Non catholics don't feel guilty like catholics! does that bug you2?

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Hell I’ve got sin on me now, I need to get to confession. I know I’m in the wrong and I need to get right, but I don’t sit around agonizing over it either.
 
I think the Catholic approach to guilt is somewhat misunderstood.

Ideally if someone is becoming holier, they may become more sensitive to sin or have a healthy sense of guilt, but with genuine holiness there is also the peace and joy that comes from growing closer to God, which is so much greater. If some healthy guilt can help someone change and become a better person, the world is a better place for it.

I’ve known plenty of people, not Catholic, that feel guilty, beat themselves up and are filled with regret over mistakes they have made in their lives but they don’t really have confession as an outlet and a place to dump their baggage like Catholics do.

So in all these respects, no, I’m not bothered or feel like I’m getting some short end of a stick.

If I’m bothered by people that don’t have a conscience, it would be for the sake of having concern for their souls or the overall effect that it’s having on the world.
 
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I’ve been Catholic all my life and have never experienced “Catholic guilt.” I’ve experienced guilt of sinning, but never anything that could be considered “Catholic guilt.” I honestly don’t understand the concept
 
If you had a Catholic mother that imposed Catholic guilt on you, you’d get it.
Also if you spent many years away from the Church for no good reason, or because you were sinning bigtime, you’d get it.
When you get back right with Jesus and make a good confession, or several, the guilt goes away and you don’t want it back.
 
From what I’ve seen, Catholics seem to experience guilt for things like taking a sip of coffee 59 minutes before Mass.

But as someone else on this thread said, there are a lot of people on CAF who suffer from scruples, so perhaps that’s what I’ve experienced. In life outside of CAF, the Catholics I know experience appropriate guilt, mainly for sins of omission (failing to give money, failing to pray for people in need, failing to help charitable causes, failing to vote, etc). I admire these Catholics and wish my conscience were better-formed (ex Baptist here!).

I just wish that parishes would talk more about scruples and provide help for those who suffer. I’ve been Catholic since 2004, and I’ve never seen or heard anything in my parish or in all the Catholic churches in my diocese that I have attended about dealing with scruples!

It seems that Catholics who suffer that crippling scrupulous guilt should be able to get help from the Church, and know which priests have experience dealing with this so they can meet with them and get that help.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
If you had a Catholic mother that imposed Catholic guilt on you, you’d get it.
Also if you spent many years away from the Church for no good reason, or because you were sinning bigtime, you’d get it.
When you get back right with Jesus and make a good confession, or several, the guilt goes away and you don’t want it back.
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But that can happen in any religion… 🤔
 
Theoretically it could, but in my experience there are certain religions where it is more likely to happen. Namely Judaism, Catholicism, and some Baptist and other evangelical/ fundamentalist religions. These religions worry quite a bit about sin and displeasing the Lord.

Mainline Protestantism has relatively little guilt attached to it. I do not know quite why, except in the case of my husband’s family it seemed like the Presbyterians were pretty sure they were all among the elect and therefore all they needed to do was live reasonably responsible lives and all would be well, so they did not worry about sins.
 
I think too temperament has something to do with it. I grew up in a secular household and I felt incredibly guilty all the time. My siblings grew up in that same household and didn’t.

(For me, I felt like I had to be super accomplished and perfect to have any value, and my measure of that were purely secular things like grades, cleanliness, comparison to others, etc. The notion that I was loved by God simply because I was, not because I had to do anything to earn it, was incredibly freeing.)
 
pensmama87 said:
I actually felt a lot guiltier before I became Catholic.
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Yes! I was/am? a very guilt ridden Protestant. I beat myself up relentlessly for past transgressions. I am hopeful that having access to confession and hearing God absolve me through his priest will help me to move forward. I’m counting down the months to first confession!
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Mainline Protestantism has relatively little guilt attached to it. I do not know quite why, except in the case of my husband’s family it seemed like the Presbyterians were pretty sure they were all among the elect and therefore all they needed to do was live reasonably responsible lives and all would be well, so they did not worry about sins.
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I could be wrong, but I think that’s more of a 20th century development, as they have become more relativistic.
 
Yeah, I’m really not the expert on how they think. I only know about the Baptist/ Evangelical guilt because I dated several men from that background and was surprised at the level of guilt they expressed. I thought guilt was exclusive to Catholics and Jewish people (I had seen Woody Allen movies and read Philip Roth books). One of my bfs from some evangelical background expressed envy of Catholics for having confession because he thought that meant us Catholics had no guilt because we could just get rid of our sins any old time. I think I laughed out loud in his face for 5 minutes straight at that one.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Theoretically it could, but in my experience there are certain religions where it is more likely to happen. Namely Judaism, Catholicism, and some Baptist and other evangelical/ fundamentalist religions. These religions worry quite a bit about sin and displeasing the Lord.
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Muslims and Hindus have it too.

My guess is the more the religion is part of the person/family’s cultural identity, the more the “guilt” thing appears.

In my observations, when most people are talking about “Catholic Guilt” they are not typically referring to naturally feeling guilty for their sins, but rather they feel like they are being shamed/pressured into feeling guilty.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I only know about the Baptist/ Evangelical guilt
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Yes! The guilt is strong with us! We are supposed to confess to God and leave it there. If you can’t accomplish that it is because there is something wrong with your faith so you pray harder ( like roaring into the clouds) and if you still feel guilt there is still something wrong with you. Rinse repeat.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
One of my bfs from some evangelical background expressed envy of Catholics for having confession because he thought that meant us Catholics had no guilt because we could just get rid of our sins any old time. I think I laughed out loud in his face for 5 minutes straight at that one.
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That’s a shame… I always feel guiltless after confession, until I fall from Grace again
 
mrsdizzyd said:
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Tis_Bearself:
I only know about the Baptist/ Evangelical guilt
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Yes! The guilt is strong with us!
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Are we talking about guilt or the force here? 🤓
 
Maybe this had to do more with Catholic school students- rather than Catholics in general?

At least in my generation, I was part of a minority of Catholics that went to public school.

Do kids who spend their whole day with the nuns have more opportunity to feel guilty
 
Detroit said:
Non catholics don’t feel guilty like catholics!!
Does that ever bug you??

That some people don’t seem to have a conscious?
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  • conscience
Sorry, but it was bugging me.

Catholics do pretty well, but nobody holds a candle on inducing guilt like a Jewish mom.
Code: 
How many Jewish mothers does it take to change a lightbulb?

"Don't worry about me.  I'll just sit here in the dark."
Or, as my brother, a Lutheran minister (Missouri Synod) explained …
Code: 
Jews make you feel guilty.
Catholics make you feel guilty, but they give you a reason.
Lutherans make you feel guilty, and they give you the right reason.
There are things that make us all feel guilty, or should, like lying, stealing, or being a Packers fan.

But all too often, it looks to the rest of us like Catholics squander outrage on “sins” that are anything but, that harm no one, and in some cases, like avoiding contraception, actually lead to behaviors, like abortion, which are far easier to portray as harmful.

(Eliminating unprotected sex would end 90 percent of all abortions in the US.)

I understand, your church tells you you’re supposed to feel guilty about these things, whether or not you understand the reasons why, which puts you between a rock and a hard place when you try to encourage the rest of us to feel the same.
 
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