REGINA: And today?
MARY: Today being conservative, chaste, and pretty much anything else ‘Good, True, and Beautiful’ is the new rebellion and counter culture - which is an incentive to do it. But rather, it's more fun to ridicule and laugh at the banality of the worldliness in our culture. It's so typical and stupid.
I think the rise of social media has made it easier to find good Catholics, I'm thankful for that.
REGINA: Did you ever struggle <not> to follow the world?
MARY: Sometimes the mood would strike me of "what’s the point?" -- no one seems to care and everyone else is on 'easy street'. Having a strong and solid family base where you can retreat from the world helps. I think growing up it's easy to feel insufficient compared to the lifestyle that magazines, film, and television sold and continue to sell to young adults.
REGINA: What media did you enjoy?
MARY: I am a big Jane Austen fan. I also love Fulton Sheen's books. I would read many books by the saints while in Adoration. I listen to all types of music; Country, Pop, classical, Kpop, Russian, Gregorian chant, 1940s, 1980s, 90s hits.
REGINA: Before you met your husband, did you ever feel hopeless?
MARY: Yeah, it did seem bleak at times. I spent a lot of time in Adoration. I was prepared to go it on my own given the world that we live in. I just prayed for God's will to be done concerning my state in life.
REGINA: How did you meet your husband?
MARY: He did a military exchange program in South Dakota and we later were introduced through a mutual friend. He moved to the UK as a young teen but grew up in the Soviet Union. It has been interesting to learn more about Russia, how it was then and now; and to everyday observe how it has returned back to God from communist atheism. I admire the visual beauty and tradition of the Orthodox Church.
REGINA: Do people in London have a different attitude towards dating and marriage?
MARY: Yes. Overall, London is on a more advanced level of degeneracy and ruin, as are most major cities. Chastity, family, tradition is decaying in the west, including in South Dakota. Now we are seeing the rotten fruit of society when that foundation of God virtue, tradition, family, is lost. It creates a void, and there's always bad stuff waiting to fill voids that only God can.
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