General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Happy Sunday! I won't be in church today. [View all]Hulk
(6,699 posts)I was interested in the priesthood at the end of my Catholic grade school experience, but thank God, I wised up. I was an altar boy since third grade, and actually felt good about getting up at 5 am and going to the convent to help the priest serve mass to the nuns at 6, or 5:30, or whenever it was.
We were so rigidly programmed to believe every sin had a level of damnation attached to it. Never could quite get a handle on the "mortal" "venial" sin thing. I guess if you know it was mortal, and you did it anyway...ah, forget it. It all makes no sense now; but we tried to make sense out of it when we were growing up.
My four kids all went to Catholic grade and high schools. Paid a bundle for that "private education", and then when they were nearly grown, my wife filed for divorce after I worked my butt off putting her through engineering school, and she got her profession that out paid mine by at least another 50%. She didn't need this log any longer. Same story about affairs. I never knew, and never even thought about that going on, but she enlightened me when I couldn't understand why we broke apart. I still say, "damn her", and mean it.
I met my current wife, and being Catholic was a real leg up. She is Mexican, and that means a lot to most of them. I don't go any longer, and she still goes alone, sometimes. I have ZERO respect for the Catholic Church any longer. I am impressed by the latest Pope, but that's ONE person. Pope John Paul was OK too, but the turd in between was the typical hypocrite.
We find our own God. I still believe in the Christ and the Maker, and maybe there will be something after death. I'm not betting all my marbles on it anymore. I just know when it's over, it's over. If there's something after this life, well, that will be a nice surprise. If not.....what am I going to do about it? Nada.
Thanks for sharing your story. I enjoyed reading it. I find some of the most hypocritical low lifes hide behind their religious piety. It's all bull shit to me. I found ONE Church I enjoyed attending in my whole life. It's like going to a "flower child festival". They are good, decent people, and they spend ALL their energy in "helping the least among us", something Christ actually told us to do. The rest of the churches are all about building a new parish hall, or paying down the mortgage on a monstrosity of a church, etc. All bull shit.
Amen....