I was Catholic. Then I was a Gay Catholic. Then I was a Gay ex-Catholic.

[DonRedwood]

Now I just feel like a gay guy who got spit on by the Catholics.

Good luck new Pope. Maybe in your new position you will read the words of Jesus and see he loved all equally. Until then, keep your hate speech to yourself.

[Warpy]

1. Most Catholics are smart enough to know the Pope is talking through his big hat

on all matters concerning gender, sex, and reproduction. Celibate old men don't know a damned thing about any of it.

Catholic education lasted only to the fifth grade for me, at that point I was in full rebellion and I was sprung. I'm just a woman who got spit on by that church.

It's funny, but most of the atheists I know IRL are survivors of Catholic school.

[KittyWampus]

2. Throwing the baby out with the bath water is a saying that springs to mind.

[Warpy]

6. Your concern is duly noted

[KittyWampus]

8. Concern? I'm talking about ditching all aspects of religion or spirituality after discovering

the holes and inconsistencies in exoteric religion.

I walked away from exoteric religion long ago. But I didn't stop exploring philosophy and the subtle universe. I just stopped being attached to dogma.

[sangsaran]

13. But you're also strongly implying

it's a mistake not to do as you have.

That's usually not conducive to discussion, and doubly so on matters of religion.

[arely staircase]

3. check us out

In 1976, the Convention declared that homosexuals are "children of God" and "entitled to full civil rights".[105]
In 1979, the Convention endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment and urged legislatures to ratify it.
In 1988, the Convention reaffirmed the expectation of chastity and fidelity in relationships.
In 1991, the Convention restated that "physical sexual expression" is only appropriate within a monogamous "union of husband and wife". The Convention also called on the church to "continue to reconcile the discontinuity between this teaching and the experience of members", referring both to dioceses that have chosen to bless monogamous same-sex unions and to general tolerance of premarital relations.[43]
In 2000, the Convention affirmed "the variety of human relationships in and outside of marriage" and acknowledged "disagreement over the Church's traditional teaching on human sexuality."[106]
In 2006, the Convention affirmed "support of gay and lesbian persons as children of God"; calls on legislatures to provide protections such as bereavement and family leave policies; and opposes any state or federal constitutional amendment that prohibits same-sex civil marriages or civil unions."[107]
In 2009, the Convention affirmed that "gays and lesbians (that are) in lifelong committed relationships," should be ordained, saying that "God has called and may call such individuals to any ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church."[108] The Convention also voted to allow bishops to decide whether or not to bless same-sex marriages.[11]
In 2012, the Convention approved the trial use of an official liturgy to bless same-sex couples and their unions, called "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant."[11][109

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopal_Church_(United_States)

[Cha]

10. Wow.. that's cool, arely.

I don't do religion but for those who do that is very loving towards ALL.

[arely staircase]

11. thank you, we are especially a home for catholics who cannot go along with the roman church's

sexual/and otherwise conservatism. we uphold the holy sacraments and apostolic succession so we are an obvious safe harbor for a lot of liberal catholics.

[Whisp]

4. I am an ex-Catholic

and for one of the reasons: because the Catholic Church spat on me and continues to spit on all women. I encouraged my daughter to not become part of that and she chose wisely.

[spanone]

5. i'm an ex catholic i couldn't give two shits who is pope.

[HockeyMom]

7. Only child catholic school grad tired of defending my parents

for only having ONE CHILD, living in a 500 sq. ft. NYC apartment, sleeping in a sofa bed with Nana, and my parents using "abomination contraception", because they had nowhere to PUT as many children as "God decides". I saw the absurdity of that as a young teen 50 years ago.

Also growing up in Greenwich Village, and having a gay Aunt who raised my cousin with her partner, I also couldn't reconcile the logic of that religious stance either.

Solution? LEAVE the Catholic Church.

[demosocialist]

9. K&R nt

[amuse bouche]

12. Congrats on your enlightened progression

you are a smart guy

[Dawson Leery]

14. Christ loved all. The RCC does not.

Therefore, Constantine's cult is false.

[Zax2me]

15. There's always Islam.

Try it out, see how you are treated.

[Arugula Latte]

17. So because Islam sucks, too, that makes the Catholic Church a-okay?

I don't see a lot of Islamic leaders advocating for the repression of women and gays in front of the U.S. Congress like the Catholic Church does.

Not saying Islam is enlightened or anything -- a pox on all repressive dogmas ...

Like these miserable creeps -- fuck them:

[hunter]

16. Hunter doesn't leave the Church, the Church leaves Hunter.

Nope, I've never been physically removed from a church (unlike like my mom) but I still go with the attitude that I don't belong to the Church, the Church belongs to me and my community. If the Church hasn't yet been brave enough to ask me about that money they don't get from me, then I don't expect they ever will be.

I'm pretty sure they know.

My parents, and my wife's parents started using birth control after they'd birthed a few more kids than they could comfortably support. This was the 'sixties. After that they were birth control using heretics.

I'm pretty comfortable as a gay rights activist, father of only two kids, and overall heretic.

I've got a lot of the same feelings for the Church as I do the USA itself. It is an integral part of my community. Unlike the USA, I can pick and choose how I support the Church. If I stop paying my Federal taxes because I don't want them to spend my money on war then the IRS gets on my case. If I don't put any money in the collection basket, nobody asks. I'm utterly shameless about that.

I'm fortunate to live in a community with a somewhat liberal Church. I've lived in and visited places where the Roman Catholic (and even the Episcopal Churches) seem to be competing with the right wing fundamentalists to see how many people they can label as outcasts to throw under their Jesus bus. My parents used to live in a place like that. Attending Mass more than once or twice a year there was intolerable to anyone politically left of Bill O'Reilly or Newt Gingrich, even anyone still exercising half a brain. Mass was attended regularly by a bunch of Fox News watching fossils who held a secret suspicion that Vatican II was the work of Satan. My Italian great uncle, a guy who loved everyone, and everyone loved, a guy who had gay friends in Hollywood long before that was cool, a giving Christian in so many ways, got possibly the worst funeral ever. I can summarize in a single sentence paraphrasing what the fossil priest said, "This dude wasn't a good Catholic and is probably going to hell so be afraid and pray for your own soul."

Um, okay, Father. I'm not afraid of supporting civil rights and loving my neighbor. How about you? You could feel the whispering snark in the air, almost as bad as when one of my childhood friends married a fundy. "Obey your husband," the fundy preacher said. Nope, that ain't going to happen in this matriarchal community. Little do you know, husband, your bow hunting days are over. You're going to be a vegetarian like your wife. And it was so. One of my brothers ended up in a similar situation, but fortunately surfing wasn't a sin in her religion. My brother surfs while his wife and kids ride horses.

This poor Priest didn't last long at my great uncle's wake. Everyone was drinking and laughing and being very Irish. After Father left a few virgins may have been lost. If it happened in my great uncle's strawberry patch or next to his bait worm farm then my great uncle is probably still laughing about it. If you are very quiet you might hear him.