I am prone to quipping that I am a Catholic writer despite myself.
There is some validity to the description; that I will admit. I grew
up Catholic, I understand Catholicism. And, as the cliché goes,
write what you know. Unfortunately, many who label themselves
Catholic are woefully ignorant of their faith. Even those who
attended parochial schools.
Yes, some of the nuns
who taught us weren’t much better. But I imbibed Catholic social
teaching at school and still respect those teachings. I am fond of
the writings of Belloc and Chesterton (while also finding things to
criticize), and am attracted to Distributism as a social and economic
system.
So these things have
shown up in my fiction. I write Catholic protagonists because I
understand them better than those from other backgrounds. Some are
admittedly not so accurate in their own understanding of their
religion.
Though, inevitably, I
take at least a partially Catholic view of events, my work in no
way proselytizes. Having any agenda is deadly to good fiction writing.
Moreover, I enjoy poking fun at just about everybody. I do not spare
my Catholics.
There are no
Catholics—nor Christians of any sort—in most of my fantasy
writing. I’ve gone out of my way to make sure no invented religion
too closely resembles Christianity. This does not mean my outlook on
life changes. Here, again, I am a Catholic writer despite myself.
That, I suspect, will
never change.