Where I grew up in northern Utah, being a proud Catholic was truly edgy.

That's about the only religious belief they had in common.

EOM

In the 80’s I was in the “big us bad” mindset and just not mindlessly following along with the crowd was seen as “edgy”

When I grew up Catholic it was not the in thing.

I really like Pope Leo. I’m from Chicago, too. Who knows, we might have crossed paths at some point. I’m not going back, though. Old school Catholicism turned me into an agnostic.

Male bastards controlling and ruining the lives of women.

I remember sitting in church and the priest gave a very harsh sermon on the subject. He basically said if you didn’t comply, the church didn’t want you anyway. I was like, alrighty, then. Left and never went back. I was about 17 at the time.

At the same time, my religious mother also left the church for the same reason.
I was shocked.

She basically told the priests to go straight to hell and she never looked back.

Some of the kids snickered, but I could see he was totally surprised by that question & his answer was lame. He went on about how there were plenty of women in the Bible, blah, blah, blah. Much later, I wondered if he ever thought of a better answer & figured, no, cuz the church doesn't have a better answer. Women are support staff for men.

Times do change, I guess, but this is ridiculous...

It just looks like people want to coopt the church
for their own oppressive reasons.

Sexist male controlled religion which molests children.

But ... people in America tend to be rather
fluid in the way they think about and use
religion... and very often not in a good way.

It was and is so uncool I grew up to be Atheist!!!!

To have a Pope who understands young people.

Converting to Catholicism is regressive and absurd.

No real regrets, to be honest. I like how I turned out, and feel I am better for it than if not. YMMV

Anyhow, my point is, I honestly have trouble seeing myself converting to Catholicism were I not already. Forgetting the history and sins of the organization for a moment... It's a fairly goofy psychological profile to reconcile when you look at everything you'd need to adopt from scratch, rather than be socialized into. A lot of stuff really makes no sense without context and experience, at least to me. It's an outlook on life as much as a religion to this distant progeny of a Fenian guttersnipe.

We do have cool outfits and a pretty bad ass Italian HQ. Oh, and there may be aliens in its basement as well, is what I heard. So, some show and some intrigue is always a big draw, too.

Say a Novena for my soul. I got sins to pay off, someday.

While Francis and Leo are more worldly, the church is horribly backwards.

who'd like a Catholic theocracy.

She was claiming "New York’s Hottest Club Is the Catholic Church" in 2022. And it was bollocks then. She is forced to admit, in the WP op-ed (I guess this is another product of Bezos's forced march of the op-ed page to the right) that "a Pew survey suggests that for every young adult who joins the Catholic Church, a dozen leave it", and Pew reports 1% of 18-24 yea olds have converted to Catholicism, and 12% left it (so that 1% is within the margin of error).

And the tedious op-ed doesn't actually have any evidence that the 1% or so are "rebelling". It's just wish fulfillment by a RWer assigned to insert Bezos's nose up Vance's ass for a change.

Last edited Fri Apr 10, 2026, 05:39 PM - Edit history (1)

Ross Douchehat and Brett Stephens IIRC.

And amazingly I heard a sports reporter on our local ESPN station say he was attending a friend's conversion Mass instead of watching the NCAA Mens Basketball final.

I would add that for me it’s not a very persuasive piece, whatever the intent. Several provocative, unattributed, anecdotal quotes do not make for a compelling argument, if there is one. She throws in a little history and some odd overgeneralized statements about the differences between Catholic and Protestant visual languages and British and American historical relationships with Catholicism. I think her use of the term “Catholic drip” after explaining drip is exotic glamour in “zoomer parlance” might just out a dent in those punk rock numbers. I’m still at a loss at what the point of the piece is other than to get Catholicism in the news and try to use her MFA in fiction to turn a colorful phrase or two. Is it just “Today a conversion to Catholicism once again has a countercultural meaning”? Ironically, she might be making Catholicism more uncool in this attempt to sell it as such.

...back in 1996, when the Catholic neocons at this ridiculous make-work "journal" got so pissed off at Clinton's re-election that they started advocating for theocracy.

"If we just force everyone (at gunpoint) to be radtrad Catholics, then we'll be in a utopia!!"

The author and historian Damon Linker wrote of his break with these maniacs in his book The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege (2006). It's still worth a read two decades later. The outposts of this "culture" (EWTN, Relevant Radio, Ave Maria "University", etc.) have only grown more extreme. Trump often sucks up to them; he apparently thinks that he can buy enough votes from weird, often tiny countercultures that they will make some sort of difference to whatever his goals are at the moment.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Theocons-Secular-America-Under-Siege/dp/0385516479

... just as the nation is as a whole. If you've ever attended Mass in "Blue" and "Red" political regions the differences are glaring. Parishes in liberal places are liberal. Parishes in "conservative" places can be downright fascist. The conservative church is the same crowd that had no problem supporting Franco and Mussolini or appeasing Hitler. (A similar phenomena occurs in the Russian Orthodox church as it relates to Putin.)

This article is advertising the anti-intellectual fascist version of Catholicism. Anyone converting to that church is either lost and looking for someone to tell them what to do or they are an opportunist seeking some political gain. It could be both.

I was raised catholic and am now an atheist for over 40 years.

12 years of Catholic school made me into a heathen.

They are truly putting it out there, following the teachings of Christ.

the second Vatican council. Of course it's the NY Post - isn't that Dump's favorite newspaper?

If this comes off as snark, it isn't. This is interesting.

And that's exactly how the GOP played them.

I'm serious about this.

We're viewed like so.



instead of having a salami sandwich with workers on the picket lines.

Meanwhile, "Richie Rich" pulled the wool.

He was going to change everything, and he did.

and all the dresses. So many men in dresses. So many men in big fancy hats.

What do women get?

What a dumbass.

I’m guessing the latter, but agree that it’s a strange way to rebel against authority. I’m not sure what it’d mean if it was the former out of context.

... The Episcopal church.

Much of the pageantry, none of the guilt!

Making it the man/authority.

And yes, very strange.

Idiotic.

They tell themselves this every few years.

Keeps the demographic nice and young... know what I'm saying?

But for the ceremony. I remain a Buddhist.

Atheism is where it’s at.

The Roman Catholic Church is corrupt to the core.

But if you have to have a “faith” as a crutch, Jainism or being a Pastafari is less harmful to our society.

Better yet, think for your motherfucking self.

Don’t need no Big Daddy in the Sky holding your hand while you suck your thumb like a child.