Any 'recovering' Catholics here?

[MsConduct]

I consider myself a recovering Catholic. I left the Church many years ago, long before the molestation fiasco's. I left because it dawned on me that The Catholic Church is one of the biggest businesses in the world. If they just sold the treasures in the Vatican, they could feed starving people all over the world for many years to come. As time goes on, the more I learn about the Church, the more disgusted I am.

I am still spiritual, believing in God and Jesus, Heaven and Hell, saints and sinners. I guess you could call me an agnostic.

Anyone else here who feels the same way? Tell me why you've turned away from the Church.

[catbert836]

1. Because they turned away from the faithful

Not much more to be said, they decided to go with the rich and thus with Satan. :evilfrown:

[MsConduct]

15. Simple enough to understand. Thanks. n/t

[candy]

2. I walked out 35 years ago and never looked back.-------

I asked a priest about birth control pills(I was a good little Catholic mommy then)because I had 4 kids under 4 and was weary and stressed.

He told me to take VALIUM!!!!!

That was it for me.

[Warpy]

14. When I was 10, a stuffed shirt of a priest came in to the class

and went off on a rant about how it was a duty for a Catholic woman to die in childbirth because her child might be male! I kid you not.

Well, since I'd already burst out laughing at the transubstantiation lecture and I didn't see much evidence of all the hogwash they were trying to teach us of a loving god who was concerned with our every move, I declared myself an atheist.

That got me out of Catholic school. I was convinced at 10 and I am convinced now that there is no place for women in that church except as domestics, cleaning up after the men. In fact, that's exactly how Opus Dei is run: the males have to vacate their premises for several hours a week so the girls can come in and do all the cleaning!

Later, of course, I found out about how completely rotten the heirarchy in Rome is and always has been. I found out that women were only grudgingly admitted to have souls at the council of Trent, mostly so that they could be sent to hell.

The term "fallen away Catholic" has always offended me, since I was a "stomped off in sheer disgust" EX Catholic.

[MsConduct]

16. Sounds about right. How sad, huh?...

As long as you could produce more Catholics, that's all that was important. I ditched out in high school, when they tried to convince me that kissing was a mortal sin...LMAO

[classof56]

3. I just asked my husband that question.

I've always thought of him as a "lapsed Catholic", but he informs me that he is a "non-Catholic", and he left the church when he was 14 (after having been raised in it, an altar boy, etc.) because he no longer believed the s**t they were feeding him.

Recently I attended a Catholic mass with my sister-in-law, where I had the priest inform me I am a "heretic" because I'm a Baptist. Since the whole election/RW fundie fiasco, I now consider myself a "lapsed Baptist", but still believe in God, that Jesus is my saviour, there's a heaven and hell, and we'll all stand accountable to God on the day of judgement. Meanwhile, I won't be attending any Baptist churches. Someone said it better than I: You try to sanctify poltics with religion, you get cheapened religion. Just where we are today, IMHO.

Tired Old Cynic

[MsConduct]

17. Funny, in my day, the priests welcomed anyone who came to

church. Although it was a sin for us to attend other churches. Heretic' huh? And I thought the fundies could be judgmental. Yikes!

[ztn]

4. I am an independent catholic

I see no reason to change religions. I don't feel that the clergy necessarily represents the thoughts and beliefs of the people anymore than many of our democratic leaders represent what we all want when they give in to corporate interests.

Those scandalous priests and bishop are no more catholic than I am. I don't care what they do.

[Nikepallas]

5. me.

[eauclaireliberal]

6. RE: "Any 'recovering' Catholics here?"

One morning I woke up, saw what was going on in the world around me and then decided that the Church and God was a huge fucking fairy tale written by people that liked the idea of human suffering to gain love of an invisible man in the sky.

IOW, I grew up.

