During my last year of college and in subsequent job interviews, I got asked frequently why I chose Religious Studies and why I chose to go to seminary. My answer is this: the way people live their lives based on their religion is a fascinating subject to me. Why are Buddhists such peaceniks? Why do Muslim women *like* wearing the veil? Why is there such tension between the Jews and Palestinians in my “History of the Modern Middle East” class? Why is my friend Vero so gung ho about Eucharistic adoration? All of this has to do with religion and when you learn about other religions, it really opens up the door to understanding other cultures. My fascinations are actually Catholic rituals and Islam. My father’s family is Irish and Catholicism has always really fascinated me. Islam fascinates me because it’s a religion which has a high modesty standard for the women as well as a high ethical one. Veiling is just very interesting to me.

As for why I chose seminary, let me ask you this: what else do you do with a Religious Studies major? 🙂 I had visited Jon at Trinity during my junior year of college and I saw that the classes he was taking were ones that I would like to take. God slowly showed me where He wanted me and what He wanted me to do. There’s also the fact that applying to Trinity was put on my heart in January 2001 and did not get off until I applied. 🙂