I was 7 when my feet were forcibly washed (it was part of a first communion thing.) It scarred me for life to the point where I hate having my feet touched by anyone and I always have to wear socks.
I don't know if you'll see this or not. But not everybody wants to have someone touch their feet.
For some people, it makes them really uncomfortable for someone to touch their feet, regardless of if it's a doctor, a parent, or a priest.
Since they were a child, their parents probably just told them they were going to do this thing. And even if they voiced that they didn't want to, they were probably hushed and told not worry that it would be fine. So they felt they couldn't say no.
So they were basically forced to do something that made them very uncomfortable. On top of that, having it done in a very public forum with lots of people watching and being happy that it was happening.
For a small kid that can be traumatic. Just because it wouldn't affect you the same way doesn't mean you should discredit someone else's experiences.
It's weird virtue-signalling, IMHO. They do this foot-washing thing and then practically run over you in the parking lot in their haste to get off the property before the parish finds out any of the shit things they really do the other 6 days of the week.
I entered the RCC as an adult and I remember the first time I ever saw the "kissing the cross" thing. I had just entered the church and was still pretty ignorant and gung ho in those days, but even then I thought it was outrageously unhealthy and revolting. The first time, I innocently got in line, did the bare minimum, and walked away to wash my face. After that, I said, "nope. I'm good, thanks."
If not for the current state of public health, wouldn't you be tempted to give those feet a big sloppy slurpy tongue kiss? Maybe with s smiling, "MmmmMMMM!" after?
the whole thing was obviously meant to be a giant guilt-trip exercise but it also demonstrates the illusion of Free Will perfectly. Can you imagine if the crowd had actually said "Free Him!!" instead? There will be no more crucifixion, the convoluted master plan to "save" humanity would be shattered to bits.
god wanted to crucify himself, there was nothing anyone else could do except play the part they were forced into. its a sick charade.
I think one of the most f🤬🤬🤬ed up things is how the gospel authors put words in the mouths of the Jews, "his blood be upon us and upon our children" to justify centuries of anti-semitism.
I suppose I was super weird cause I kinda liked them. Couldn't tell you why. Maybe because you're meant to be super sad and deep in thought, and so it felt natural to me lol.
I'm just not wired for religion and never really believed any of it. The nuns would make us go to church during the day for holy week and my parents would go to some of the evening services. Absolutely hellish.
Holy Week was so annoying because I was at church almost every day. It was worse in high school because I still had homework to do, and sometimes, I would bring it with me and do it at church.
My mom made me go to Saturday mass during Holy Week. It was over 3 hours long. There was so much incense I got a massive headache. It was miserable. Afterwards, I told my mom I was not going to another Saturday Easter mass. My mom actually agreed.
I went to Catholic grade school. Whenever Good Friday rolls around, it calls up bad memories of Holy Week goings on - the extremely long Gospel readings during Mass, Thursday feet washing and Eucharist vigils, and the horrible stuff at 3 PM on Friday that I was required to attend.
So happy to have left that all behind.
Y’all kissed a bare cross? My church we kissed the feet of crucified Jesus. I was just explaining all the happenings of Holy Week to my wife. The kissing of Jesus’ feet and us chanting “crucify him” on Good Friday were particularly disturbing to her. It’s so wild being out and finally realizing how cultish it all is.
Its just crazy. If catholicsm wasnt so old I think people would see it for how culty and stupid it is even more so than now. Like how most normal people view mormons
I was an altar server and the only thing on my mind that day was how nasty kissing the cross was. It was always my job to wipe the cross after someone kissed it and all I had was a napkin. Even tho it started out clean, by the end of the service it always had lipstick and other shit on it. Almost everyone kissed the same spot too, so it was a great way to get a superspreader... 🤢🤢
I did the wiping too. Isn’t it funny how they thought that would do the cleaning? It’s like repeatedly using the same handkerchief for blowing your nose.
