What makes me Catholic...
I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church on December 31, 1959. I subsequently received the remaining sacraments of initiation and was confirmed at the age of 14. In 1978, I entered the formation program for a religious community, entered the novitiate in 1981 and professed temporary vows in 1983. I left the community in 1984. I was married in the Church in 1986 and my child was baptized Roman Catholic in 1987 and graduated from a Catholic high school. Over the years, I have been involved in a number of different parishes, generally in the area of education and youth ministry. In 2001 I became actively engaged in a local, urban parish and my ministry expanded to social justice issues and working more with adults. In 2007 I moved to a new urban parish where I am less involved in parish ministries, but have increased my involvement in global issues.
Essentially, then, I am Catholic by heritage, culture and training. Catholicism, then, perhaps could be likened to my spiritual family of origin. I can no more cease to be Catholic than I can cease being the child of my parents. It is in this church that I began my spiritual journey. It is in this church that I became part of a community that reaches across time. It is in this church that my quest for God moved from searching out there in the heavens, to looking deep within myself.
What makes me Buddhist... 
Well, this is a lot less straight forward than my Catholicism. For as long as I can remember, Buddhism has held a certain intrigue for me. Throughout the years I had done some cursory reading about Buddhism. I first read Siddartha (Herman Hesse, 1982) and became familiar with the work of Anthony DeMello while in the convent. However, I found it all very confusing and the unfamiliar language was difficult for me to follow. Early in 2007, in an incidental conversation , someone told me that they were studying the correlation between the Buddhist "Four Noble Truths" and interpersonal relationships (or something to that effect). I remember that at that moment, I had an actual physical sensation that something in me sort of "snapped" to attention. I needed to study Buddhism. So, I started with a trusted author, Karen Armstrong and read her book entitled simply Buddha. I also started surfing the 'net for information, however, again became quickly overwhelmed by all the information. I could not make heads nor tails out of all the "types" of Buddhism that I came across. This time, however, I decided to stick with it. I started bookmarking sites that seemed to hold information that I would come back to. Again in a conversation, a name was mentioned to me that I thought sounded familiar. When I got home, sure enough, I had bookmarked a site by that name. And so I began delving into the works and teachings of Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun. I have read her books and downloaded talks that I listen to on my iPod. (seems a bit incongruous to be listening to talks about ancient teachings on an iPod ..... but hey, the year before I had listened to the Confessions of St. Augustine on the same iPod!) I have found her works to have the same effect, to resonate with me, in the same way that Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain did when I read it as a young adult. I have not officially Taken Refuge in the Three Jewels or participated in any kind of initiation rite. Who knows what the future may hold? At this time, the path to follow in my quest to know the Divine, seems to be found in the Dharma.