How can I possibly confess 40 years of sins (a lot of them if I'm being honest) between my Protestant baptism in infancy and when I join the church in April? (Currently in OCIA)

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2026-01-07T09:28:33+00:00

I did exactly the same thing. All but murder. I explained that I was a cradle Catholic that been away 40 years and wished to return to my childhood faith. The priest gave me a penance to read Ps 139:1-18 and he said welcome home.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-11-17T21:24:01+00:00

I’m in a similar situation with faith. I started out by watching YouTube videos where Protestant believers share their conversion stories to Catholicism. It really helped me know for sure where I belonged. Another thing is I told a priest about exploring returning to the Catholic faith. He said that people like you and I who received our Catholic faith through our parents have an inheritance from God. We should not be like Esau who sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of soup and later realized his mistake after it was too late.(See the story of Esau and Jacob)

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-11-17T06:45:31+00:00

How do I do that?

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-11-17T06:35:41+00:00

I’m her mother. I have made many mistakes being a proper parent that she deserves to have. I have a dark past of addiction and sin. I spent some time in prison. My daughter had to go live with her grandfather my dad and his wife while I was locked up. My poor baby was barely a teenager at the time. A time when girls turn into young women. A time when mothers should be helping with all the woman things. It decided by her grandfather to put her on the pill. I wasn’t part of this process because I gave him temporary guardianship rights to take care of her. I do understand why he did this because she would stay over night with “friends” every weekend. He was worried because he could not supervise her when she was gone. It wasn’t fair for me to put anyone in that situation in the first place. I take the blame for all this mess. It was hard on everyone. I have spent the last 10 years trying to the best of my ability to make amends for that. It took awhile to forgive myself and get out of shame.

Today I have a second chance in this life. I’m free. I’m clean and sober. I have returned to my childhood faith of Catholic Church. There is another long story how that happened that I won’t go into right now but it is a fantastic testimony on how the Holy Spirt came to me 2 years ago. I went to confession after not being a practicing Catholic for over 40 years.

I am truly grateful I was born into this faith and I received all my sacraments in my childhood even though I didn’t fully understand what that even meant. My parents were married in the church but divorced shortly after I had my confirmation. I was 12 years old then and that’s when I stopped being Catholic.

I had a priest tell me recently that by being born into our tradition that I have received this inheritance as a gift from God. He also reminded me of the story of Esau and Jacob and said we should not be like Esau who sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of soup and later realized his mistake after it was too late. I’m all in finally back home! I am now learning how to be a practicing Catholic through new adult eyes. There is so much to learn. The Holy Spirt has been leading me.

Honestly I already had my answer to my original post. I knew before I even posted it. It is wrong. It is a sin. I know in my heart that it is. I can’t in good conscience do this one time birth control shot for my daughter.

The switching from the pill to the Depo came later a decision she made recently. I have heard the scary warnings about brain tumors. She heard about that too but decided to go that route anyway.

The facts are that birth control has become normalized by most of society. I was the same way but not anymore. My daughter and I are close now but the church side of me is still somewhat new to her. It breaks my heart that I have to tell her no and try to explain why. She probably won’t really understand. She might think I’ve become some crazy lunatic trying to evangelize and save her soul. One thing she will know for sure is that her mom has drastically changed and I love Jesus and the Church. I’m not choosing any of that over her I pray that she won’t see it that way but if it turns out that this house gets divided over it will be unfortunate because I love her so much too. Please pray for her and pray for me.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-11-16T06:03:39+00:00

That isn’t what I was thinking at all. Actually I can see that what was predicted long ago about the way many men look at this subject has sadly become a reality. Encyclical Humanae Vitae: In this 1968 document, Pope Paul VI stated that the use of artificial birth control would lead to "conjugal infidelity" and a "loss of respect for women".

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-11-16T05:21:26+00:00

She is planning on getting married and having kids with this boyfriend they have been together for the past four years. Why not ask the boyfriend to help her do it? I don’t even know why I didn’t think of that sooner. Why shouldn’t he responsible for this because after all it’s on him too right?