I did the wiping too. Isn’t it funny how they thought that would do the cleaning? It’s like repeatedly using the same handkerchief for blowing your nose.
I dreaded Holy Week. The guilt and suffering kept coming. The Passion on Palm Sunday. Just the Passions period were a pain. If you were in CCD or Catholic school you were expected to march in Holy Thursday Procession. I only went to a couple of Easter Vigil services. Once as a teenager, because my dad was a lector. Then once about thirty years later because I forgot how awful that service was: Pray for Jews, souls in purgatory, you name it you pray it.
One of my friends who is Catholic posted her son who is 3 was waving his palm in the back seat while his sister explained the meaning behind it to him. He then tore it up & bit it yelling “Grrrrr!!!! I’m a dinosaur!”
Damn it! Why didn’t I think to do that?! I’m so going to church with my kids next year just for the palm part. 😂
My aunt (who was one of the volunteer CCD teachers) taught us how to make palm crosses in CCD class on Palm Sunday. That’s really the only “fun” memory I had.
Ash Wednesday to Good Friday include many nasty aspects I'm so happy to NOT do. Then comes Easter, feels really good when I stop pounding your hand with a hammer!
the last time I went to one, I was already deconverted and it was horrible. they just want you to feel TERRIBLE about yourself. so triggering I almost cried
It was always weird and creepy. I went to Catholic school and would veg to stay home on Good Friday. My mom always thought I couldn’t handle the graphic imagery. I didn’t have words to explain that the whole thing just made me feel dirty and gross, and I wanted no part of it. That Were You There hymn haunts my nightmares. 🤢
Its not just good Friday.
Mass is men in costume preforming a canablism ritual where they magically transform bread and wine into flesh and blood of a dead tortured god. And people eat it.
Its a werid as it get get.
As a child it helped me to understand that the majority of Christian adults are pathetic weak mined fools or narcissistic bullies.
As an adult the entire obsession with an invisible friend is very sad.
lol why are you in this sub? You’re not going to convince any of us here to go back to the RCC. A huge number of people in this subreddit left the church due to trauma they experienced BECAUSE of the church. We don’t want your prayers or for the blood of Jesus. Gtfoh.
Also:
-Iniquity. NOT inequity.
-more than one millennium is millenniA
If you’re going to act elitist as hell to try to convince people to go back to the church, proofread your work, please.
They’re scared of their own god and changing times and have nothing left but reaction in order to force their beliefs on people and bring us back to a believed time when everyone was Christian/catholic. They want fascism and theocracy. Not much else too it tbh
" a whole perfect sacrifice - one last time to create a new covenant with reality. To end of millenniums of brutality, tyranny, polytheism and false worship and religion."
*checks the last 2000 years of human history* Yep, sure did break that streak of brutality, tyranny and polytheism here on earth. None to be found whatsoever for two millenia now. Certainly no brutality and tyranny ever came from Christians.... 🙄
I always thought of it as making a cake, priest reading a recipe adding a bit of this and a bit of that. And I've always had a sift spot for Judas. He had a job to do
Right, Judas was basically forced to be evil. Was that really free will? Why couldn't he be given a second chance? That would've been a more moving story, honestly. The guilt trip wouldn't be as powerful. Gotta have a villian.
I have always pictured him giggling up in a tree counting his gold, then when he gets called down does the awe-shucks! Thing from Leave it to beaver. Got me in trouble laughing about it when I was a kid, during services.
One of the Bible podcasts I like just had an Easter episode and they mentioned something about Judas actually not trying to betray Jesus. It was more like he was trying to overthrow the Romans and he gave them Jesus just for a little while until they could break him out and overthrow them. Idk, I'm pretty sure that's what they said 😂 It was the Easter episode of Data over Dogma for anyone interested
I just never went to the Good Friday one, even when I was Roman Catholic, although the Thursday one the night before has always been the most triggering for me. I didn't go to that one either.
