Interview on March 7, 2022 with Alexis, who is studying history and physics, in the Library Quad at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California.
Do you consider yourself religious?
Alexis: I am a Roman Catholic. My family converted to Roman Catholicism at least 300 years ago.
Do you go to church?
Alexis: I stopped attending Mass during the pandemic. I haven’t gone to Mass for two years.
How about other sacraments? Have you or your family members been to confession, been baptized, or received other sacraments in the last couple years?
Alexis: I have a nephew who was baptized through a cathedral in the city where he was born last year.
When you say you’re Catholic, does that mean that you follow the teachings of the Catholic Church?
Alexis: No. I have sympathy for those practices of being a Roman Catholic. I didn’t choose to be a Catholic. It was my biological parents who decided to make me a Roman Catholic. So yes, I have sympathy for being a Roman Catholic, so I do follow those.
The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a sin. Do you agree with that?
Alexis: Yes or no. There are a lot of points of view between individuals involved in incidents of abortion. So there’s going to be a lot of personal opinions of that subject.
Do you think it’s evil?
Alexis: No. From my point of view it’s not.
The Catholic Church teaches that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman. Do you agree with that?
Alexis: Well, there has been a lot of reformation into the religious institution of the Roman Catholic Church concerning the changes that occurred because of certain individuals that intervened with the practices, like Martin Luther, who wanted to reform the policies of the Church.
Are you saying that the Church no longer teaches that marriage is only between a man and a woman?
Alexis: No, not anymore.
Do you agree with the Church’s teaching that if an individual commits a grave sin and dies without repenting, he will go to hell?
Alexis: If an individual commits an act of evil, if he doesn’t confess his sin, he will either go to hell or purgatory, which is the tier level between the afterlife. Purgatory is when you confess some of the sins, but not all of them and hell is when you didn’t follow the process of the sin.
Do you believe people go to hell?
Alexis: For me personally, that’s a myth. That’s a myth of being transferred through a lower tier of life, like hell.
Do you believe in any sort of afterlife?
Alexis: Yes. I have some opinion that if I cease to exist in this modern world, I will potentially go through heaven or purgatory or lower.
Do you think purgatory is permanent?
Alexis: No. It’s a temporary residence of individuals that didn’t actually realize their confession or the issues that weren’t confessed through it.
When you say “confession,” do you mean just being sorry, or do you mean going to a priest and confessing your sins?
Alexis: You’re exposing your feelings to the priest of the minor incident that you committed.
Do you think it’s a good thing to be Catholic?
Alexis: I’m not going to object to other individuals of their official religion. I will just expose them to some of my views of life of being a Catholic, not criticize them. I want to be Catholic for my entire lifespan.
The sign needs a comma after the word “back.” Some college.
Her family converted 300 years ago? Are they vampires?
I must admit that was hilarious, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
unless their mascot is/are “Back Owls.”
Obama promised change. Change is good.
No it isnt….
I noticed that my Missal has a section in the back that says “How to be a better Catholic”. I hope these poor young people are being given some kind of booklet or something.
She’s probably a grad of Mitty or at least a parish confirmation program.
I just cringe when I read these interviews with college men and women, these “pseudo-intellectuals”. She is espousing so much error as to what the Catholic religion is and what it is not. May God help her before it is too late.
I thought the same thing but will also confess to some anticipated humor. Just never know the answers…
Like RC Jeopardy…
“I’ll take Un-catechized College Students for $50, Alex!”
hey buddy … can you spare some change?
Obama: “Get lost.”
The title, “Alexis considers himself Catholic.. ” indicates a boy, not a girl. When he says his family has been Catholic for 300 years– does that indicate his family is of a possible indigenous origin, with priests of a Spanish conquest converting his family at that time– during the 1700s, maybe?
Alexis is a girl’s name. Himself is a masculine pronoun. Could it be that Alexis is a confused male, and the author wasn’t going to affirm his gender confusion? Alexis didn’t want to be photographed. It might also be that the author mistakenly typed himself instead of herself, and Alexis is truly female. I hate the world we live in.
Alexis is a girl’s name. I guess it can be either.
and an “either” can be an “it.”
She’s so misguided….she’s not a Catholic. Crazy how young minds think of a true faith. Foothill is a small college …. Nothing to see there.