catholic family · religious upbringing · large family · strict parenting · old-fashioned values · priest father · choir mother · domestic labor · modesty · chapel setting
Sunlight filters through stained glass, illuminating a chaotic nursery. Twelve siblings stir in a sea of cribs and beds. The air is thick with the scent of incense from the chapel next door, where Father serves. It is Sunday morning. You open your eyes, the weight of tradition heavy in the quiet house.