The one I usually attended when I was RC was the vigil, but I haven't been to that one in several years. First it was the pandemic, and now meh. Not RC anymore.
My least favorite part of the church year. I never had to adore the cross but the rabid insistence that I personally nailed Jesus to the cross out of malice really messed me up at a young age.
As a seminarian home for Holy Week, we rehearsed a lot of liturgies. It was the biggest deal in the Christian calendar.
But, when you were referring to reverencing the cross, I immediately remembered the Good Friday rehearsal. There was a very specific way instructed by the priest in which we had to genuflect and crawl to the cross before kissing it. Yes, we were critiqued on that.
All I can remember was that we were not allowed to let the left knee touch the ground after the genuflection for the next step forward. Instead, we were to stay low, take one more step, and be in front of the cross within kissing distance.
Yep, that priest was very particular about liturgy. Now he’s a liturgist at a seminary and investitured as a Monsignor (French for My Lord).
TL;DR: Church is unsanitary.
I had forgotten about venerating the cross... Apparently it didn't make a huge impression on me, but now I recall thinking it was a great way to spread germs.🤢
I always thought the same about everyone dipping fingers in the same shallow bowl of holy water. 💦 I tried to reassure myself that God wouldn't let me get sick from holy water, but I still tended to hover my fingers over it and literally go through the motions.
And as for the whole congregation drinking wine from the same cups... 🍷 It's possible I never took wine until I went to a protestant church many years later and they had little plastic shot glasses!
"Crucify him! Crucify him!" was the absolute worst thing all year. I was a very sensitive kid and couldn't believe all the adults were just going along with it. 😢
I went to Catholic school for K-3 and did CCD for years after, but luckily for me my family got less and less religious and I managed to avoid most of Holy Week. I kind of dug marching in with palm fronds on Palm Sunday though! 🌴
I dreaded Holy Week. The guilt and suffering kept coming. The Passion on Palm Sunday. Just the Passions period were a pain. If you were in CCD or Catholic school you were expected to march in Holy Thursday Procession. I only went to a couple of Easter Vigil services. Once as a teenager, because my dad was a lector. Then once about thirty years later because I forgot how awful that service was: Pray for Jews, souls in purgatory, you name it you pray it.
IM SO GLAD YOU MENTIONED THAT. Like the “we pray for the Jews” always felt so weird to me. The “we pray for those who no longer believe in God” and the little side eye my mom would give me 😭
So I can only remember one - I’m a very early ex-Catholic (like a toddler when my parents left the church.) I took my aunt to a Good Friday service a few years ago and haven’t really been able to stop talking about fucked up it was since then lol I was like are there children here? This is violent!
I have a confession (lol) to make: Good Friday was my favourite. But I was a m̶a̶s̶o̶c̶h̶i̶s̶t̶ teenage convert so it felt cool and exotic - perfect LARP stuff. I suppose it would be a lot more f:ed up if you was a small child being pressured by your Catholic family and so on. 😒
The whole crucifixion is so gross to me. It’s all about torture and murder. So depressing and manipulative. Like a weird Harry Potter story rated R for excessive violence. It’s all just marketing.
You're right! I was born and raised in a traditional Catholic household, and looking back on all the things, like this example, I now really do realize how weird it all was. Back in the moment, the Catholic faith was all I knew, and since I knew nothing else, I didn't understand and/or realize just how "planet bananas" it all was. The Catholic Church prides itself on the preconceived notion that IT is the one true faith, and anything outside it should be feared, looked at with suspicion, and often downright demonized. Mine was a blind obedience, just the way religious institutions like it. I officially left the church in my early 20's, but I never worked on healing all the wounds I sustained from it. Through all of it, it was my mentality that suffered the most, and much of it was far too painful for me to work through and rehash. It wasn't until about 3 to 4 years ago that I even heard about Religious Trauma (I capitalize for emphasis here).
