I was not raised to be hopeful. I was raised to be Catholic. We were an Irish Catholic family, unless you count my dad who was Methodist but not showy about it. He and my mother were married in the 1940’s when mixed religion marriages were frowned upon. That being accomplished there not much to discuss, philosophically speaking. He was a Christian. We were Christians. Not much difference in Point of View except that my Dad’s God didn’t care whether or not my Dad went to church. Our Catholic God, on the other hand, was a bit of nitpicker on that score.