Are you on a Celtic Quest?
or
You just might be a Celtic Catholic

Most people arrive at these questions from an interest in all things Celtic. Perhaps you find yourself also on a "Celtic quest." You know you are if:

• At least ten percent of the books in your library have the words "Grail", "Druid", or "Pendragon" in their titles.
• Another ten percent contain Welsh wordds with far too many D's, F's, and L's ffor comffort.
• You have always wanted to be a Druid, and have contemplated joining the Ancient and Venerable First Druidic Church of Central Southwestern New Jersey, Inc.
• You wear a torque to work and spend your vacations painted blue and drinking mead from a horn-shaped goblet.
• Your socks and kitchen towels have shamrocks on them, your dog is named "Leprechaun", and your friends always give you something green for Christmas.

The above description is, of course, intended humorously, but maybe you recognize yourself anyway. Do any of these yearnings and desires speak to your soul?

• You would like to have a spiritually sound way to incorporate that charming Celtic mystique into your spirituality.
• You naturally have a deep respect for nature. You see God in the ocean and in a spider web, and are aware of an inter-connectedness of the spiritual and material.
• You long for meaningful rituals and symbols that have deep spiritual and historical validity.
• You hope to find an ancient-yet-modern school of serious spiritual direction, not just sappy platitudes.
• You desire a coherent and realistic account of the universe and our place in it.
• You need religious teaching with the integrity that comes only from long history (it wasn't invented last year in Pacoima). But it has to be in tune with your thoroughly modern life.
• You crave worship that speaks to and involves all parts of your personality, including the physical, the intellect, emotions, and aesthetic sense.
• You want a religious tradition that manages to be both mystical, lifting you out of yourself, and highly practical, helping you deal with life in the real world.
• You would like a way to relate to God as to a real Person, not just a "fairy godfather in the sky" or celestial ATM machine.
• You know it must be possible to approach Jesus and the Bible in healthy ways that bring freedom and release the poetry in your spirit.
• You refuse to be made into a robot.
• You seek a fellowship small enough that your presence and talent really matter, where you can create your own niche and contribute your own dream, where your contribution to the whole is vital.
• You want to find out what the deep spiritual teachings of Christianity are really all about, without the fears and prejudices of some of the groups you may have run into before.

This list is by no means authoritative, but it does reflect the experience of many Celtic Catholics. If several of these characteristics describe you, you should find out more about the Celtic Catholic Church.