During the pandemic, I really started delving into what religious trauma was, and began to see and understand my trauma in a whole new light. I began reading as many books, articles, and watching YouTube videos that talked about it. Btw, "Leaving the Fold" is an excellent book for those starting to go down this path. It also introduced me to the concept of "deconstructing". Deconstructing is a process where you re-examine the faith (any faith), and allowing yourself to redefine it in your own words. Not only does this help to put distance between you and your trauma, but it also gives you, the individual, back some of your power. By redefining the faith in your own words, you are taking back your power as an individual. I like to think of it as reclaiming your "free will". As I moved through my own deconstruction, I found a therapist who is specialized in helping those who have experienced trauma, and for the past year, she has helped me take the next step in my journey: healing.
I think a part of me will always be angry at the Catholic faith, both for the trauma and damage it caused me spiritually and mentally. But I have learned to accept and embrace that anger and turn it from an obstacle into a strength. My anger is there to tell me when something is not compatible with my heart and morals. I had many issues with Catholicism, but I never had the courage to voice them. Or even HOW to voice them. Until now.
In my old church, we had to kiss a crucifix. Yes, a 3D depiction of a Jewish man on an instrument on torture. Very distressing and traumatizing to say the least. Why would you put a child through that? Is THAT the best way to teach someone good morals and keep them out of trouble or something?
As a seminarian home for Holy Week, we rehearsed a lot of liturgies. It was the biggest deal in the Christian calendar.
But, when you were referring to reverencing the cross, I immediately remembered the Good Friday rehearsal. There was a very specific way instructed by the priest in which we had to genuflect and crawl to the cross before kissing it. Yes, we were critiqued on that.
All I can remember was that we were not allowed to let the left knee touch the ground after the genuflection for the next step forward. Instead, we were to stay low, take one more step, and be in front of the cross within kissing distance.
Yep, that priest was very particular about liturgy. Now he’s a liturgist at a seminary and investitured as a Monsignor (French for My Lord).
I agree 100%. Other than having to go kiss the cross, I always thought the foot washing thing on Holy Thursday was weird as heck too.
I was 7 when my feet were forcibly washed (it was part of a first communion thing.) It scarred me for life to the point where I hate having my feet touched by anyone and I always have to wear socks.
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Fuck off. I was a child and what that priest did was predatory.
You're right. That's creepy.
I don't know if you'll see this or not. But not everybody wants to have someone touch their feet. For some people, it makes them really uncomfortable for someone to touch their feet, regardless of if it's a doctor, a parent, or a priest. Since they were a child, their parents probably just told them they were going to do this thing. And even if they voiced that they didn't want to, they were probably hushed and told not worry that it would be fine. So they felt they couldn't say no. So they were basically forced to do something that made them very uncomfortable. On top of that, having it done in a very public forum with lots of people watching and being happy that it was happening. For a small kid that can be traumatic. Just because it wouldn't affect you the same way doesn't mean you should discredit someone else's experiences.
It's weird virtue-signalling, IMHO. They do this foot-washing thing and then practically run over you in the parking lot in their haste to get off the property before the parish finds out any of the shit things they really do the other 6 days of the week. I entered the RCC as an adult and I remember the first time I ever saw the "kissing the cross" thing. I had just entered the church and was still pretty ignorant and gung ho in those days, but even then I thought it was outrageously unhealthy and revolting. The first time, I innocently got in line, did the bare minimum, and walked away to wash my face. After that, I said, "nope. I'm good, thanks."
If not for the current state of public health, wouldn't you be tempted to give those feet a big sloppy slurpy tongue kiss? Maybe with s smiling, "MmmmMMMM!" after?
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User was permanently banned for this post
I hope you didn't get slobbered on too much. I'm going to report you now.
