In my 20’s I struggled with my relationship to the Catholic Church. I was raised to be a devout Catholic. I was an altar boy (see below left) and went to church during Lent. I collected Holy Cards of the Saints and contributed my allowance to save the souls of “pagan babies.” I was confirmed (although I chose the unusual confirmation name of Marcellinus). And yet, there were many aspects of Catholicism that I found problematic. Celibacy for the clergy. Women couldn’t be priests. And Hell seemed to be awfully severe.
When I was in 5th grade, I remember our catechism book had a 3 panel “cartoon.” Panel 1 showed a little boy eating a hot dog on Friday during Lent (No meat on Fridays.) In panel 2, the kid was run over by a truck. In panel 3, the kid was in Hell surrounded by flames and devils. I concluded that these Catholics did not mess around. One hot dog and you were doomed to torment forever. Yikes!!!
It was easy to go to Hell. The following “sins” could get you a seat next to Satan; contraception, Freemasonry, missing mass, divorce, masturbation, envy, cheating at a game, lying, and sorcery. Most Catholics don’t practice sorcery but only 17% go to mass weekly.
If you go to Hell, you’ll have lots of company. Maybe the vast majority of people who ever lived.
What is Hell anyway? The Catholic Church defines it as “the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed.” Hmm. Not sure what that means but it might lead you to believe that there is not much downside to sorcery.
In the New Testament, the Greek word “Gehenna” is used to describe the place of eternal punishment. It was originally a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem (picture in the middle), and Jesus used it as a metaphor to describe the final fate of the unrighteous. Gehanna always had fires burning (incinerating trash and corpses). Maybe Hell is the large dump outside of Las Vegas that I mentioned in a previous post.
I read a Hans Kung’s (he was a priest) book entitled “On Being a Christian.” It is a terrific discussion of Christianity and its message to me was straightforward. You did not need to be a rigorous practitioner of Catholicism to lead a good and spiritual life. Kung also emphasized messages that I found appealing; the need for people of different faiths to talk to each other, the importance of sound ethics and ability of science and spirituality to complement each other. I was shaped by that book (I still have my copy of it).
If you decide that Christianity is for you, but Catholicism is not for you, you have literally thousands of options. There are that many different flavors of Christianity, e.g., Lutheran, Anglican, Anabaptists, etc .
If you want to stick with Catholicism, below are some examples of flavors of Catholicism. All these examples are forms of “Catholicity” which seems to mean “Catholic-like’ (whatever that means).
If you want to check out a list of flavors of Christianity, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations
See you in heaven.
As a recovering Catholic, I can relate to this! Also, the Catholic Church’s definition of hell, “the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed”, is a perfect description of living a life without any spiritual connection. I know they put a heavy emphasis on God/communion, etc., but personally, I find myself connected when in nature. Hell is definitely a place on Earth without that connection (at least for me).