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Hey fellow refugees from the confessional, I'm Abby. I was raised hardcore RC and always thought it was something you just endured, like being grounded for months. I was so glad to escape to college and let loose, whew! But I met a lot of fun people who were active in their churches (none Catholic though, lol). Their churches seemed more upbeat . I started to think that Catholics are a breed apart even among Christians. Now I'm 29 and checking out other religions. I'm suspicious of religion but want to decide for myself and not because I grew up Catholic. This could be a fun site if it gets going. Hope to connect with some fellow RCs!

Hi Rebecca,

Nice to meet you too! Sounds like we share similiar Catholic school experiences. It really does feel like something we survived, doesn't it? Growing up I always felt that church was a scary place and always had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Just seeing a priest or nun walk by was enough to make my stomach knot. And confession! We still did it the old-fashioned way where you go into the little booth and talk to the priest through the covered sliding window. It was like a performance and I always had massive stage fright. If we screwed up our lines, the priest would scold us and give us more penance. Some of the second graders would come out with tears streaming down their faces.

Now it all makes good stories to tell my non-Catholic friends, but back then I was convinced that God was a bad guy to be avoided. I'm still not completely over that one. Not exactly the point of faith, huh?

I'm glad you found what you're looking for in Paganism. I had some Wiccan friends in college and they were very open-minded, spiritual people. Not big on Christianity in general which made me think about things more. They were big into the sacred feminine. Now, Catholics revere Mary but one of my main beefs is how Rome still wants to keep us barefoot and ever pregnant, lol. And my mother was always telling me that a wife is to obey her husband so I needed to be sweeter to attract a guy. She got that from Catholic school when she was a kid. Funny, my dad never said anything about owing something to his wife.

Sorry for the long post! I don't talk about this stuff much and it's starting to all come back. Loved reading your post and hope some more survivors join us.  

Abby

Hello AbbyKat and Rebecca!

Welcome to our brand new website: http://www.recoveringcatholicgirls.com

You are to the first two folks to post to our RCG forum….Congratulations!

Please let me introduce myself.  My name is Renee and along with my partner Rachel, we are the co-founders of http://www.recoveringcatholicgirls.com
We created this website so that RCG's could come together and talk about their experiences and share stories about growing up Catholic.  Like you guys said, Catholics are a breed apart and now we have a forum in which we can talk about that and even make fun of it.  Let's face it: if you can't laugh about it, you'll just cry.  LOL! 

So, please…continue with the posts and the discussions.  And encourage your friends, family and colleagues to join in.  Being an RCG is not a requirement.  We are open to all RCG's and those who loves us in spite of it.

Cheers!

~ Renee

Hi everyone, I'm AJ and I just found this website.  I grew up Catholic in Chicago.  My parents sent me to Catholic grammar school and all-girls high school (while my younger brothers were allowed to attend public junior high and high school).  I broke free in college, didn't attend church for years, then started exploring other options (other Christian denomations, Unitarian, even wicken sounded appealing compared to Catholicism).  I felt like I had a choice between staying “Catholic” and being a hypocrit, or finding a faith that actually fit me.  I'm now a happy practicing protestant in a positive and accepting church, much to my parents' and one brother's dismay.  I got flack/guilt from my family when my husband and I married in a protestant church a few years ago, now we are getting flack about where our first child (on the way) will be baptized.  Gee, I wonder why the judgmental and exclusive Catholic church (as I know it) did not sit well with me.  Anyway, I know there are a lot of recovering Catholics out there — nice to find this group!

CallieLee said:

Hi Abby,

Nice to meet you!  I'm Rebecca and I just stumbled on this site.  I thought I'd introduce myself as well.  I'm 31 and I was raised in a fairly liberal Catholic household, but was sent to an extremely hardcore Catholic school for 9 years (finally broke free in high school).  I haven't considered myself Catholic in a very long time.  I did a lot of soul searching and finally wound up Pagan.  You're totally right about Catholics being a breed apart – even Christians give me funny looks if I detail some of my Catholic school experiences.  I'd love to be able to chat with some other survivors.  I think it's something that you have to go through to understand.  There's nothing I can compare hardcore Catholicism to, and for me the experience had about equal amounts of hilarity and truama (ok, maybe a little higher on the trauma…).  I hope other people come out and introduce themselves – we really need a site like this!

Rebecca

P.S.  I've also noticed that other Christian churches can be a lot more upbeat.  I've had some experience with a local Protestant church and I continue to be floored at how positive it is.  Even the funeral I attended there seemed cheery!  The members seem much happier than a lot of the Catholics I know as well.

I grew up presbyterian. Christian churches are guilt ridden too, though not as much. Our hypocritcal homes took care of that. One way or another growing up in this culture you got guilt. The ones who have more guilt than we do need us to feel guilty. It is their only way to survive the guilt.

Greetings.  I've been living a lie for much time and have sinned a great deal.

  My abusive uncle, let's call him 'Tua' has made my life hell for too long.  Now it's time I become the person that I always wanted to be.