, please.
“Catholic Guilt” is the phenomenon of Catholics feeling perpetually guilty over small or technical things that the Church regards as sinful. The theory is that the Church places so much emphasis on sin and the evils of sinning and the eternal punishment that’s sure to follow that Catholics are forever guilt-ridden over everything they do.
It’s worth noting that the term is disproportionately used by people who’re ex-Catholic, and claim it’s something they are “Recovering” from as part of leaving the Church; an emotional scar of guilt, as it were. (Speaking as a guy who was raised Catholic and lost interest in the Church a long time ago, I personally don’t have a clue what these people are talking about. But since nobody in my family gives a shit or goes to Church anymore, that may explain that.) You will likely find the same phenomenon in people who’re ex-members of any religious group; it’s just most often associated with Catholics because the Roman Catholic Church is the biggest denomination there is.
The way I like to describe Catholic guilt:
You’re sitting at home, enjoying a good book, and you feel guilty-after all, you’re not doing anything important, you could be out volunteering at a homeless shelter.
So you go and volunteer, and you’re working at a soup kitchen…and then you start to feel guilty because you’re not homeless.
To take it a step further, it’s usually (although not always) guilt over something most people would consider pleasurable. Like having sex, for instance. Or having a multi-course gourmet dinner. As a few relatives would say, “How CAN you EAT that frou-frou when there are starving children in [name any impoverished country]?” As for the sex part, it becomes furtive and hidden because it’s been pounded into your head that PLEASURE = BAD. Or, if you’re a devout Catholic, SEX = PROCREATION ONLY. Even in this day and age.
In my experience – and speaking as a badly-lapsed Catholic – those who attended parochial school possess more “Catholic guilt” than those who attended (horrors!) public school. I don’t know about nowadays, but back when I attended and most of the teachers were nuns, guilt was always present. It was never spelled out as guilt, but if you were, let’s say, caught passing a note, a nun had the power to make you feel so demoralized and wicked that you’d feel guilty for just writing the damn thing. It was not just a classroom management technique – the underlying premise was that if you dared “step out of line” with the status quo, God would consider you bad and you’d tumble into the firepit of Hell upon your death. Priests would sermonize this time and again during the weekly Children’s Mass.
The result? A core group of always-was-always-will be devout Catholics; the “middle roaders” who’ll attend Mass here and there because they feel as though they should, and those who’ve left the Church entirely and now consider themselves “recovering”.
Another factor, for me at least, is the “examination of conscience” one is expected to do before going to Confession. The idea is to be able to list all the sins committed since the last time; but you get in the habit of treating your life like a 24/7 Tivo and replaying it constantly, homing in on those things you’ve done “wrong.”
I think part of it is also because Catholic kids are often taught that THINKING about a sin is as bad as committing the sin. This is really bad moral theology, as I think the point is that you should not ENTERTAIN the notion of a sin…that we have to understand that we all have bad, impulsive thoughts, but that the way to handle them is to try to “turn off” the impulse by thinking about or doing something else. The sin isn’t the thought that you want to swipe a cookie from the cookie jar, but more in the thought process of HOW you are going to get your hands on that cookie without mom finding out. The proper answer to the thought is to immediately think, “no, I’m not supposed to eat cookies without permission,” and put it out of your mind. I am pretty sure most of us didn’t get the distinction when we were 7 or 8 years old, so you end up feeling guilty for every bad thought you have. Combine that with the examination of conscience that OttoDaFe mentioned, and it’s a guilt stew.
As others have said, it’s supposedly the guilt that Catholics feel all the time because the Church is so obsessed with sin.
And I agree with Rickjay. It seems to be almost entirely a construct of lapsed and ex-Catholics.
This is so true. I couldn’t wear tight shirts for two years after graduating from parochial school, because I felt bad about showing off my body. Generally speaking, my Catholic school friends are the biggest group of misfits/whores/kids who are acting out against their parents, especially the last group because it is unbelievable how much these kids do to elicit attention.
