Lapsed Catholics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

DP: Some lapsed Catholics are atheists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

So let me get this straight. You aren't catholic and yet are on a lapsed catholic thread spewing insults because you hate people who spew insults on other threads. Wow. Talk about the faith not being strong with this one. I'm getting more faith vibes from the lapsed catholics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

So let me get this straight. You aren't catholic and yet are on a lapsed catholic thread spewing insults because you hate people who spew insults on other threads. Wow. Talk about the faith not being strong with this one. I'm getting more faith vibes from the lapsed catholics.

I’m not spewing insults. That’s quite the exaggeration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For DH, who grew up very Catholic (several of his aunts are nuns) it was going to college and becoming sexually active that drove him from being a practicing Catholic. And then when the church abuse scandal broke and he saw the church's reaction, he totally broke from them and really started badmouthing them to anyone who will listen.

In fact, all his siblings left the Catholic church.

Then, after his brother died, DH's parents also stopped going.

We ultimately became Presbyterian.

I don't think there is anything parents can do. The structure and dogna of the Catholics is what drives people away.

“The structure and [sic] dogna of the Catholics is what drives people away.”

Nonsense. People’s own choices “drive” them away just as surely as if they got into their own car, started the engine, and left the parking lot. Blaming the Church for personal decisions to reject its beliefs, deny the reality of sin in one’s own life, seek the grace of repentance and be absolved is the fundamental hypocrisy that appears over and over in these pages. To reject “dogma,” one has to understand it, and people who have left the Church over legitimate dogmatic differences that they can intelligently articulate are few and far between. People stop practicing do so in large part because they enjoy their sins, don’t want to stop, feel guilty about it, and decide to blame somebody else instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. The sex scandals, to which Presbyterians and other religious and secular organizations are hardly immune, is another false excuse.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

So let me get this straight. You aren't catholic and yet are on a lapsed catholic thread spewing insults because you hate people who spew insults on other threads. Wow. Talk about the faith not being strong with this one. I'm getting more faith vibes from the lapsed catholics.

I’m not spewing insults. That’s quite the exaggeration.

You are on here to criticize (similar to insults) and you don’t have any experience with Catholicism now or growing up with it or the experiences of these people so you have nothing credible to say and are simply on here for your own internal need to criticize other human beings. I would say that is as far away from what would Jesus do as humanly possible other than actually physically attacking them. You seem to be Satan yourself with your words.

[Anonymous]

None of your words show a shred of goodness relatability love or intellect. It’s simply hate packaged up into words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

So let me get this straight. You aren't catholic and yet are on a lapsed catholic thread spewing insults because you hate people who spew insults on other threads. Wow. Talk about the faith not being strong with this one. I'm getting more faith vibes from the lapsed catholics.

I’m not spewing insults. That’s quite the exaggeration.

You are on here to criticize (similar to insults) and you don’t have any experience with Catholicism now or growing up with it or the experiences of these people so you have nothing credible to say and are simply on here for your own internal need to criticize other human beings. I would say that is as far away from what would Jesus do as humanly possible other than actually physically attacking them. You seem to be Satan yourself with your words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

No, you were not. And given that you are not Catholic, what value do you think you add to a discussion about Catholics who have left the Church?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

No, you were not. And given that you are not Catholic, what value do you think you add to a discussion about Catholics who have left the Church?

DP - There's no need to believe in a certain religion (or any concept) to comment on it, e.g., pp above, who is not an atheist, expresses their views about atheism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

No, you were not. And given that you are not Catholic, what value do you think you add to a discussion about Catholics who have left the Church?

DP - There's no need to believe in a certain religion (or any concept) to comment on it, e.g., pp above, who is not an atheist, expresses their views about atheism.

That's a dumb statement. Sure you can comment on it but you have no relevance. Nothing said is on topic nor is there any experience to back up a claim. You are just noise if you comment on something that you know nothing about and it's even more ridiculous when you ridicule people who actually have experience when you have none. You are really grasping for straws with this comment. You are irrelevant to the discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

No, you were not. And given that you are not Catholic, what value do you think you add to a discussion about Catholics who have left the Church?

DP - There's no need to believe in a certain religion (or any concept) to comment on it, e.g., pp above, who is not an atheist, expresses their views about atheism.

That's a dumb statement. Sure you can comment on it but you have no relevance. Nothing said is on topic nor is there any experience to back up a claim. You are just noise if you comment on something that you know nothing about and it's even more ridiculous when you ridicule people who actually have experience when you have none. You are really grasping for straws with this comment. You are irrelevant to the discussion.

So atheists who disparage Catholicism and Christianity here on a daily basis are irrelevant and just noise. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from a large Irish Catholic family, though my mom was a young widow and I was an only child. My mom had a college degree, somewhat unusual for her time, but it was from a Catholic women’s college. I attended Catholic school until college, though my mom very much wanted me to attend the college she had.

Sooooo many things my mom, family, Catholic school and church did made me want to leave. The list is too long. But whatever Catholic doctrine applied to any given situation, you’d better believe we followed it. Only now, at age 58, do I have the understanding that I was raised in a cult-like environment.

DH is not Catholic. We baptized our kids as such because my mom would have disowned me otherwise. Frankly, the only reason I got away with marrying a non-Catholic is because DH is a charming guy. Mom loved him.

In my extended family, relatives were disowned upon divorce. My devout aunt and uncle missed YEARS of knowing their first grandchild, who was born out of wedlock.

My biggest regret is that I never had the freedom to choose religion for myself, nor could I raise my kids outside the church. We did baptism, confession, and communion for all 4 of our kids, but my mom was in her 90s and not aware of our household happenings as much, so we skipped confirmation for the 4th.

I was robbed from having any freedom of thought or action until I was much older and realized how the cultlike environment of my upbringing had directed so many aspects of my life.

At my mom’s funeral, I turned around and looked inside the cathedral as we left. Barring any wedding that I feel I’ simply must attend, I vowed on the spot that I would never set foot in a Catholic Church again. And I haven’t.

Just don’t raise your kids with edicts regarding religion, whatever religion you may practice. Catholicism has a LOT of them.

It’s a shame that you seem never to have learned why the teachings are what they are, so that you could develop an adult Faith and not merely react to what you perceived externally as “edicts.”

Is there any way that people can post here without you trying to tear them down? It's specifically a thread for lapsed Catholics. Start your own thread for what did you parents do to help you with your religion and get off this one.

DP. As soon as you atheists stop tearing down religion on every single religion thread....

It's great to have a place where people can come to insult others. Even if it's on-line and anonymous.


Are you seriously equating lapsed Catholics to atheists?

I'm equating the behavior of the two groups. That should have been obvious to you.

(I'm neither Catholic nor atheist.)

No, you were not. And given that you are not Catholic, what value do you think you add to a discussion about Catholics who have left the Church?

DP - There's no need to believe in a certain religion (or any concept) to comment on it, e.g., pp above, who is not an atheist, expresses their views about atheism.

That's a dumb statement. Sure you can comment on it but you have no relevance. Nothing said is on topic nor is there any experience to back up a claim. You are just noise if you comment on something that you know nothing about and it's even more ridiculous when you ridicule people who actually have experience when you have none. You are really grasping for straws with this comment. You are irrelevant to the discussion.

So atheists who disparage Catholicism and Christianity here on a daily basis are irrelevant and just noise. Got it.