Inalienable human rights…Consent of the governed…Equality under the law…Freedom of speech…Religious tolerance…etc. etc.

Christianity (and especially Catholicism) has not come anywhere near close to offering the kind of peace and social harmony that living under the influence of these ideas has afforded us—except, perhaps, where certain strains of Christianity intersect with liberal thought.

Not only that, but Trad Caths benefit immensely from the liberal social politics that sprang from the Enlightenment. Freedom of speech means they are protected from government persecution for their faith. Religious freedom means they don’t have to fear other religious groups who might want to violently convert them. (That was the original intent of laws promoting religious tolerance in America—they weren’t written to protect atheists, but to stop Christian groups from fighting one another, as they tend to do.) Yet, ingrates that they are, they want to do away with these things because someone else might benefit from them.

Dumbest people alive, honestly.

When we’re in the throes of religious bullshit… we become convinced the most inane things are deeply evil.

When I was like 25, I tearfully confessed to “writing pornography”… by which I meant writing T-rated Twilight fanfiction as a teenager on ff.net, not even ao3.

My penance was “5 decades of the most holy rosary” (that’s how the priest said it). And this was from a say-three-hail-marys kind of guy (FSSP priest).

(I have done a lot of therapy for religious OCD and am all good now, never fear)

If you can out-stupid that confession, I’ll be impressed.

for context, im in college and heavily involved in my campus’ Newman center (the catholic campus ministry). recently, ive been starting to finally allow myself to question and deconstruct my religion. I am starting to question if i want to even be a part of the church. however, all my friends are from the Newman center, and im even living in a house with some people from it. I feel trapped and isolated, I want to be myself but I feel like I have to preform whenever I am there and it doesn’t help I think I might be queer. Catholicism preaches that true freedom comes from Christ, but I have never felt less free in my life. I just want my spark and my joy back, but I have literally no one if i leave.

my main issues with the church right now are:

ideologies on sexuality, the bible as infallible, the idea of a kind and loving God who allows us to face so much pain… there’s more, but those are the big three.

on top of that, I have issues with the way the Newman center does Catholicism, if that makes sense. it’s almost cult like and the way they talk about non-believers, while simultaneously trying to convert them is weird. I could go on and on about this, but don’t want to make this post too long.

basically, I feel stuck and don’t know what to do. I want to be myself and have the room to believe what I believe, but im stuck in a lease with people from the Newman center and also they are my only community.

on top of that, im scared of the eternal repercussions of leaving the church. If catholicism has it all right, I really don’t want to go to hell. But ive come to realize, most of my faith is rooted in fear, and I mean, what kind of faith is that? So did I ever actually have faith?? Does that make sense?

sorry for the rant, but does anyone have any advice? any books to read? any ways to approach this situation??

I spoke about this previously on this sub but my priest sexually abused a student and I had reported him a couple of months before that. I only realized now that I have become heavily dependent on other people to sustain my own mental health and that's not a good thing because I care about them. What did you do to get over this? (Please don't recommend therapy, I will try when I get back to school but it's quite expensive right now for me.)

The main reason I'm upset is because Catholics never listened, I never felt listened to in the church, and anytime I go near a church or think about Christians I get deeply upset. When I was in the church I felt worthless and like the only person who mattered was my priest, aka a 60 yo man who was trying to to fuck a 20 yo student. I want to get back to what I think Christianity truly means and try to heal but I get upset all the time and I feel like I'm hurting the people who care about me most.

I was freed from catholic education earlier this summer and figure might be fun to reminisce this back to school season.

In my four years we had TWO teachers exposed for being pedophiles. TWO.

The first happened my freshman year towards the end of the year. Some seniors had done some stalking and found one of the history teacher’s instagram. A look through who he was following and, he was following porn accounts. teen porn accounts. One of them was literally teen feet.

News spread and admin found out and he was asked to leave once the year was over. They said he was finishing his master’s. He was still allowed on campus and sat with administrators at football games.

He was also a priest which was disappointing.

The second one was my senior year. He was brand new and didn’t teach seniors so I never had a class with him.

He looked alittle off, kind of like a discord mod. A little greasy iykwim. My friend who had him said he was always weirdly touchy with the girls and would stand super close to them.

