When I was at Fr. Dan Riley's services a few weeks ago, I was struck by how much better the Church might be if he was the rule, rather than the exception.
A thought: churches have to market themselves to lure people to their weekly service and they don’t know how to get out of their own way. And, once you get there, you get the same drivel that you were fed during CCD.
On campuses like our alma mater, the marketing is done by the friars that are interwoven in the campus community. Mass with Fr. Regis Duffy or Fr. Bob Stewart or Fr. Dan was attractive because you wanted to hear a storyteller that could relate. And you knew they were relatable because you interacted with them outside of mass.
I love when I have been out with Catholic friend enjoying a Saturday, when someone asks: "See ya at mass tomorrow?" We all laugh, knowing that is never going to happen in our lives again.
I left religion a long, long time ago, even after I was deluded enough as a pre-teen to think for 2.5 years that I wanted to be a nun. I like to call myself a recovering Catholic. When people ask, I say I don't believe in organized religion because when man gets involved -- and it's always a man -- he fucks it up.
You make a point that I will take further: religion has been controlled by men for 2,000+ years. If you think about it, it's been fucked up from the start.
If I’m honest with myself religion never clicked with me and I always felt terrible about lying about it as a kid. I did all the things, first communion, Sunday school, youth group, etc. I was an altar boy as well. Which actually gave me the formal “out” from religion so I no longer had to lie about faith. The priest that took over when our Monsignor left to go to another parish came with sexual abuse allegations already chasing him. He tried to pull me in and I told my parents and that was the end of it. No more church and no more lying about it. Unfortunately he was successful with a friend of mine, and maybe others in town. He was quietly defrocked later and died in shame. Albeit probably 50 years too late.
It seems like everyone has an abuse story. Mine is probably one or two degrees removed from yours and while I was never really in danger, it was all still a bit jarring when details came to light. I'm sorry to hear that you were that close to it.
It wasn’t fun. It was still an odd sense of relief in a way because I used it as a lever to leave the church with good reason. I still had to rationalize getting married in a catholic ceremony and having both kids baptized but that was just appeasement for the Italian catholic and Irish catholic families. That’s a story for another day.
When I was at Fr. Dan Riley's services a few weeks ago, I was struck by how much better the Church might be if he was the rule, rather than the exception.
A thought: churches have to market themselves to lure people to their weekly service and they don’t know how to get out of their own way. And, once you get there, you get the same drivel that you were fed during CCD.
On campuses like our alma mater, the marketing is done by the friars that are interwoven in the campus community. Mass with Fr. Regis Duffy or Fr. Bob Stewart or Fr. Dan was attractive because you wanted to hear a storyteller that could relate. And you knew they were relatable because you interacted with them outside of mass.
I love when I have been out with Catholic friend enjoying a Saturday, when someone asks: "See ya at mass tomorrow?" We all laugh, knowing that is never going to happen in our lives again.
Those days are long gone. The last two church visits for me have been funerals and my attendance was out of respect for the guest of honor only.
I left religion a long, long time ago, even after I was deluded enough as a pre-teen to think for 2.5 years that I wanted to be a nun. I like to call myself a recovering Catholic. When people ask, I say I don't believe in organized religion because when man gets involved -- and it's always a man -- he fucks it up.
Ahhhhhh, Santa Mariateresa.
You make a point that I will take further: religion has been controlled by men for 2,000+ years. If you think about it, it's been fucked up from the start.
This resonated with me in so many ways. Well written and definitely one to think about.
Thanks Liz. Good to hear from you and hope things are going well.
If I’m honest with myself religion never clicked with me and I always felt terrible about lying about it as a kid. I did all the things, first communion, Sunday school, youth group, etc. I was an altar boy as well. Which actually gave me the formal “out” from religion so I no longer had to lie about faith. The priest that took over when our Monsignor left to go to another parish came with sexual abuse allegations already chasing him. He tried to pull me in and I told my parents and that was the end of it. No more church and no more lying about it. Unfortunately he was successful with a friend of mine, and maybe others in town. He was quietly defrocked later and died in shame. Albeit probably 50 years too late.
It seems like everyone has an abuse story. Mine is probably one or two degrees removed from yours and while I was never really in danger, it was all still a bit jarring when details came to light. I'm sorry to hear that you were that close to it.
It wasn’t fun. It was still an odd sense of relief in a way because I used it as a lever to leave the church with good reason. I still had to rationalize getting married in a catholic ceremony and having both kids baptized but that was just appeasement for the Italian catholic and Irish catholic families. That’s a story for another day.
I could have gone further on the family aspects but I was getting concerned with length.
Ooohhhhh lets go further tho.
Okay!