Ex-Catholic Speaks on Leaving The Church

It’s been years since I walked away from religion.

Friends, family, business contacts, and people I knew from a different life have all speculated and wondered why I walked away.

I have been met with sadness, disappointment, misunderstanding, and disbelief all the while.

I left the church and found peace.

Peace isn’t something I had as a Catholic. Instead of Peace, I had a harsh feeling of dissonance. (That icky feeling that you get when your beliefs don’t match up with your actions.)

I didn’t leave because of a person. Or because of the way I was treated. I left because it wasn’t true for me. And since I’ve been gone I’ve dedicated my life to living with intention and integrity. I’ve been my true self and worked so hard to uncover my path and my true purpose.

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I recently was a guest on The Skeptical Sheep Podcast. It’s a forum where people discuss why they left religion, and what they are doing now with their lives. I am so honored to be able to share my story, publicly.

My reason for leaving…

Honestly, it was to protect my children. While I think that strong, capable, religious adults are competent and able to raise their children within the boundaries of organized religion, I know I could not.

I know that I worked through a lot of trauma and hardship that religion caused me. I made poor decisions as a young adult, because of my oppressive beliefs.

I’m raising my kids with a strong sense of self. I’m raising my kids to questions everything, to think critically, and I’m nourishing their own natural curiosity.

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Unimaginable Loss, without Religious Strings…

As most of you reading know, on August, 17th, 2020, we said goodbye to our youngest child. She was lost in a horrible accident. And one I’m not ready to speak on.

We’re beside ourselves, even not. Even a few months later. I don’t think something like this ever really gets better. I don’t think this is an “easy” event to process.

But I am SO THANKFUL that I am processing in my own way, in my own time, on my own accord. I don’t have the burden of people telling me religious anecdotes like: “Jesus loved your baby so much, he had to bring her home.”

I don’t believe a loving god takes your close ones, selfishly plucking them before their natural end to replant them in some “celestial garden.”

I do believe that sometimes horrible things happen. Sometimes its neither god nor man’s fault. And honestly. That is harder to sit with.

Maybe that’s why we have religion, parables, and stories. It’s just a way for our simply, human minds to make sense of the divine. To make sense of the unknown, and to make peace with the horrendous.

I’m happy to be walking in peace, and to be tracking my own path forward. I am at peace with the way my children are walking through this loss. I am at peace with the level of physical, mental, and emotional strength my family has exhibited through this unimaginable experience.

While there is no doubt that many find peace and comfort in their religion. I have no regrets on finding my own peace and comfort without it.