008 :
15 Nov 2011

Contribution VII: The gradual disillusion of a Catholic lad from Sydney... We learned overnight of the passing of the brother of Tom Lee, Roderick Vickers, whom Tom has been caring for for some years as he became increasingly frail and needed full-time care. We've had a long relationship with Tom here at Catholica and his disillusion with the Church of his birth led to him embarking on a 30-year study of the origins of Christianity which we subsequently serialised here on Catholica. Many in that nearly 90% congregation who have left today just seem to leave the church without much soul-searching. Many others though go through a long self-examination and the parting only takes place after much deep soul-searching. Today we bring you Tom Lee's story in it's unexpurgated form as he submitted it to Milly back in February this year (2011). [more]

007 :
01 Nov 2011

Contribution VI: Two perspectives from different sides of the Pacific Two contrasting exit stories today written by women from different sides of the Pacific Ocean. One woman is still "hanging by a thread" and still active in parish ministry. The other found the Catholic parish scene cold and unwelcoming and after a period not connected with any church found acceptance within the Methodist Church. As explained in the introduction to this series we will be publishing all the selected stories we have received anonymously. The series has been prepared by Amanda McKenna, co-publisher of Catholica. [more]

006 :
25 Oct 2011

Contribution V: Ministry OUTSIDE the Box; LIFE Outside the BOX! When we started this series we suggested we'd be publishing all the contributions anonymously. We're actually finding it increasingly difficult to hold to that commitment as some, even when writing under pen names disclose information that would make it fairly easy for people with evil intentions, and simply voyeurs, to do a little searching and find out who they are — even people who write for Catholica regularly under psuedonyms. As a result of that there are some stories we are finding we simply cannot edit to preserve some sense of anonymity and that is sad because it is often the very personal parts of those stories that give us greatest insight into why people's outlooks have changed. Today's reflection we'd never be able to disguise in a thousand years because of his very distinctive style of writing. It's by John Chuchman and as is so often in the case of John's writing he somehow captures ideas that entire classes of people might be thinking but cannot themselves articulate. Today we present John's contribution to the series of Exit Stories. [more]

005 :
04 Oct 2011

Contribution IV: A couple of submissions remote from our usual readership... Two longer exit stories today written by women from another secular list that Milly subscribes to. She received quite a few from sources that are not necessarily familiar with Catholica so these stories are interesting because they are perhaps more representative of people who while they might have had a Catholic connection are not reading today the sort of fare one might find on Catholica or in America magazine (from whence we snatched the idea for this series). As explained in the introduction to this series we will be publishing all the selected stories we have received anonymously. The series has been prepared by Amanda McKenna, co-publisher of Catholica. [more]

004 :
27 Sep 2011

Contribution III: A couple of male confessions... Two short exit stories today but each of them, in their own way, deadly. Both of them come from men who have done their three score and ten and who are now reflecting back on it all. One is a layman, the other a priest. As explained in the introduction to this series we will be publishing all the selected stories we have received anonymously. The series has been prepared by Amanda McKenna, co-publisher of Catholica. [more]

003 :
20 Sep 2011

Contribution II: Life is now filled with possibility! The second of the contributions we have selected for this series again comes from a woman but this time in Australia and broadly representative of a significant number of contributions we received from individuals who once were highly involved in lay leadership positions in their local Church. Today's contributor eventually ended up in the St Mary's in Exile Community in South Brisbane and she shares the factors that contributed to her exit. As explained in the introduction to this series we will be publishing all the selected stories we have received anonymously. The series has been prepared by Amanda McKenna, co-publisher of Catholica. [more]

002 :
13 Sep 2011

Contribution I: Should I Stay or Should I Go? The first of the contributions we have selected for this series comes from a professional woman in North America. A convert to Catholicism she writes how she has become tired of an endless cycle of joining and leaving various endeavours over her lifetime and the lessons she has learned. While presently classifying herself as non-practising nevertheless she does not feel she has left nor has she intention of seeing herself in that way. As explained in last week's introduction to this series we will be publishing all the selecting stories we have received anonymously. The series has been prepared by Amanda McKenna, co-publisher of Catholica. [more]

001 :
06 Sep 2011

Why Catholics are heading for the exits... We have known for a long time that Catholica attracts a disproportionate readership from the sectors of the Catholic Church who have played a significant role in leadership initiatives in the Church over recent decades. This has been confirmed through an initiative that one of Catholica's publishers, Amanda McKenna, initiated earlier this year asking people to send in their stories explaining their disillusion or why they have left or dropped out of supporting the institution. Today's commentary from Amanda seeks to give an overview of the responses she received. Over coming Tuesdays we will publish a selection of the comments that people have written. [more]