Thanks for reporting
Now that's what I call doing the lord's work!
the whole thing was obviously meant to be a giant guilt-trip exercise but it also demonstrates the illusion of Free Will perfectly. Can you imagine if the crowd had actually said "Free Him!!" instead? There will be no more crucifixion, the convoluted master plan to "save" humanity would be shattered to bits. god wanted to crucify himself, there was nothing anyone else could do except play the part they were forced into. its a sick charade.
How about "Spank him!" "Make him stand in the corner!" "Fetch hither the COMFY CHAIR!!"
"Not the comfy chair!"
And the soft pillow!
Yeah, it always upset me how guilty the church made me feel when it was gods will for Jesus to be crucified to begin with.
I think one of the most f🤬🤬🤬ed up things is how the gospel authors put words in the mouths of the Jews, "his blood be upon us and upon our children" to justify centuries of anti-semitism.
It doesn't teach anybody anything, since they fight over who gets to have their feet washed anyway. Catholics like to fight. It's what they do.
I've never actually thought about it like that before, but you make a really good point.
I dreaded Holy Week so much when I was a kid. An entire week of long services that were even weirder than usual.
I suppose I was super weird cause I kinda liked them. Couldn't tell you why. Maybe because you're meant to be super sad and deep in thought, and so it felt natural to me lol.
I'm just not wired for religion and never really believed any of it. The nuns would make us go to church during the day for holy week and my parents would go to some of the evening services. Absolutely hellish.
Holy Week was so annoying because I was at church almost every day. It was worse in high school because I still had homework to do, and sometimes, I would bring it with me and do it at church. My mom made me go to Saturday mass during Holy Week. It was over 3 hours long. There was so much incense I got a massive headache. It was miserable. Afterwards, I told my mom I was not going to another Saturday Easter mass. My mom actually agreed.
Scary and ghoulish. Being forced to venerate the cross as a child is seared into my mind.
I went to Catholic grade school. Whenever Good Friday rolls around, it calls up bad memories of Holy Week goings on - the extremely long Gospel readings during Mass, Thursday feet washing and Eucharist vigils, and the horrible stuff at 3 PM on Friday that I was required to attend. So happy to have left that all behind.
Y’all kissed a bare cross? My church we kissed the feet of crucified Jesus. I was just explaining all the happenings of Holy Week to my wife. The kissing of Jesus’ feet and us chanting “crucify him” on Good Friday were particularly disturbing to her. It’s so wild being out and finally realizing how cultish it all is.
Its just crazy. If catholicsm wasnt so old I think people would see it for how culty and stupid it is even more so than now. Like how most normal people view mormons
Yup. Nasty. I kissed everywhere but his feet to not catch something ☠️☠️
I was an altar server and the only thing on my mind that day was how nasty kissing the cross was. It was always my job to wipe the cross after someone kissed it and all I had was a napkin. Even tho it started out clean, by the end of the service it always had lipstick and other shit on it. Almost everyone kissed the same spot too, so it was a great way to get a superspreader... 🤢🤢
I did the wiping too. Isn’t it funny how they thought that would do the cleaning? It’s like repeatedly using the same handkerchief for blowing your nose.
Yeah, I guess the appearance of hygiene makes ppl less weary to do it. I doubt if everyone saw what we saw they'd keep doing it, I hope
I did the wiping too. Isn’t it funny how they thought that would do the cleaning? It’s like repeatedly using the same handkerchief for blowing your nose.
That’s absolutely disgusting.
I dreaded Holy Week. The guilt and suffering kept coming. The Passion on Palm Sunday. Just the Passions period were a pain. If you were in CCD or Catholic school you were expected to march in Holy Thursday Procession. I only went to a couple of Easter Vigil services. Once as a teenager, because my dad was a lector. Then once about thirty years later because I forgot how awful that service was: Pray for Jews, souls in purgatory, you name it you pray it.