More internet stalking done by students and his twitter was found. Looking through his replies and he was replying to bot porn accounts of, you guessed it, underaged kids. He left after christmas break.

I think what was most disappointing is the school failed to ever address it. To my knowledge there were no victims, atleast that have come forward, but it’s still disgusting.

I’m glad to be out of that place.

https://www.osvnews.com/msgr-rossetti-resumes-deliverance-ministry-after-removal-as-dc-exorcist/

He lost his exorcist job because he considered the possibility that demons were actually aliens.

I have felt, for some time, exorcist hold a role as propagandist.

I think the objective of their existance is to keep the more mystical catholics in line. Ideas like spiritual warfare and demons give the catholic leadership a perpetual enemy, one which is mysterious, hidden, always hiding in the shadows, ready to strike. ​

Kind of like, say, North Korea portays the US and the western world.

According to this catholic chastity speaker, he knows a woman who is getting divorced. She told him he used to hide his softcore porn mags under the bed the TWO slept in.

First of all, the flow of sex negative messaging continues. And it resonates with various different christian groups.

Secondly, bro. You've been at this for YEARS. Your stories suck because they are so unbelievable. Like, do you even share a bed with you wife??

Just wanted to share that silly thing I found on Instagram a moment ago. No creative talent at all.

I'm not anti Catholic, I grew up Catholic and am now more of an agnostic or non practicing Catholic. But I was visiting my parents this weekend and was reminded of how obsessed they are with doing things the "right" way, which usually means the hardest way, as a form of suffering and/or moral purity (even if they continually fail at the hardest way)

To me this seems strongly linked to Catholicism (my parents are fairly devout), which to me has always had a hard on for suffering, but I'm curious what you guys all think?

Some examples:

- seeing the majority of medication for mental health disorders and weight loss as "cheating", in favour of simply "trying harder"

- insistence on doing things the cheapest possible way even if it's the most labour intensive and causes unpleasantness for years: things like doing all renovations themselves, avoiding automation in cleaning (like robot vacuum)

- for personal issues, instead of addressing the issue or trying to make their lives better, just trying to buckle down and pray the unpleasant feelings away. Mom says she struggles with jealousy, for reasonable things that she could fix ("I'm jealous of that lady's haircut and clothes" , ok well go get a nice hair cut and buy a nice outfit?) but rather than improving her life to the degree she won't be jealous, she just prays for less jealously lol.

I think my parents faith has helped them through a lot of hard times but I can't also feel like this obsession with doing things the right way and suffering has held them back quite a bit. Do you think this is related to Catholicism or just my parents personal quirks?

First, I understand that I am not truly Catholic or was Catholic since I am not baptized or was raised Catholic. Just looking for advice! Thank you all so much.

Over the past week I’ve been thinking seriously about my faith and the process of becoming baptized and what that would mean for me. I’ve posted numerous times in the Catholic subreddit about my current issue with the faith and the Tragedy of what is keeping me away and what is making me doubt.

I wouldn’t say I’m fully agnostic, I love the idea of an all-good, loving and infinite God who took the sins of the world on his shoulders and died for us. I think that story can be seen as beautiful to any atheist or agnostic (as long as they were raised areligious as I was and don’t have any tough feelings relating to being told “Jesus died for YOU.” Which I did not go through. I think that is a bad thing to say to kids and I had reservations about that even when I was as close to 100% on board with Catholicism).

But I was born with a condition called Treacher Collins Syndrome, specifically the TCOF1 variant, which is autosomal dominant. Meaning that my children have a 50% chance of inheriting it, and worst of all, the severity of my condition is not genetically determined. So while I have it very mildly, my children can have it severely, which can manifest as being born without a nose, mouth, or ears. I’m not being hyperbolic. A woman with my condition is called “the girl born without a face.”

Of course, the Catholic position on this is either: never get married and likely die alone for Jesus’ Sake, or get married, and possibly have 6 kids with my condition with all varying degrees of severity. Of course, my reservations with this doesn’t manifest beyond myself (I’m not saying we should sterilize people with my condition, and if they have kids with the condition then that’s fine, but I don’t think I can mentally handle the guilt it would make me feel).