I have heard that “starving children in Africa” line way too often. Guilt, simply put, is how children were kept in line (especially since corporal punishment is outlawed in so many places these days.)
But Catholic guilt seems like nothing compared to how far some Protestant sects go…they forbid everything not because it’s sinful, but because it is fun apparently. I’m thinking of the rabid sects that forbid all alcohol, music, dancing, fiction, and yes, of course, sex except for procreation.
I always understood “Catholic guilt” to mean, whenever anyone’s attempting to censor anything in America, Catholics are always guilty, to some extent.
Yes, but Catholicism seems to do it so much better.
For those of my generation — early Baby Boomer — another clue can be found in the following exchange (the first two questions from the Baltimore Catechism, the indespensible teaching tool in parochial schools):
(Amazing how well this stuff gets drilled into the skull, ain’t it?)
The not-so-subtle implication of the above is that happiness on Earth a) is somehow displeasing to God, and/or b) will reduce your happiness level in Heaven.* So you’re left with the strong association of happiness with sinfulness. And I suspect that a Catholic’s level of “recovery” is somehow related to the extent to which he/she can break that association.
*Yes, I know that Heaven is supposed to be a place of perfect happiness. Sit down and shut up, or you’ll get a ruler across the knuckles.
I do think you are right about this. I don’t know too many typical church-going Catholics who are wracked with guilt all the time…despite some of the bad moral theology some may have been taught. For example, the assumptions people make that Catholics are sex-repressed and therefore are either to guilt-ridden/afraid to do it, or conversely, act out wildly because of their Catholic upbringing is laughable to me.
Oh, so perfect!!
Thanks Guinastasia. 
I think it has to do with how much interaction you had with nuns growing up. I had tons, and man do they lay it on thick! A blessing before a meal would have so many references to starving Chinese/Africans/various refugees that once it was over you didn’t feel like eating anymore.
I am a Catholic in the process of lapsing and my guilt is going away too. So I see the opposite.
Why is it, Spectre of Pithecanthropus and others, that on a board supposedly interested in stamping out ignorance, you choose to repeat the canard that for devout Catholics, sex may only be had for the purpose of procreation?
It’s a sloppy and inaccurate statement of Catholic belief – sex cannot be a part of any relationship other than a marriage, but there is absolutely no rule that says you must only have sex for the purpose of procreation.
Perhaps the confusion arises because of the rule that says the act must always be OPEN TO THE POSSIBILITY of procreation – that is, no artificial barriers to conception are permitted. But that’s a far cry from "have sex only for the purpose of procreation. " Sex during pregnancy, for example, is absolutely appropriate, when it’s obvious that such an act could not be for procreation. Sex between a married couple after menopause, after a hysterectomy, and during the days most infertile for the woman are all absolutely appropriate for a Catholic couple.
Let me tell you how not wracked with guilt about sex and drinking my recently-converted friends are. It’s quite amazing, how guilt-free they are about skanky lingere and getting drunk. Possibly because they were raised in no-drinking-at-all denominations.
My apologies. The above barb is correctly aimed at kiz, NOT Spectre of Pithecanthropus, whose comment was directed at Protestant sects. It was kiz that mentioned Catholics. My bad.
One thing I noticed with the nuns was that it was that when you misbehaved, it wasn’t so much letting God down as letting Sister down. At least, that was the case with my first grade teacher, Sister Frances Ramona (God rest her soul!). All she’d have to do is look sadly at you and shake her head, and you felt like SUCH a wretch.
Uh, Bricker, re-read what Spectre of Pithecanthropus:
He’s not talking about Catholicism-but some extreme Protestant sects that ban EVERYTHING.
This seems to be more a poll of various opinions than an actual debate. Off to IMHO.
Sorry about that, Bricker-I posted before I saw this one.
:smack: