never once found a place to be as I expected.”

Discovering Matera’s historical roots 

During our time in Italy, we additionally realized to sail on the Adriatic Sea, attended Giovedì Santo (Holy Thursday) providers on the Cathedral Basilica of Maria Santissima della Madia in Monopoli, took within the wonders of the Sistine Chapel, Colosseum and Forum and lit candles in numerous Roman church buildings the place employees had been stacking olive branches in preparation for Palm Sunday.

We had been awestruck by the Rupestrian church buildings of Matera — repeatedly inhabited because the Paleolithic interval — and the 9^th to 12^th century frescos nonetheless seen on the partitions of those church buildings constructed into the pure caves, clearly demonstrating the evolution of faith in that area over millennia. 

We noticed the story of Christian historical past unfolding earlier than our eyes by the artwork and design of those church buildings, and the way a lot Christianity itself modified in response to tradition by the years, even throughout the similar metropolis. “Facts matter, but stories are often what stay with children,” Owens says. “Storytelling helps them see themselves in other people’s experiences, which can open the door to a deeper understanding of both other religions and their own beliefs.”

What journey teaches households

During our day by day grind, mother and father and teenagers don’t at all times get the most effective of one another, so to witness the reverence my daughter displayed in these church buildings, temples and archeological websites was life-altering for me. Seeing my little one’s eyes stuffed with true surprise, awe and respect is one thing I’ll always remember.

“Mom, I think my friends would love this architecture, these churches and pace of life,” she instructed me. “Can we bring them when we come back?”

You realize it’s a great journey while you’re already planning a return together with your woman gang even earlier than you even depart.

As Tierk says: “The best way to avoid living in an echo chamber is to get out in the world and interact with people from other cultures. It also helps us appreciate home.”

Looking for tactics to assist your youngsters discover tradition proper right here in L.A.? Check out Mike Sonksen’s “How to Be a Tourist at Home” and Jalpa Vaidya Patel’s “Cultural Summer Camps.”

Melissa M. Monroe, Ph.D., garnered honorable point out in Writer’s Digest 2023 Self-Published Book Awards for her guide, “Mom’s Search for Meaning: Grief and Growth After Child Loss.” She is a mother, author and licensed acupuncturist in L.A. Her current work has appeared in L.A. Review of Books, New York Times, Slate, Well+Good, Backpacker and Insider.