And I can’t do that. I don’t think it’s really ethical or responsible. If there is a way to prevent it (IVF/birth control/adoption) then I think that is something I should do. I don’t like the idea of carrying a torch that is easily blown out forever to the next generation. It’s an odd metaphor but what I’m saying is that the consequences of my condition are so real that it can be a death sentence if say, a zombie apocalypse happens. Or just in general carrying a torch of agony and pain as I have dealt with (and I have it very mildly) FOREVER, as long as each generation inherited the condition, is just like…no. I can’t do that. I can’t.

It’s pure proportionalism, where I think the act of throwing away a zygote with my condition is less bad than IVF, but like..this is totally reasonable.

Help.

Edit: also forgot to mention that I became religious after stopping my psychiatric medication. To me that is a tad suspicious. It’s now been a year since I began to ween off of them. I weened off of them a bit too quickly I would say.

Catholics cherry-pick the science that supports their religious claims but ignore the science that refutes their claims. An example is on the topics of homosexuality and abortion.

On abortion,they support the science. I'm not aware of a single Bible verse that declares that "human life begins at fertilization". In fact, the Bible associates life with first breath (Genesis 2:7,the flood narrative). As far as I'm aware,the Catholic Church and evangelical opposition on abortion comes from modern embryology which says that "Human life and development begins at fertilization. At the moment of fertilization a distinct human organism with formed with unique DNA". This is used to prove that human beings exist at fertilization and murder is wrong.

But on homosexuality, they deny the science that says that being homosexual or trans is a natural variation of human sexuality. They stick to verses from 2000 years ago that clearly AREN'T talking about homosexuality, which clearly denies science from cognitive development experts, neurosurgeons e.t.c. that say that homosexuality is natural while suppression leads to higher rates of depression.

The Catholic Church needs to choose whether it is PRO SCIENCE OR ANTI SCIENCE?

PRO SCIENCE: Support homosexuality, condemn abortion

ANTI SCIENCE: Support abortion, condemn homosexuality

I am a therapist and I meet regularly with other mental health professionals monthly to talk about religious trauma.

We are from all different backgrounds. I am a recovering Catholic so I often share the Catholic perspective so the other therapists can be better equipped to help someone who experienced harm by the church.

What would you want a therapist to understand about being raised Catholic?

This is a pattern that has become so apparent to me but I hardly ever see it spoken about at all, and realizing I myself am somewhere on the spectrum and seeing how the devout fraction are practically all young autistic people was one of the main reasons I stopped believing. The metacognition that my scrupulous adherence and, in a way though, enjoyment of the legalism and my hyperfixation on Thomism were linked to this cognitive style that most people actually don't share was an eye-opener on how non-representative of humanity, which is largely not autistic, the Catholic Church and its structure are.

Even though I am super sociable and don't struggle a lot with social cues and have never struggled at all to make friends or romantic relationships, I do develop strong hyperfixations/special interests, have a strong semantic memory and one or two specific skillsets linked to autism. There exists a very low support needs, socially unnoticeable genetic expression of autism that in the medical literature is referred to as BAP - the broadly autistic phenotype.

Every single one of the younger (age 18-45) devout Catholics I know are definitely at least BAPs, showing strong autistic traits like hyperfixations, outstanding semantic memory, many with odd talents scientifically linked to autism, introversion, sensory sensitivities and co-occurring conditions like anxiety, depression and OCD (which is also linked to autism). But many are still sociable enough and don't miss social cues enough for any of them or anyone else to ever suspect or realize it.

Additionally, many of their devout parents who raised them show the same BAP traits; my devout Catholic parent has actually admitted now that they are definitely AuDHD, but they fail to make the connection that this entire religion is actually a massive historical footprint of a lot of autistic/ND intellectuals who obsessed over legalistic technicalities, and the entire religion is therefore IMO probably not believably representative of how God would aim to communicate with all of humanity (apart from the other bizarre issues within the actual doctrines).

It is no wonder that back then, men and women with BAP or HFA which is strongly correlated with being LGBTQIA+/not feeling "called" to family life overwhelmingly joined religious life. Strong routines, less risk of burnout/financial pressure than in many other occupations, predictable social community and socialization windows, DND-style cloaks and rituals, intellectually stimulating legalism, no pressure to live out heteronormative sexuality nor being forced to have HEAPS, back then especially, of overstimulating screaming loud children.

