Appalachian Catholic

April 24, 2010

I have been thinking lately about my two identities: the one into which I was born, and the one I chose as an adult. My first identity is Appalachian. Born in West Virginia to parents from Kentucky and West Virginia, I grew up in Eastern Kentucky and never heard the word Appalachian. But you don't have to hear it to be it. All I can say is that if you have performed with your clogging group at the opening of a second-hand car dealership ..... you might be Appalachian. And I've done that.

As an adult, I learned how different my upbringing was from that of other college and workplace friends. I'm an Appalachian who went "out" and stayed there. That is not very common. I lost my accent. I married into a Spanish family. I'm not ashamed of my heritage at all, but it's not exactly a joyful heritage. And, as I was growing up I found my reading interests centered around Jewish authors -- Bernard Malamud, Chaim Potok, Leon Uris, Herman Wouk, Isaac Bashevis Singer.... The list goes on and on. I was fascinated with these writers because their work depicted an actual "way of life." Despite all of the problems and dramas in their books, there was a shape and structure to their lives -- an orientation toward something outside their own world. And that something was God. Because of that, their "way of life" actually worked, unlike my way of life.

I didn't become Jewish. I became an agnostic in college, a rather boring, much-to-be-expected decision by a young adult away from home for the first time. But years later, living in a big city in the Deep South, I met Catholics. Again, they weren't perfect. Their lives held problems and sometimes dramas, but they had a "way of life." And it worked. There it was again. An orientation to something outside themselves that their religion helped them to incorporate into their lives in a way that my religion never had. And they were Roman Catholic. After two years of reading and thinking, I became a Roman Catholic, too. I never regretted it and I don't plan to ever stop being Catholic.

But trying to be Catholic and Appalachian at the same time is just weird. Appalachian culture is not Catholic; it is very, very Protestant. Appalachians are attuned to the beauty of the natural world around them, but their churches are usually as plain as potatoes. Intellectualism is not regarded highly, in my experience. Fighting and independence run through Appalachian culture like bright ribbons. But in the Catholic world, obedience and community are emphasized.

This culture clash wasn't much of a problem for me when we lived in Memphis, but now that we live in SW Virginia, I find that I often just don't "get" the culture here. Perhaps I have simply been converted. For example, I'm much more concerned about life issues (re: the abortion debate) than I am about mountain-top removal mining. I believe such mining should be stopped and that all mining should be regulated to be safer, but the question of whether a human has a right to life somehow seems to me to be a more basic and pressing issue.

One of the things I have always loved about being Catholic is that it is truly universal. The readings are the same every day everywhere in the world. So I can continue being Catholic right here in Appalachia, awkward as it sometimes feels. If anyone else out there has experienced a similar culture clash. Please post a comment.