[boi1946]

10. Grew up Catholic...

got kicked out of Religion class in 3rd grade for a week because I asked Mother Mary Edward what difference it really made that Mary was a virgin. (Lots of penances on that one!) Left the church for good when I was 13 or so... birth control, purgatory, and not being able to assist at Mass like my brothers did blew it for me. Although I understand they allow girls to be "alter-girls" now.
Will always be grateful for an excellent education, including moral responsibilities and music.
UU now.

[SharonAnn]

11. Officially, alter girls are not allowed. Some parishes do it on the QT

[JVS]

13. You got punished just for asking a question?

That's not cool. Your question would have been an opportunity for her to explain.

[jbnow]

28. I was kicked out too!

I was in 5th grade. My sin was asking "too many questions", though they were sincere ones. That virgin thing was one of them since i found many mentions of Jesus having siblings. But the God they were teaching didn't make a lot of sense to me.

I was sent to the priest and told to write 500 times "A good Catholic doesn't question their faith".
I said I couldn't because it would be a lie. If God is a parent he would want his children to ask questions. No one could change my mind. I wouldn't write it. They kicked me out but when I still refused they let me back in if I'd write three poems about God.

I did, but I left the school and church the next year.

I spent many years a happy agnostic. I am no longer agnostic but have never been drawn back to organized religion.

[acmavm]

7. I started having doubts about the time that I could read. The stories

about the children's crusades, whether real or not, really started me to thinking that maybe I was being taken for a big dummy, but when I started reading about the schism in the church, the lives some of the popes lived while being told about their infallibility, seeing the riches of the church while starvation and homeless was so rampant, I just couldn't make any sense of it. But from my earliest years I REALLY REALLY resented being told that women were the source of all the problems and evils in this world. Being told that I should hang my head in shame and stay hidden because I was a female, that really shook me to my soul. The burning of witches (people who were really just mentally ill or suffering from lead poisoning). The Inquisition. The Maleus Malifacarum (sp?). The really bizarre and stupid stories of women who, rather than be raped, chose to die and therefore step right off this planet into heaven. And they made is sound like it was the only way that women should act while being victimized. In fact, it was obligatory. You know, that evil old sex thing that was okay for men, but not for women. (See where that one got us?)

The teachings of St. Paul, who is just this side of an ayatollah. The good old boys club that wouldn't allow women priests, they just weren't good enough (which takes us back to women, original sin, and weakness).

My recovery started about age ten.

[SharonAnn]

12. You go girl! I was concerned about the same things but wasn't so

precocious.

I was about 19 when I left. I decided that I wanted to be a real woman and be in charge of my life and that was not compatible with Church teachings. I decided I was going to use birth control, not marry at that time, and not particpate where I wasn't respected because I am a woman.

[Nite Owl]

8. A great deal of my liberal leanings

comes from growing up a Catholic. There seems to be that gap between what is said and what is done. The ritual became too much for me take and it the church part seemed to be more talk than action. It just seemed to be so far from what Christ really intended. I am thankful for learning the teachings of the Church but action on them is more important than the going to church to support what is now a very political organization and as you said a business.

[MsConduct]

19. Same with me as far as being liberal goes. If only they really...

practiced what they preached, huh?

[CatholicEdHead]

27. Same here

since I grew up in the same diocese of the late Bishop Raymond Lucker who really tried hard to keep moving the Catholic Church into the present.

Since he passed away the Vatican put in a ultra-conservative Bishop.

I am only hanging by a few threads now after the John Kerry-bashing ficaso this year.

The US Catholic church is really bi-polar right now. There are many parishes that are still pretty liberal but the heirarchy and most growing Catholic media are the "follow the rules to a T" style. (Research Relvant Radio, Kestra in the Afternoon, National Catholic Register, Pizza magnant who started Ave Maria University, etc...)

On the Conservative side of the church it feels like a "Born-again" fundie styled only slightly modified for the Catholic Church. It is a trojan hourse on issues that are hung up on gay marriage, abortion, and a couple more (look up 5 issues in Catholic ANSWERS voting guide). It is a trojan horse that will bite the US Church in coming years.

