Thread for 'Cradle' Catholics - come out, come out wherever you are!

[Tinker]

Whenever there is a debate on mumsnet I'm always struck by how many Catholics there are so, out of interest:

1. Who was born into a Catholic family?
   
2. Who went to Catholic school?
   
3. Are you still a practising Catholic? If not ,why not?
   
4. Will you be sending your child to a Catholic school? If not why not?
   
   
   
5. Yes - both parents. Irish background for mother (teacher), English background, mostly, for father (probation officer)
   
   
6. Yes, run by nuns
   
   
7. Not at all. Things seriously didn't add up for me when I was about 17. Have moved further an further away from belief in god as I've got older.
   
   
8. Certainly not. Too much negative programming (my experince)
   
   
   Anyone else? Non-catholic opinions welcome as well.

[Hulababy]

I am not Catholic, I am C of E. But not practising TBH, only go to church at Christmas. Dh is a non practising Catholic. DD ha been christened Catholic, and our wedding was blessed in a Catholic church by a lovely priest.

DD is not going to a Catholic school. No specific reason, just school she has her name down for isn't Catholic.

[bossykate]

well, i'm "out" as a left-footer...

1. yes - both parents irish
   
2. yes - nuns from 4 - 15, then catholic VIth form college with lay staff
   
3. yes - decided to raise ds as catholic so now i practice too, after a long interval.
   
4. yes if we can get him in. no way if it were like the school run by my old nuns! but times have changed now.
   
   dh is much more religious than me. i think if we hadn't married i would still be in the lapsed category.

[nutcracker]

No i'm not, but sometimes think it would be nice.

Full of stupid comments today me

[CountessDracula]

1. Me - Mother Australian (of irish descent) catholic, Father English

2. No - but I took great delight in skiving all religious things on basis of catholicism!
3. No not religious
4. No probably not as am not practising and don't much like the Catholic church and it's messages of guilt etc

[coppertop]

1. Father Irish and Catholic. Mother English & C of E.
   
   2)Yes went to a Catholic school from 4 - 18 but it wasn't/isn't a particularly good school.
   
   
2. No. Definitely non-practising. I was forced to go to Mass every Sunday and I hated it. My parents had divorced by then and it was my mum's chance to have a child-free house. We were also forced to attend Mass at least once a week during school hours. As soon as I was able to choose not to attend Mass I stayed away. Religion means nothing if you are forced into it.
   
   
3. No way! The school I attended wasn't a very good one. There was also a lot of hypocrisy going on. One priest eloped with one of his parishoners. Another was found guilty of abusing young boys but the Church pleaded his case and arranged for him to go 'on retreat' instead. It's not an environment I would choose for my child.

[MeanBean]

1.Yes both parents irish
2.Yes went to convent with evil nuns (and a few good ones)
3.No because I don't believe in it
4.Agnostic on the issue; haven't got my children baptised because I find the ceremony risible, but if they wanted to do it and go to catholic schools, I wouldn't stop them (though don't ask me to renounce the devil, because I'd snigger)

[jampot]

1. I was born into Catholic family (both parents Irish Catholics)

2. Neither me nor my dh (who is atheist unless he needs a favour)

3. I don't attend Mass but I do try and live the way I was brought up (apart from dh having vasectomy and having 2 kids out of wedlock).

4. No. Don't see the point.

Interestingly, my parents brought us up as Catholics but we only ever attended Mass on Sunday and it wasn't pushed down our throats. However, my aunt and uncle are so far up the priests' ar$es it's embarrasing. My aunt has very short white hair and is known within the family as Pope JP. . She's always trying to convert people.

[carla]

1. yes

2. yes
3. no
4. yes

[nerdgirl]

1. Yup - 100% Irish Catholic here! ;-)

2. Again, yup but then I grew up in Catholic Ireland so there weren't a lot of choices!

3. Again affermative. Mass every Sunday. Drag the children. We have two great priests in our parish. But like 99% of Catholics, I'm of the 'pick and choose' variety.

4. Absolutely (gosh, I'm positive today!). I don't know how far we'd have to travel to find a non-catholic school!

[carla]

bossykate, thought leftfooter was an army expression! Am I right?

[treacletart]

1. Mother Irish, Dad English convert

2. just infants
3. Not really - see myself more as an Agnostic Pantheist nowadays - but wedding and ds' christening both catholic ceremonies - doing anything else felt odd
4. ds might go to catholic school but not necessarily - I'll plump for best avaiable at the time - my rationale will be if he has a faith of whatever kind that will be great but I dont want it to be a blind one. Having said that, I think its very difficult to just get a faith later on with no form of previous instruction at all. And the only upbringing I am equipped to give him is a christian/catholic one. I was raised quite strictly catholic but was quite capable of making my own decisions about it when I needed to.

[Tommy]

Yes, yes, yes and yes (how dull)

[mez75]

1. Yes,although dad is non practising C of E

2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes (best schools round here are Catholic)

[womba1]

1. Yes - both parents English (Mum from a strict Catholic background and Dad, an athiest)
   
   
2. Yes - a convent
   
   
3. Not at all. Too many bad things have happened to family members. can't believe that if there is a God, he would have allowed these things to occur.
   
   
4. Not intending to

[ScummyMummy]

Sob- I'm out of the Catholic Club with 4 straight NOs. And you all seem so nice...

I've often thought a social guilt complex might be similar to a Catholic guilt complex though. Help others and feel grateful for your privilege or be a really shite person = be a good Catholic or burn. Hmm. Maybe not. Probably just a wishful yearning to be in your club! Do any of you have you CGCs, btw? Or are you all sickeningly well adjusted?

[Zoe]

Yes, yes, yes and yes.

[Linnet]

1, I was brought up following no religion. But my grandads family right the way back are Catholic.
2, not me.

3, N/a

4, Yes my dd goes to a catholic school because it's the best school in our area.

[slug]

1. Yes Father of Irish descent, Mother Catholic convert (the worst type)

2. Yes Catholic Primary school - demon nums!!! State secondary.

3. No, I seriously doubt I ever believed in God, but the experience of Catholicism definitly put me off all religion.

4. Not if it means going near batty old nuns.

Having said that, one or two of them were great - prototypical feminists. But the rest were barely controlled, sexually repressed, violent lunatics.

[jampot]

Scummymummy - what's a CGC?

[CountessDracula]

Catholic guilt complex I should guess!

[CountessDracula]

And no, I haven't got one! Not even close. Never feel guilty about anything much.

[carla]

Thankfully, there are no nuns in dd1's primary school. They were so horrible in my day - if we had them today they'd have a court case against them!

[Levanna]

I haven't got catholic parents, nor am I Catholic, but I did go to a convent school (nuns and all) when I lived in EIRE. So, no I'm not a practising Catholic, never have been and never will be!
Both my DH's parents were practising Catholics along with all of his devout Irish family. He attended Catholic schools. He's practically a devout athiest at this stage, believes too much religeon is based on guilt and fear (brainwashing) and hypocrisy, and no, our DD and further children will absolutely not be going to a school of any religeon and I agree with him entirely (rare!).
We've been talking about all of this a lot recently, about our experiences as children in Catholic schools, of religeon (I was brought up C of E) and whatnot. We've been having really interesting discussions...

[Levanna]

Aaaand I apparently paid so much attention during my convent school years that I can't even spell religion correctly! Shows what I know

[mammya]

1. yes

2. no
3. no
4. no

And no CGC either!