Slightly Generic and Dramatic Intro Thread

[Seraphina]

Hi and welcome! Looking forward to hearing more of your story.

[Minimalist]

I didn't even bother giving them the "it's not you, it's me" routine.

Good because it isn't you, it's them.

Welcome into the light.

[Angrboda]

Welcome to the forum!

[Redoubtable]

Nice to meet you Matt

Thanks for sharing your story with us. Congratulations on breaking your way out! That takes guts when you've been so heavily invested.

I hope things continue to work out well for you.

Welcome to AF. We'll keep the Catholics here away from you... for now!

Welcome Matt .. kind of a catchy user name, though I'm sure Redoubtable is well earned. Glad to welcome you here. When you get around to penning your greater reconversion opus I hope you'll tell us what you liked best about life as a catholic as well as the many parts that drove you away.

Hi and welcome! Looking forward to hearing more of your story.

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome, and specifically in regards to those who I quoted who asked for my larger story. I've just posted it in the convert section, it's long, but I'd wager you'll learn even more about the sheer negative power religious belief can have over your life, especially Catholicism in this case.

[account_inactive]

Welcome!

[AceBoogie]

Welcome to the forum!

It's always an interesting thing to me when people spout, "Well you were never a true believer anyway!" when someone leaves a religion. Anything to maintain that delusional bubble of theirs, I suppose.

Hope to hear more from you on the forum.

[Otisknows]

Hello and Happy New Year to you all!

My name's Matt and on a whim I decided to join this forum. So let me tell you a little bit about myself!

I'm 25, and I've recently just gotten out of a very toxic relationship.. with the Catholic Church; such a bad break-up I didn't even bother giving them the "it's not you, it's me" routine.

You know, I see a lot of ex-Catholics leave the religion but I rarely see an ex-Catholic who was as invested as I was in the religion. When I was a teenager, I had issues with anxiety and depression, and I looked to these traditional sources of authority in the church (coming from a Catholic family) as those who could provide answers. I was led to believe that my emotional issues (which I didn't realize were totally common, especially for teenagers, that could be helped by ordinary means) was a result of not being close enough to God. It was this that drew me into an extremely zealous religious life. 

Those who leave the Church are often criticized by Catholics as never having been devout or practicing in the first place, that they were just "cafeteria catholics" who decided they wanted to go their own way for superficial reasons. They say those who leave the church were never properly 'catechized' and wouldn't leave if they knew what the church was really about. None of those criticisms apply to me. I can without a doubt, and without a hint of arrogance, say that I know more about the teachings and history of the Catholic Church than 99.9999% of Catholics, clergy included. I own a small library's worth of religious related books on Catholic apologetics, history, various translations of the Bible, etc. I used to spend at least 90 minutes or so in prayer every single day (two rosaries plus other prayers; that's over 100 Hail Marys for those of you keeping score at home.) I sought to conform every aspect of my life to Catholic teaching, even considering the priesthood at one time. 

So how did a pious and properly catechized young man such as myself find himself in the position of rejecting 'Holy Mother Church'? Well, for that I'll have a longer thread planned in the convert section (even though I wouldn't call myself atheist I felt my skepticism on religion would  be welcomed here), but let it suffice to say that when you stop letting religious fear and terror dominate your life and realize you have a duty to the truth wherever you find it, you'll find the courage to do things, say things, believe things, and disbelieve things you never thought you had in you.

I look forward to chatting with you all!

- Matt

Likewise, but not from the community, my community was good, it was from the strangers