I am heavily leaning on going ELCA Lutheran if this keeps up in the next few years.

[Midnight Rambler]

9. I consider myself fully recovered.

Some years back I just stopped believing in all that stuff. I've always been pretty agnostic for most of my life anyway, even when I was a little kid. But I think the first time I seriously started to question what the hell I was doing was during a Sunday school class where the teacher started talking about various things banned by the Bible, like Ouija (sp?) boards, astrology, and witchcraft. My reaction was something along the lines of "Witchcraft? You gotta be shittin' me!" After a while I started thinking, since I don't believe in witchcraft, astrology, or anything supernatural, then why am I believing in God? I'm now proud to call myself an atheist.

[MsConduct]

20. Congrats on being fully recovered! I still carry around some of

the old guilts. Maybe when I stop feeling guilty about things that don't matter anymore, then I'll consider myself recovered too.

[OneBlueSky]

18. fully recovered and not looking back . . .

happened about the time I accepted myself as gay . . . no place in the church for us gay folks, unless you happen to be a priest whose interests tend toward younger guys . . . in some cases, MUCH younger . . . then you just get reassigned to a new parish . . . sheesh! . . .

funny thing is that every time my aunt sees me (which ain't often), she assures me that I am still a Catholic, no matter what . . . and nothing I can say will convince her otherwise . . . sweet lady, but she just doesn't LISTEN . . . :shrug:

[MsConduct]

21. So much for the 'All Loving God' they taught us about , huh? n/t

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

22. hmmmmm. Recovering Catholics=Lutherans, right?

At least this one is.

LOL.

[pelagius]

23. Lots of ex-Catholics in the Episcopal Church, too...

...including, surprisingly enough, some who think the Vatican II liturgical changes went too far! But most seem to want a more liberal church, especially when it comes to divorce and remarriage. No Magisterium in the Anglican world, either -- the "tripod" of authority is Scripture, Tradition, and Reason.

[GOPBasher]

24. Yes, I left them when they left Jesus.

Jesus is a liberal. He's for the underdog. He says that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. He wants the rich to give their money to the poor. He's a pacifist in favor or "turning the other cheek." He says, "Blessed are the peacemakers."

Now, the catholic church sides with the people who are against all those things. So, they turned their backs on Jesus, and I turned my back on them.

I've joined the Episcopalian church, and I love it.

[JerseygirlCT]

25. When I realized I hadn't attended mass in years

because every time I went I left angry.

Most at the treatment of women. I can't abide an organization that feels it's not only acceptable, but right to place women in secondary positions. Ugh.

And once I had kids, I could not raise them to believe that women should be in any way treated as something less than men.

I'm now and Episcopalian. Liturgy almost the same, lots of room for individual conscience and differing beliefs -- and WOMEN PRIESTS!

[selmo7]

26. originally turned away

when I was in high school because Saint "Brighams" was a more fun place to hang out on Sunday mornings than Mass - coffee, English muffins, my best friend, and boys.

I loved some of my nuns though. I had those post Vatican II -all fired up, liberal "make love, not war" nuns in the late sixties/early seventies. They were doing incredible things with the students - multi-media shows about our faith - very humanistic, anti-war, pro-environment even back then. I think most of those nuns were pretty much "forced out" when the right wingers came back in and pretty much reverted back to the Council of Trent. I was apalled when the "new catechism" still used completely sexist language.

In 1989 long after I'd left the Church, I saw a book called "The Coming of the Cosmic Christ" by Matthew Fox in a bookstore and that called me back to a belief system that rang true for me and which has stayed with me to this day and that is what he calls "Creation Spirituality." Matt was pretty much also "forced out" by the Dominicans after being silenced for a year by Ratzinger. They didn't much like for one thing his having a "witch" - Starhawk on his teaching staff. He corrected them and said she is a WISE WOMAN. He is now an Anglican priest. I adore Matt and his teachings.

Thanks for the chance to share -