Here are a few additions to my original post that you can read by clicking here.

Looking back on my journey, there are a couple of things that stand out—details that I think are worth sharing because they’ve shaped the way I’ve come to understand my return to the Catholic Church.

Leaving the Church: Not Rejection, Just Indifference

When I left the Church as a teenager, it wasn’t because I had a negative experience or disagreed with its teachings. And it wasn’t because I didn’t understand the faith, either. I just left. I wanted to live life on my terms, and religion didn’t seem like a priority.

That’s the key thing—I never rejected what the Catholic Church taught. I didn’t even wrestle with it. It just wasn’t on my radar. I think that made a big difference later on. Because I never consciously rejected the Church or its teachings, there wasn’t a lot of resistance when I started coming back. My leaving wasn’t an act of rebellion; it was more like neglect, plain and simple.

The Political Awakening of 2020

Then there’s 2020. That was the year the world seemed to flip upside down. For me, it was also the first time I really started paying attention to politics. Growing up, I was raised in a conservative Republican home, but politics just wasn’t something I cared about. That changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Suddenly, I was paying attention, trying to make sense of what was going on.

At first, I aligned myself with conservative Republican views because that’s what I was familiar with. But the more I dug into things, the less comfortable I became. Over time—maybe a few months or a year—I found myself in this strange position where I couldn’t fully identify with either conservatives or liberals. For reasons I won’t get into here, neither side seemed like a good fit for me.

It was unsettling, to say the least. I felt unanchored, like I was searching for some kind of identity or framework to make sense of things. Politically and ideologically, I didn’t know where I belonged.

The Catholic Call to Participate in Society

When I started coming back to the Catholic faith, I encountered something that really threw me for a loop. I learned that Catholics are called to participate in society—not just in some abstract, spiritual way, but in practical, concrete ways. Voting, for instance, isn’t optional for Catholics. It’s an obligation.

At the time, I wasn’t voting at all. I had made the decision not to participate in what I saw as a broken system. I was completely disillusioned with democracy. Honestly, I was at the point where I was ready to embrace a monarchy. I even joked about wanting someone like Edward I to rise from the grave and bring order back to the world.

But then I learned about the formation of conscience in Catholic teaching. That changed everything. Catholics aren’t supposed to align themselves with political ideologies—whether conservative or liberal. Instead, we’re called to approach politics through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching. That was a game-changer for me.

This framework—Catholic Social Teaching—gave me a way to engage with the political world without feeling like I had to choose sides. It offered a bigger perspective, one rooted in principles like justice, the common good, and the dignity of every person. It was refreshing and, frankly, liberating.

The Problem of Political Ideology in Catholic Circles

That brings me to something that still leaves me scratching my head. Why do so many Catholics—individuals, media outlets, even organizations—align themselves so openly with political ideologies? It’s baffling to me because the Church is so clear that we’re not supposed to do that.

Catholic Social Teaching gives us a blueprint for engaging with the world in a way that transcends political divisions. And yet, I see Catholics picking sides, treating politics like a team sport. It’s frustrating because it feels like such a missed opportunity. The Church gives us this incredible framework, but so many people just fall back into the same partisan traps.

Looking Ahead

For me, learning how to form my conscience and approach politics through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching has been transformative. It’s freed me from the need to “pick a side” and given me a deeper sense of what it means to live out my faith in the world. I’ll have more to say about this in the future, but for now, I think it’s important to highlight just how freeing and life-giving the Church’s teaching can be—when we’re willing to embrace it.