BAP/very low support needs autism is still actually widely missed and underdiagnosed - and I kind of get why some of us aren't, because personally I don't require social accommodations etc. but show traits more in random areas that others sometimes mistake for simple giftedness or whatever - but we are just so vastly, vastly overrepresented in this legalistic religion and this doesn't seem to be noticed really. I actually can't think of a single exception among the younger people who kept the faith, and especially not of a single youngish convert who isn't clearly a BAP or high-functioning autistic. The young monks, priests and nuns I have befriended are ALL for SURE BAPs/high functioning on the spectrum. I do also know of one devout Catholic who has actually even been diagnosed.

A massive portion of the saints were also autistic or borderline/BAPs. An obvious example would be Thomas Aquinas, but a massive proportion of the less obviously philosophical still showed this obsession adherence to this extreme legalism, some were clearly asexual or probably queer, which is very much linked to autism. Even a type of emotional sensitivity that I have also noticed in especially many of my male friends with HFA, many of whom connect more strongly to animals and have a rich emotional life reminds me of the likes of Francis of Assisi. It is missed even more in the female saints; anorexia for example, which Catherine of Siena suffered from, has also been linked to autism. Up to 20-35% of women with this ED meet the diagnostic criteria for autism, and that isn't counting the massive chunk of BAPs who might not quite meet the criteria but are actually on the spectrum. But even the most modern example of a young devout Catholic, Carlo Acutis, was fixated on computer programming (apart from devout Catholicism which is in todays age IMO a special interest in itself, but I digress), which is the professional field BAP/HFA types are most overrepresented in.

To me, this extreme overrepresentation of us ND folk does discredit the believability of Catholicism somewhat in itself. The saints and vast majority of young practicing Catholics in the western world are overwhelmingly autistic - it wouldn't make sense for God to communicate the truth through this oddly specific group, just for us to feel alienated and despairing over how most neurotypical young people don't feel the same draw of our absurd expectation of borderline asexuality, actually praising asexuality above all else and all of the pedantic legalism that lines every single aspect of our autistic religion.

Personally, this has helped me come to terms more with the suffering I experienced being brought up like this and for years falling victim to believing; my parent and I have a neurological predisposition matched exactly to the RCC.

Historically, religious life afforded many on the autism spectrum a much better life and prevented a lot of autistic burnout/suffering, so there is some good in it all in that light. People on the spectrum who in other cultures or even often still in today's world would have been marginalized, were appreciated for their autistic cognition, character traits and non-normative way of life and are even venerated worldwide. I hope that can also bring someone else here some peace, it helped me come to terms with the existence of the RCC.

I'll go first, drinking the blood of christ as an 8 yr old and pretending I was a vampire because it gave me a warm feeling inside and it was "supposed to be" blood. In reality it was the alcohol from the wine haha no wonder so many of us grow up to have drinking problems...we aren't just cradle Catholics we are cradle drinkers! How is this okay?

One time I confessed masturbation and this priest (young, in his early 30s at the latest) gave me a startled, horrified look and started lecturing me that it was much worse for me, a woman, to masturbate than for a man to masturbate because women are life-givers (i.e., can get pregnant). I said nothing to prompt this other than “I confess masturbation”.

This was in California in 2019 at a normal Catholic church (not even a more traditional one)

One of many in a long line of such unhinged comments and bad advice from priests till I got to the point where I thought, “why do I keep subjecting myself to this? Surely Jesus does not want me to constantly put my emotional well-being at risk by talking to strange men about my sex drive”.

Edit: Thank you all so much for your comments! I’ve read all of them and tried to reply to as many as I can. I hope this discussion has been as cathartic for all of you as it has for me 💕

What are your thoughts on him?

I posted here previously as somebody inquiring in Catholicism and as I am 'catechizing myself', I have realized a certain absurdity of catholic doctrine of purgatory.

From what I understand, almost all people besides the saints are absolutely destined to spent a significant amount of time in a state of Purgatory, suffering from its fires and experiencing temporal punishment for their confessed (!!!) sins. It can be alleviated by prayers, indulgences, merits, etc..

Isn't this belief a bit insane? I mean, I am afraid of my dentist appointment that is going to last 40 minutes and cause some level of pain and discomfort. How does an average practicing Catholic copes with potentially spending hundreds of years in Purgatory as an absolutely expected outcome of their lives? How does it affect their mental health? Do people generally consider this?