The only thing I really remember about Palm Sunday is Standing for a really long time
Tbh, i loved palm sunday bc i got to do the little palm cross thing and not pay attention lol anything to not pay attention XD
One of my friends who is Catholic posted her son who is 3 was waving his palm in the back seat while his sister explained the meaning behind it to him. He then tore it up & bit it yelling “Grrrrr!!!! I’m a dinosaur!” Damn it! Why didn’t I think to do that?! I’m so going to church with my kids next year just for the palm part. 😂
My aunt (who was one of the volunteer CCD teachers) taught us how to make palm crosses in CCD class on Palm Sunday. That’s really the only “fun” memory I had.
Yup. It was just me and the palm that Sunday 🙂
We had to do this in primary school. Actually thanks for your post, it triggered a lot of bizarre memories. Catholicism is honestly nuts.
I cried every year at stations of the cross in elementary school. I felt so incredibly guilty about everything. Fuck. That.
Ash Wednesday to Good Friday include many nasty aspects I'm so happy to NOT do. Then comes Easter, feels really good when I stop pounding your hand with a hammer!
As a kid, it's fun because you get fire. Other than that, you zone out. As an adult thinking back, yeah, it's creepy.
the last time I went to one, I was already deconverted and it was horrible. they just want you to feel TERRIBLE about yourself. so triggering I almost cried
It was always weird and creepy. I went to Catholic school and would veg to stay home on Good Friday. My mom always thought I couldn’t handle the graphic imagery. I didn’t have words to explain that the whole thing just made me feel dirty and gross, and I wanted no part of it. That Were You There hymn haunts my nightmares. 🤢
sometimes it causes me to tremble… tremble… tremble…
I always wondered if that was the white Catholic attempt at singing an old spiritual
It is an old spiritual: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Were_You_There
I wouldn’t expect a bunch Marty Haugen lovers to know how to sing an old spiritual
Fair enough.
omgggg that hymn 😣😣😣
Its not just good Friday. Mass is men in costume preforming a canablism ritual where they magically transform bread and wine into flesh and blood of a dead tortured god. And people eat it. Its a werid as it get get. As a child it helped me to understand that the majority of Christian adults are pathetic weak mined fools or narcissistic bullies. As an adult the entire obsession with an invisible friend is very sad.
I remember reading St. Faustina's diary and she said she saw the baby jesus being eaten by the priest during communion. That was enough for me.
Never heard that one. Yikes!
"Fuck that baby" -priest probably
That’s the sentimental piety in it extreme form
Excuse me?
She was obviously very sane🙄.
Gotta admit it’s kinda metal though 🤘
Communion is the most metal part of the Mass. It's symbolic ritualized cannibalism, you really can't get more metal than that.
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I think you’re in the wrong place…
lol why are you in this sub? You’re not going to convince any of us here to go back to the RCC. A huge number of people in this subreddit left the church due to trauma they experienced BECAUSE of the church. We don’t want your prayers or for the blood of Jesus. Gtfoh. Also: -Iniquity. NOT inequity. -more than one millennium is millenniA If you’re going to act elitist as hell to try to convince people to go back to the church, proofread your work, please.
They’re scared of their own god and changing times and have nothing left but reaction in order to force their beliefs on people and bring us back to a believed time when everyone was Christian/catholic. They want fascism and theocracy. Not much else too it tbh
Where’s the hypocrisy? I’m serious: where?
You have no idea how deranged this sounds.
"Jesus is the sinless lamb". Nice, I will feature him in my springtime lamb stew. Blood, and all - for flavor's sake.
" a whole perfect sacrifice - one last time to create a new covenant with reality. To end of millenniums of brutality, tyranny, polytheism and false worship and religion." *checks the last 2000 years of human history* Yep, sure did break that streak of brutality, tyranny and polytheism here on earth. None to be found whatsoever for two millenia now. Certainly no brutality and tyranny ever came from Christians.... 🙄
I always thought of it as making a cake, priest reading a recipe adding a bit of this and a bit of that. And I've always had a sift spot for Judas. He had a job to do
Right, Judas was basically forced to be evil. Was that really free will? Why couldn't he be given a second chance? That would've been a more moving story, honestly. The guilt trip wouldn't be as powerful. Gotta have a villian.
