Post by ZenPsychosis on Aug 23, 2016 23:14:21 GMT -6
Your "Please don't hate me" reaction is actually a pretty good example of what people mean when they say "Catholic guilt." As Sean and johnpaul have mentioned, it's pretty much the guilt version of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and can be really hard to shake even if someone lapses in their faith or changes faith entirely.
Also glad that I'm not the only one brought up Catholic around these boards - was actually kind of anxious about trying to explain the guilt thing solo because that small part of me that was an altar boy kept silently screaming "You'll mess it up and make the whole faith look like jerks, try explaining THAT one to God! Oh sure, he'll forgive you, but come on, don't let Him down!"
Although I have to say, for all my joking, I still appreciate Confession - it's basically a ritualized therapy session where you don't have to look at the therapist if you don't want to. I've met (and dealt with) psychologists who couldn't hold a candle to a few of the old parish priests when it came to actually helping people deal with real issues, granted, most of the good ones were Jesuits and pretty down to earth anyway.