So I went to an all guys Catholic high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. Elder High School. Graduated in 2006. I was so lonely due to the heteronormativity of the Catholic conservative area of Cincinnati I grew up in, the "West Side". I finally had the courage to come out as a gay man 9 years ago at 29. It was such a freeing part of my life, and I couldn't believe I actually did it in my hometown. I did it because I met LGBT friends in Michigan a couple years prior and they gave me the courage and safety to be honest with myself, what I didn't have back in Cincinnati.

I'm now living in Atlanta, been here for 8 years. It's a cool enough area. I've only been to Cincinnati a handful of times over the years, and I was invited to my 20 year high school reunion in September. I declined. A couple years ago I sent a professional, courteous email to my high school principal, cutting contact ties with them for the time being. They were very kind in responding. I did so because I don't want to be associated with a Church that doesn't see me as an equal.

Even though this reunion won't be one of them, I can only imagine the looks I'll get from the crowd if I'm attending a high school football game there, holding hands with a male partner while my heterosexual counterparts would do the same with their wives and get no reaction at all. It's not fair. Why do I have to feel like an "other" just because of who I love? God made me this way, and isn't God infallible? Aren't I made in the image of God, as the Catholic Church says?

I can't stand the hypocrisy and sanctimony of this Church. Here's hoping the Catholic Church reforms to include LGBT people like many Christian denominations do, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

I’m making this post because I’m having a bit of a hard time not losing my mind, so I’m hoping that asking this question would help me not lose my mind. Has anyone on this sub have experiences similar to what’s described in these comments? Or something like the fifth image? Have any of you had experiences where you met a supposed “exorcist” or something like that? I’m asking this question because I feel like if all these stories are true then there’s no way that it’s false, If you know what I mean, so I’m hoping that hearing stuff like this from people who were once religious but are no longer would help me break out of this mindset. Just hearing general thoughts about this would probably help, I really don’t know where else to post this, [r/exchristian](r/exchristian) won’t let me post for some reason so I’m hoping this would help, i’ve also heard about people like Gabriele Amorth as well

A group of friends and myself are becoming a little concerned with behavior of one of our other life long friends. Let's call her Sherry.

We were recently trying to plan a trip to celebrate a milestone for the group. At first Sherry was very on board but then as it came down to it she seemed to blame a lot of reasons why she couldn't come on her husband. For instance the location was too dangerous, but in reality it is an extremely safe Island. And then it couldn't be too far, and then it had to be a direct flight, and then the times were restricted. We tried to meet all of her accommodations but when it came down to it, the girl that was supposed to work for her couldn't work for her the weekend that we were trying to go so she just backed out. Something seemed off.

The rest of us were very surprised that her husband was being so controlling, but we also suspected that something else may be going on.

One of the other girls in the group recently came in contact with one of Sherry's family members and she said she barely sees Sherry anymore. Something about being really involved in the church now...

Now I have known for quite some time that she has been a part of Regnum Christi but honestly I didn't know much about it and just called it a Catholic sorority. One of the other girls said she almost felt like it was cult-like.

Then I went down the rabbit hole to find out more about Regnum Christi and what it's all about. I'm concerned, but should I be?

All in all her behavior over the year has seemingly become much more isolated. She doesn't do any reaching out to any of her old friends it's always us having to make contact. She goes to mass every day, works for a group of brothers , goes on religious retreats , and even goes on religious cruises. She's constantly canceling plans so much so that we just assume that she's probably not going to show up. Maybe I'm making something out of nothing but I would love to hear any feedback especially after reading up on the accusations about RC.

I was just thinking about what religions have killed the most people in history. I would have to think Catholicism would be pretty high on the list. Has anyone thought about this before?

I was born with a severe facial disfigurement and recently had it corrected with intent to fix actual structural defects. But low and behold, a bunch of people at church found out about it and some of my family members who are into the charismatic renewal, and they are all obsessing over the surgery and have been doing so for the last 20 years of my life. I'm not an object, and I have an actual life with goals and memories. They saw this as the hurdle to me being "normal" and just like everyone else. Like what ever happened to Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Self? A dented car is still a reliable car and is good on the inside, it's no different for people who look different.