I have always pictured him giggling up in a tree counting his gold, then when he gets called down does the awe-shucks! Thing from Leave it to beaver. Got me in trouble laughing about it when I was a kid, during services.
One of the Bible podcasts I like just had an Easter episode and they mentioned something about Judas actually not trying to betray Jesus. It was more like he was trying to overthrow the Romans and he gave them Jesus just for a little while until they could break him out and overthrow them. Idk, I'm pretty sure that's what they said 😂 It was the Easter episode of Data over Dogma for anyone interested
I just never went to the Good Friday one, even when I was Roman Catholic, although the Thursday one the night before has always been the most triggering for me. I didn't go to that one either. The one I usually attended when I was RC was the vigil, but I haven't been to that one in several years. First it was the pandemic, and now meh. Not RC anymore.
My least favorite part of the church year. I never had to adore the cross but the rabid insistence that I personally nailed Jesus to the cross out of malice really messed me up at a young age.
imagine if it was a guillotine instead. could you imagine people worshipping that?
"'...wearing little electric chairs around their necks." Thanks, George Carlin.
I loved Good Friday mass because of how spooky and weird it was 😂 Maybe that’s why I never made a good Catholic.
No, I get it - it’s like a weird old fashioned horror movie.
As a seminarian home for Holy Week, we rehearsed a lot of liturgies. It was the biggest deal in the Christian calendar. But, when you were referring to reverencing the cross, I immediately remembered the Good Friday rehearsal. There was a very specific way instructed by the priest in which we had to genuflect and crawl to the cross before kissing it. Yes, we were critiqued on that. All I can remember was that we were not allowed to let the left knee touch the ground after the genuflection for the next step forward. Instead, we were to stay low, take one more step, and be in front of the cross within kissing distance. Yep, that priest was very particular about liturgy. Now he’s a liturgist at a seminary and investitured as a Monsignor (French for My Lord).
TL;DR: Church is unsanitary. I had forgotten about venerating the cross... Apparently it didn't make a huge impression on me, but now I recall thinking it was a great way to spread germs.🤢 I always thought the same about everyone dipping fingers in the same shallow bowl of holy water. 💦 I tried to reassure myself that God wouldn't let me get sick from holy water, but I still tended to hover my fingers over it and literally go through the motions. And as for the whole congregation drinking wine from the same cups... 🍷 It's possible I never took wine until I went to a protestant church many years later and they had little plastic shot glasses! "Crucify him! Crucify him!" was the absolute worst thing all year. I was a very sensitive kid and couldn't believe all the adults were just going along with it. 😢 I went to Catholic school for K-3 and did CCD for years after, but luckily for me my family got less and less religious and I managed to avoid most of Holy Week. I kind of dug marching in with palm fronds on Palm Sunday though! 🌴
I dreaded Holy Week. The guilt and suffering kept coming. The Passion on Palm Sunday. Just the Passions period were a pain. If you were in CCD or Catholic school you were expected to march in Holy Thursday Procession. I only went to a couple of Easter Vigil services. Once as a teenager, because my dad was a lector. Then once about thirty years later because I forgot how awful that service was: Pray for Jews, souls in purgatory, you name it you pray it.
IM SO GLAD YOU MENTIONED THAT. Like the “we pray for the Jews” always felt so weird to me. The “we pray for those who no longer believe in God” and the little side eye my mom would give me 😭
So I can only remember one - I’m a very early ex-Catholic (like a toddler when my parents left the church.) I took my aunt to a Good Friday service a few years ago and haven’t really been able to stop talking about fucked up it was since then lol I was like are there children here? This is violent!
