For refusing to go to Church?

It happens because of Hollywood horror films in which an actor in a cassock traditionally shows up to fight the demonically-possessed child with his trusty crucifix, holy water etc. This has passed into the mindset of people who wouldn’t know a Catholic priest from a ninja, who appear to genuinely believe that Catholic priests are waiting for their call to do battle with the Forces of Evil.

Despite the fact that the official Church position is that it’s virtually always a MH issue, and that if a priest does agree to visit your house, it will be for pastoral care of you, not to banish the spirit of Beelzebub from your downstairs loo. With declining numbers and an ageing population of priests, almost none will have done the requisite exorcism training even if they thought it was warranted.

People are derailing the thread. You can be respectful to her beliefs but be firm on your own. You will not be going to church, you will not be getting married in a church, you will not be christening your children. I had all this with my family, they found it hard at first but they got used to it in the end.

It cracks me up that your ‘logic’ (which comes up with wearisome regularity on here) seems to be ‘A certain subcategory of fundamentalist Muslim has a tradition of inciting religiously-mandated murder as a response to perceived insults against their beliefs, therefore’ — what, exactly?

— ‘I wish the Archbishop of Canterbury/the Pope would also issue fatwahs, so I could legitimately run out and attack people being flippant about Jesus’?

— ‘I wish Christianity generated as much fear as fundamentalist Islam’?

— ‘I’d love to see Richard Dawkins in hiding for a decade because the parish of St Jude’s is baying for his blood’?

— ‘It’s what Jesus would have wanted’?

Listen to yourself.

And while I am always amused by the fact that people on woo threads always recommend contacting Catholic priests for ‘exorcisms’, apparently labouring under the delusion that they are always available to all comers like some kind of free ghost busting service apparently from having watched The Exorcist, Thetes a certain rightness to it, I suppose. Certainly belief in a curiously incompetent but supposedly omnipotent and benevolent deity requires the same level of superstition, wishful thinking and illogicality as general ‘woo’.

It isn’t about converting OP. It’s about future weddings and grandchildren being Catholic.
There were no depths to which my Catholic parents wouldn’t stoop to manipulate or bully me into pretending not to be atheist for appearances sake. My father told me I wasn’t really married, therefore committing a grave sin in the eyes of god because I had a non religious wedding.

OP, if your partner looks like he won’t stand up to his parent, run like hell!

Hey ! Stop throwing stones !

I didn't start it !

🤐

Now it’s another Labour bashing thread
wind your necks in

@FrodisCapering Because this Labour government is fucking nuts.

I would agree with that x 100.

It's the only part of your post I do agree with, but hey-ho you can't win 'em all. 😁

Why had OP’s thread been hijacked by posters discussing Islamophobia
leave it out!

Because Islamaphobia is pretty much always racist.

And the 'hurty words' on Twitter were also racist with incitement to violence, telling the rioters to burn down hotels full of asylum seekers.

YANBU but your DP’s mum is for repeatedly asking you. I would think twice about joining any family who are Catholic…

:-) my standard response to any suggestion I attend church is no thanks, it's too hard to stop bursting into flames ;-)

I've been religious for patches of my life, a lapsed Protestant for a lot of it with a string intersst in Judaism, and am now a really stony hearted atheist. I just don't do any of it any more (ok thats not absolutely true, i still occasionally kindle the Shabbas lights and i celebrate my own cultural festivals like Christmas in my own way). I will happily visit churches as monuments and i will go to weddings and funerals if i have to but i won't set foot in a service otherwise. At your stage of life I would probably have gone along with it but that would have been the wrong choice. It's from two sexist beliefs: mainly about the grandchildren I bet but also because pretty much all religions really believe that it's the woman who will make the religious home, and therefore controlling the public and private religious practice of women is crucial to saving the souls of men. Needless to say I think all these beliefs are bollocks.

Lighthearted but absolute pushback from you. 'You are certainly persistent MIL! Answer hasn't changed from last time'.

What has Hollywood got to do with it?

It happens on Mumsnet !

It is in Glasgow and used to be in Liverpool.....

I know many people treat it as such, but football is NOT the same as a religion

So why is this government trying to make Islamophobia a criminal offence?

And why are people in prison for posting "hurty words" on Twitter etc?

I wouldn’t go. If you go once she’ll be nagging for you to go more often.

DH’s family is very Catholic. MIL used to call me “The Heathen” and would try and guilt DH into nagging me into going to church.

I have been to weddings and funerals but refused to go to normal services. I have no interest and, to be honest, the synchronised responses and the automatic standing, sitting and kneeling was pretty creepy. Also the sermons generally make me want to roll my eyes and I don’t know the tune to the songs.

I did attend a 3 hour long ordination ceremony for a new priest. It was fascinating from an anthropological point of view, very dull overall but sporadically hilarious.

If you’re not religious, and specifically not Catholic, then attending is pointless.

What I am saying is that some people are quick to "rubbish" Christianity but if some people have an "entity" that has moved in and keeps hiding their car keys, going "bump in the night" etc others are quick to recommend a Priest.

Not a Shaman, not Kali, not Briget, not Nezha, just a bog standard Christian Priest.
I wonder why there is such a dichotomy ? 😁

I don't see this as any different to I am not a football but have been to a few matches as if football is important to my husband and his family, my husband has been to some of my events as same importance to me and my family

It's interesting that whenever there is "woo" thread and someone is pestered by something that goes "bump" in the night, posters are yelling for the home-owner to get a Priest. 😁

You mean almost as if different people with different views posted different things?