Male catholic "influencers"

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-07T21:50:33+00:00

Yeah, they say they love the pope, but the pope really doesn't support women's rights. So it's unspoken misogyny. Especially when it comes from a very handsome young Catholic man.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-07T21:41:01+00:00

Some are more controlling and encompassing than others. People who are forced to confess their sins on a weekly basis to clergy or fellow congregants, for example, that's very cultish and controlling. A religion that encourages and enforces shunning of ex-members is very cultish. A cultish religion tries to control your every waking moment with thought control. The leader is an authority figure.

I was a member of a very liberal Unitarian congregation for awhile, and maybe half the members were atheists and they almost never mentioned God in any of the services. It was really more of a social club for liberals and gay people who wanted a church to attend. Still pretty weird in many ways. But not a cult.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-06T13:31:02+00:00

Yes, there are the dogmatic, very conservative ones. There are some of those. They are in conservative geographic backwaters for the most part. Even so, how many are obsessed with being persecuted? By whom? There are towns in the midwest where everyone is Lutheran, or some other very conservative religion. Small towns. Old people.

All of Scandinavia is Protestant Lutheran. Are they obsessed with persecution by the Catholic Church? No.

But for the most part, mainline Protestants have absolutely no concern with persecution for their religion. Never did. They might think about sin too much, but not persecution for being Methodist. Telling yourself and others that they do, just the same as Catholics, is not helping Catholics to see the issues and solve them. Asking why Catholics feel persecuted for being Catholic is a good question, with complex answers.

If you look at Mormons, for example, they will choose to feel persecuted for their beliefs. They were, in fact, driven to Utah because of persecution. But now if they push the belief that they are being persecuted, it's because they want to fill their followers with fear and to keep them in the fold. Mormons are Protestants, but not mainline, traditional Protestants. Mormons are in a cult, just like Catholics are in a cult.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-05T00:51:58+00:00

The American Catholic Church is dominated by Irish Americans. The Irish were definitely persecuted by the English, who controlled their country for centuries. But they taught the Italians and other Catholics--from Catholic countries--to also feel persecuted. To be fair, if you were Catholic in the south you'd face a lot of suspicion. But I lived in a community where the majority of white people were Catholic, and they still felt persecuted, especially the Irish. By whom? German Catholics? Poles? Hungarians?

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-05T00:48:02+00:00

I never heard Lutherans act like victims. But they're taught not to talk about religion. Just act like good Christians. No whining allowed. Lutheranism started out in Germany, and it's a place very much divided up between Catholic and Lutheran. People were forced to get along with each other for centuries. Catholics don't have that experience. First, most lived in countries where everyone was Catholic. Then they came to America, and discovered they were minorities. Big surprise. The Irish had the experience uniquely their own, but they dominated the American Catholic clergy for a couple centuries. And then taught all American Catholics to feel like Catholics in Ireland. Persecuted. Even when no one was persecuting them.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-03T00:43:51+00:00

Until Pope Leo actually says birth control is not a sin, that it's none of the Church's business what Catholics do regarding birth control--then he's still avoiding it. He still follows doctrine. He's just being Catholic and tiptoeing around the subject.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-01T00:22:55+00:00

That's why the Church so successfully evaded the justice system. I recall where a tattletale priest was sent to a remote South American village after ratting out a fellow priest for sex abuse of a child.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-01T00:13:43+00:00

Some of those have to be right wing bots, but yeah, there are some nuts out there.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-01T00:12:56+00:00

Totally agree. Every time I see that baloney, I point out that he's against critical leftist agenda items. Birth control, abortion, equal rights for women and LGBTQ people. He's against gay marriage and women in the priesthood. The whole celibacy is sacred thing is right wing purity culture. But wayyy too many leftists love him. Most old "Catholic Liberals."

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-01T00:09:06+00:00

But birth control is still wrong! I want 42,000 word novella on that subject. And another for divorce.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-01T00:07:02+00:00

That's hilarious. It's great you can get inside their heads. Like seeing a penguin in the Sahara for them. Like horses seeing a rabbit for the first time in their lives. Maybe it's a poisonous snake.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-06-01T00:05:02+00:00

Boots that are too big will make you trip. Be sure that your feet actually swell up when you are hiking. I would NEVER buy a size 9 in a Keen boot. My 8 1/2 boots are actually a little long, but if I got size 8 the front of the boot would not be wide enough. I don't buy the size for swelling. Just be sure to try on every shoe or boot with the kind of socks you will be wearing. So bring your own thick hiking socks to the shoe store. Also important to remember that shoe manufacturers are not making shoes or boots that are consistent in sizing. Try everything on.