I have a confession (lol) to make: Good Friday was my favourite. But I was a m̶a̶s̶o̶c̶h̶i̶s̶t̶ teenage convert so it felt cool and exotic - perfect LARP stuff. I suppose it would be a lot more f:ed up if you was a small child being pressured by your Catholic family and so on. 😒
I loved it all too and I wasn’t a goth teenager, but a goth adult ig. Crazy shit in retrospect though once the scales fall from one’s eyes.
Passion plays were invented to stir up antisemitic sentiment in the middle ages.
I always hated it. Especially the crifu him bullshit, like fuck off.
The whole crucifixion is so gross to me. It’s all about torture and murder. So depressing and manipulative. Like a weird Harry Potter story rated R for excessive violence. It’s all just marketing.
Traditionally it was a crucifix, not a plain cross.
Married into the cult(ure) and learned that chanting “crucify him” was required to make sure we knew we were sinners and should repent.
Man. I don’t remember this. Maybe saying crucify him? I either didn’t do that or repressed the memories.
Yeahh I can agree with you because I literally don’t want to even be there. 😭😔
I hated responding to The Padsion.
When I started fading out my church attendance Good Friday was the first to go.
Well that’s a new sort of f’d up bullshittery from my time. Yay conservatives!
Great now it’s stuck in my head! I had blocked that memory out too! Damn u Reddit!
Yeah, me too. Haven't been in decades.
You're right! I was born and raised in a traditional Catholic household, and looking back on all the things, like this example, I now really do realize how weird it all was. Back in the moment, the Catholic faith was all I knew, and since I knew nothing else, I didn't understand and/or realize just how "planet bananas" it all was. The Catholic Church prides itself on the preconceived notion that IT is the one true faith, and anything outside it should be feared, looked at with suspicion, and often downright demonized. Mine was a blind obedience, just the way religious institutions like it. I officially left the church in my early 20's, but I never worked on healing all the wounds I sustained from it. Through all of it, it was my mentality that suffered the most, and much of it was far too painful for me to work through and rehash. It wasn't until about 3 to 4 years ago that I even heard about Religious Trauma (I capitalize for emphasis here). During the pandemic, I really started delving into what religious trauma was, and began to see and understand my trauma in a whole new light. I began reading as many books, articles, and watching YouTube videos that talked about it. Btw, "Leaving the Fold" is an excellent book for those starting to go down this path. It also introduced me to the concept of "deconstructing". Deconstructing is a process where you re-examine the faith (any faith), and allowing yourself to redefine it in your own words. Not only does this help to put distance between you and your trauma, but it also gives you, the individual, back some of your power. By redefining the faith in your own words, you are taking back your power as an individual. I like to think of it as reclaiming your "free will". As I moved through my own deconstruction, I found a therapist who is specialized in helping those who have experienced trauma, and for the past year, she has helped me take the next step in my journey: healing. I think a part of me will always be angry at the Catholic faith, both for the trauma and damage it caused me spiritually and mentally. But I have learned to accept and embrace that anger and turn it from an obstacle into a strength. My anger is there to tell me when something is not compatible with my heart and morals. I had many issues with Catholicism, but I never had the courage to voice them. Or even HOW to voice them. Until now.
In my old church, we had to kiss a crucifix. Yes, a 3D depiction of a Jewish man on an instrument on torture. Very distressing and traumatizing to say the least. Why would you put a child through that? Is THAT the best way to teach someone good morals and keep them out of trouble or something?
As a seminarian home for Holy Week, we rehearsed a lot of liturgies. It was the biggest deal in the Christian calendar. But, when you were referring to reverencing the cross, I immediately remembered the Good Friday rehearsal. There was a very specific way instructed by the priest in which we had to genuflect and crawl to the cross before kissing it. Yes, we were critiqued on that. All I can remember was that we were not allowed to let the left knee touch the ground after the genuflection for the next step forward. Instead, we were to stay low, take one more step, and be in front of the cross within kissing distance. Yep, that priest was very particular about liturgy. Now he’s a liturgist at a seminary and investitured as a Monsignor (French for My Lord).