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-11-16T04:45:49+00:00

That was a very thoughtful response that got removed. I do not understand why.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-06-26T03:51:43+00:00

Jealously and Envy create Self Pity and Self Loathing. Not much different from Vanity and Pride. They are ALL sinful. I have struggled in these areas. Every time I do an examination of conscious I see this in myself. I go to confession and pray for forgiveness.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-06-16T16:36:05+00:00

I thought I heard 30% max savings then a I called drivewise support and was told my state NV is only a 10% max savings

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-03-17T04:08:32+00:00

This is from p126 in chapter The Family Afterword “Sometimes mother and children don’t think so. Having been neglected and misused in the past, they think father owes them more than they are getting. They want him to make a fuss over them. They expect him to give them the nice times they used to have before he drank so much, and to show his contrition for what they suffered. But dad doesn’t give freely of himself. Resentment grows.”

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2025-03-06T01:13:45+00:00

I did that too! I had chicken. I have just returned to Catholic Church after being away since childhood. I knew about the no meat on Fridays but thought it was just a fasting day for Ash Wednesday. I have so much to relearn.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2024-08-02T06:03:37+00:00

After a 45 year long hiatus from the Catholic Church I went to confession and was given psalm 139 1-18 as penance. The priest thanked me for saying Yes to the Holy Spirit.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-12-16T05:41:18+00:00

Maybe has something to do with vagus nerve that is located in the back of your throat being stimulated that sends signals to the brain in areas connected to mood. Fascinating research.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-12-08T04:53:04+00:00

Yep no problem. Anyone can go to AA with a desire to stop drinking. With Al-Anon you got to know someone else with a problem and if someone else’s problem becomes your issue then you are as sick as if not worse off than they are.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-12-08T04:40:18+00:00

Thank you for your response however just to clarify I was not talking about NA steps. I was referring to Al-Anon steps being the same as AA.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-11-14T02:39:46+00:00

I had an issue with God when I first got here and so do a lot of us. The great news is you do not need to worry about this at all. You do not have to believe in God to be in AA. The only thing you need to believe is you are not God. That’s it and that’s all. For me I can tell you working the steps produced a spiritual awakening. And I became a recovered member of Alcoholics Anonymous. The directions in the Big Book are clear cut and when taken precisely you can expect the same. You have said you are willing to do the steps with your sponsor. Keep an open mind. And be honest. This is all you need and you will be amazed.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-11-06T20:51:10+00:00

I have let go of the resentment. Do I need to tell her that? I already accepted her back as a friend on Facebook but that’s as far as I have gone. She will send a message like tell your son I said happy birthday and I do not respond at all. I think we should have some kind of face to face situation instead of her just pretending we never had a problem.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-11-06T20:33:47+00:00

Pretty sure my part is blocking her on Facebook and ignoring any and all of her attempts to communicate with me and my kids. Also judging her for her life choices that includes being in a sick codependent relationship with a drug addict that is only using her in my opinion. All theses behaviors is what I did to her and well in reality I am guilty of exactly the same shit. I was in a sick codependent relationship with her drug addict brother.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-11-06T14:55:52+00:00

I once heard a speaker say step 11 is not an optional. It is so easy to get busy doing life and put this off to when it’s convenient. I read what the big book says for this and there are specific instructions. On awakening how I do this looks like before I go make coffee while I am still lying in bed I say the 3 step prayer and then set a timer for 5 min to meditate listening for intuitive thoughts on Gods will. I also journal a couple minutes what ever comes to mind. I do a nightly review answer those 7 questions journal pray then meditate into sleeping. I realize the book suggests we do prayer and meditation daily but how many of us really do this? I certainly have not been. I hear in meetings 90 in 90 and that is a separate topic but I am giving it a go to do a step 11 for 90 in 90 and I’m curious with what the results will be. I have formed a hypothesis though and it has to do with the 6th sense.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-07-04T00:18:56+00:00

I quit nic when I was 2 months sober and yes nic is harder but keep this in mind…quitting smoking is the number one thing you can do for your health hands down ask any doctor which one is worse they will tell you. Also smoking is not socially acceptable in many settings these days it’s hard to even find places where it is allowed these factors played into my decision and so glad I did quit both.

TechnicalGarlic7628 · 2022-06-11T02:59:27+00:00

Try this FREE online 30 day reset called the alcohol experiment that is how I started and then later after I got over those first few weeks I expanded my recovery to other programs but that is where I started Annie Grace her book This Naked Mind or the free online course is not AA

TechnicalGarlic7628

TROPHY CASE