The Only Catholic Child

By Andrew R. Duckworth

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

The only Catholic child
In a nearly all Protestant town.
Our parish was older,
Some moving to the next town over,
Few were left.

During the Y2K ‘crisis,’
The world was ending.
For the Protestants in my town,
Jesus’s return would occur
When computer systems went down
For some unknown reason.
A few of my school peers
Made sure I knew
That once computers came back,
They would be gone,
I would be left,
And the Catholics would be
The first to feel God’s wrath.

Y2K came and went, or didn’t.
And then it was on to the next
World event, racing for whatever
Might fill the gap left,
Whatever might serve as
A stand-in,
Whatever else might
Serve the purpose of barring
The filthy papists from the table,
The joys of being the only
Catholic child in a mostly
Protestant town.