AIBU to wonder what 'very Catholic' means?

[Graunaile2017]

I read a comment on another thread describing parents as 'very Catholic '. I'm not from the UK so sometimes miss the nuance or underlying cultural meaning of comments like this, but it seems to imply negativity. What exactly constitutes 'very Catholic' and why is it bad?

@fascinated

My late parents! I’m one of 7 kids. There would’ve been more if not for miscarriages and then menopause.

I grew up going to church at least 3 times a week. I went to Catholic school and was only allowed Catholic friends. My upbringing was extremely strict-I ended up getting kicked out at 15 for being very un-catholic....

My mother never liked my DH as he’s not religious in the slightest; she even tried setting me up with her friends son-after I’d been married for 5 years.

Since leaving home, I haven’t really been to church, apart from weddings and funerals etc.

If someone said that to me I'd be dancing round the edges of the conversation trying to work out whether they were using it in the way my DH would (to mean a very observant religious person) or in the way my dad's family would (from the wrong half of Glasgow and likely to be found supporting Them every weekend). I wouldn't say it myself simply because of how it can be meant. If I had been born a generation or two earlier, my paternal family would have ostracised me completely for marrying a man from a Catholic background. It's hard to explain to people with no connect to sectarianism in Scotland just what the fuck it actually means (nothing good).

[quote Inching]@Grumblyberries -- is your GP friend English?[/quote]
yes, from London

It's hard to explain to people with no connect to sectarianism in Scotland just what the fuck it actually means (nothing good)

Totally true.

Nothing good and nothing religious about it - pure tribalism. I've never got why bigotry isn't treated the same way as racism is - called out, exposed to the light and subject to the full force of the law.

Fortunately you can survive it - all of my family married someone of a different faith or none, but all accept and celebrate the differences - and pay no heed to anybody who hasn't evolved enough to recognise that a persons religious belief, or lack of religious belief is nobodies business but their own.

I'd consider my older relatives as very catholic & they go to mass weekly.

I have friends who are very very catholic & go to mass in Latin & don't accept any changes since that time.

They go as far as not allowing their children ( all adults now) to use social media or watch tv it films that are not pg

@StoneofDestiny

It's hard to explain to people with no connect to sectarianism in Scotland just what the fuck it actually means (nothing good)

Totally true.

Nothing good and nothing religious about it - pure tribalism. I've never got why bigotry isn't treated the same way as racism is - called out, exposed to the light and subject to the full force of the law.

Fortunately you can survive it - all of my family married someone of a different faith or none, but all accept and celebrate the differences - and pay no heed to anybody who hasn't evolved enough to recognise that a persons religious belief, or lack of religious belief is nobodies business but their own.

I find it bizarrely quite hurtful that the Scottish Govt is so keen on highlighting other types of discrimination in their ads, campaigns etc when never a crap has been officially given about the quite extreme sectarianism bullying in the street that I and even my mum, an adult, endured every day from the age of about four !

I thought so, @Grumbling. English Catholicism is very, very different in a whole slew of respects to Irish Catholicism, even if you leave aside the whole recusant family tradition side of things, and even if you concentrate on the most devout side of things.

fascinated
Not much has been said about religious bigotry and incitement by any government.
It's was only in 2013 that the law was changed to allow royals to marry Catholics - blatant discrimination.
Johnson and his Tory government actually aligned the Tory Party up to a deal with Arlene Fosters' DUP - a clearly sectarian party.

Unless it's confronted cow what it is, it will always fester amongst the Neanderthal thugs who turn their clocks back annually to the 17th Century.

In Ireland a lot of the so called "very Catholic" types are seen as the creeping Jesus brigade - the type who want to be seen as holy Joe's but in reality they're usually the sort who'd be the first to wish you harm and are judgemental gossips, in other words they're too Catholic to be Christian.

@serenada

I really don’t want to mitigate any of the scandals in the Church at all but I read something recently that said the sciencific research behind paedophiles indicated that they could, with the correct treatment, be ‘cured’ in terms of reoffending. The Church adopted this approach as it had been widely criticised for previous approaches.

Again, I really don’t want to be an apologist for this issue but it made me think.

Yes, there is some truth to this. The abuse scandals covered quite a significant period of time, and over that period there were changes in things like social attitudes and medical and psychological advice. Lots of people thought pursuing legal recourse was bad for young victims, for example.

‘Unless it's confronted cow what it’

Oops - meant to read as - ‘unless it’s confronted now for what it is’

Hmmm. Interesting. Might explain why I actually feel v comfortable on the Continent!

fascinated

I’ve lived in many places but found there were ‘scapegoats’ for people prejudices everywhere - some based on religion, some based on ethnic origin, some on class and some on length of time living there. Yet to find the country without any issues.

As long as we recognise bigotry, prejudice and any ‘ism’ for what it is and call it out, ignorance won’t win.

That’s for sure!