This may surprise the reader, but I’m a fan of proposed Supreme Court Associate Justice Judge Amy Coney Barrett. She’s coming across as a thoughtful, studious barrister and I can’t see her being controlled by anyone else.

I remember other times when devout Catholics were outcasts of sorts and proved their critics wrong. The denomination of someone’s faith isn’t a disqualification.

One thing for sure, since she is a devout Catholic woman, wife and mother, I don’t expect stories of her college years and scandalous parties. She has daughters, so she won’t be blind to the feminine side of cases or the needs of children. My hero, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, wasn’t blind to fellow females but she didn’t bend over backwards for them.

The law is the law and the courts aren’t expected to solve all problems.

Judge Barrett has been quoted as saying, “I love the Constitution.”

Growing up Catholic, I also learned a church version of right and wrong. Why I am no longer a church lady is a long story and proves, if little else, that priests are human and fallible.

A prelate who was here for a short time, the one who broke my soul is now somewhere else.

Since then, several great priests have reminded me that “the priest is not the church.”

I think Judge Barrett’s faith is much stronger than mine.

Belief in a higher power guides many people and guides our path through life.

Open-mindedness is a key to being a great judge, I think.

Talking about major crimes with a highly respected judge when I was a rookie reporter, I asked how he was going to rule on a case that had just come to light, and he impressed me with his wisdom.

“I just now read about it. I haven’t seen any official paperwork and will never judge anything on the basis of what I have seen on TV, heard on the radio or read in the papers.”

He said the newspapers were good because they could be put away and referred to later.

That was, maybe, 50 years ago.

Judge Barrett seems to have the objectivity he personified.

To make a long story short, I trust her.

What happens during the next few days may change that, but it won’t be easy.

She doesn’t seem to have any strings leading to whoever nominated her and the partisan types who are questioning her.

In that, I believe she’s her own woman.

This may be the wrong time for her to be seated, but reactions to it may prove the best time for all women to show strength and intelligence and work with her, if we can.