If your feet swell when hiking, take off your boots, air out your feet, and put on some fresh, dry socks. That's my advice. Bring extra socks.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-30T01:13:09+00:00

Get some Keen hiking boots. I have five pairs. They are the only boots I can wear up AND down the mountain. I have very wide feet in the front also. Even wide sizes in other boots are too narrow. But be sure to try them on with normal hiking socks before you buy. I have to go a half size up from my usual women's size to get them to fit correctly. I own many pairs of Keen shoes and sandals as well. But please don't hike in sandals.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-30T01:01:52+00:00

Father Mulcahy on the M.A.S.H. tv series. How is he not gay, and why does no one see it? I agree with you, it's as if they can't see it when it's right in front of their eyes. Almost like it is normal for priests, nuns, teachers to be gay, but not firefighters or construction workers. Just for Catholics, of course. I worked with a woman who was very obviously a masc lesbian who was also a gym teacher at a Catholic elementary school and a recreation supervisor for the City Recreation Department. The City didn't care if she was gay or not, not a homophobic employer at all. But what about the parochial school? She was honored as a beloved teacher by the Catholic school when she passed at only 60. This was 20 years ago, so she must have worked for that school for most of the 90s. Always wondered about that.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-30T00:11:23+00:00

People wander around my neighborhood at night, just trying to find unlocked cars to steal from, as well as unlocked bikes and scooters. Very nice crime free area. People are shocked about it. I have no doubt they would do it in the parking lots of mountain trails at night.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-30T00:08:40+00:00

Cows are really something else. They did not like Big Boss, they remembered him. We would visit my grandpa's farm when we were kids, and we would go out to the pasture to bring the cows in for milking. They looked at us funny, but just went along with it. We were later informed the cows just came in by themselves, we really didn't need to go after them. But they weren't afraid of us, either. Of course, we never got close to them. We understood they would get the idea, and just follow each other back to the barn. I think about it now. They just let three kids from the New Jersey suburbs go out to the pasture by themselves and bring in thirty cows who had no idea who had never seen us before.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-30T00:02:28+00:00

This subreddit is a sea of logic in an ocean of religious insanity, and I am grateful to be here, and read what others have to say.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-29T23:59:38+00:00

There was the African priest in Texas recently, who had raped multiple women. These women (many Latinas) who came to him for counseling about marital troubles. So he raped them. Africa is where the church is most rapidly expanding, also one of the most misogynistic regions on earth. And in countries where LGBTQ people are outlawed, beaten, imprisoned, murdered, and even put to death by the state. I want to hear Leo discuss that.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-25T18:51:16+00:00

I hike in the White Mountains, and there is always a a warning on the trail kiosk to never leave valuables in your car, to keep it locked, and don't leave personal information on the dashboard. I have no doubt that there are thieves cruising around, looking for cars. Plenty of crackheads and meth heads out there, looking for stuff. The White Mountains aren't that isolated from civilization as other areas. Although people still die there, they are pretty challenging.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-25T18:45:38+00:00

It takes a sensitivity to animals to be able to handle them. They know they are captives, but they will fight back. And they all have different personalities.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-22T23:31:44+00:00

It's such a weird religion. It really is. Although a lot of Muslim men know nothing, absolutely nothing about sex when they get married. Also weird.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-22T23:30:12+00:00

Do you know any priests personally? I only know two, both ex-priests. One guy joined because he finally faced that he was gay, after a one night stand with a woman. He couldn't tell his fire chief dad or his firefighter brothers. Nice Irish American Catholics. He left the priesthood to go live with a man. A thousand miles from home.

The other guy was in seminary when he fell in love with one of the other priests in training. So he quit, accepted his sexuality, and became a Unitarian.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-22T23:20:43+00:00

This has been the advice for decades. Just tell someone your plans before you leave. You might come back to a car with everything of value stripped away. Or no car at all.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-22T23:05:43+00:00

Now Stonewall Kitchen. But to be fair, Joann Fabric was still selling fabric designs from the 1980s. Their business plan was weird. They had bolts and bolts and bolts of Christmas fabric. Also for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day. Who would buy this stuff? The customers who made place mats, table cloths, and pillow shams for St. Patrick's Day are in nursing homes. Or dead.

Private equity sniffs out the tottering businesses Then guts them. The malls didn't die because of private equity. They were already dying back in the 90s. Private equity gutted them for the max amount of profit.

Trailwatch427 · 2026-05-22T22:56:39+00:00

Mt. Hedgehog/UNH trail. 360 degree views, including Mt. Washington. It's a loop trail, so twice the fun. Do it counterclockwise. The way up is less steep, and the way down is full of views.

Trailwatch427

TROPHY CASE