Where did everyone go?

[cutenickname]

Where did everyone go?

I have been on this site off and on since the beginning, though I took a very long break starting in 2013, probably only lurking once a year or so. I do not remember it being so slow. No point asking who I was I have become a new creation as they say. I also seem to remember there being a rosary app thingy and asteroid here, but that might be closer to twenty years than 7. Man I'm old.

Anna? Winchester? Donna? Kilroy? Don John? Hyper? Speechless? Msigga? Iceprincess? Basilissa? Aloysius is still around. Socrates? Ironmonk? Dave? Brother Adam and Theresa? Cmom? Jasjis? 

No matter. It will be sweeter to meet in the Spirit.

 

[cutenickname]

20 hours ago, cutenickname said:

Where did everyone go?

I have been on this site off and on since the beginning, though I took a very long break starting in 2013, probably only lurking once a year or so. I do not remember it being so slow. No point asking who I was I have become a new creation as they say. I also seem to remember there being a rosary app thingy and asteroid here, but that might be closer to twenty years than 7. Man I'm old.

Anna? Winchester? Donna? Kilroy? Don John? Hyper? Speechless? Msigga? Iceprincess? Basilissa? Aloysius is still around. Socrates? Ironmonk? Dave? Brother Adam and Theresa? Cmom? Jasjis? 

No matter. It will be sweeter to meet in the Spirit.

 

Well, I found this thread:

This thread is weird, but it is curative to me. Yes, I am answering my own question.

Phatmass is essentially like the later stage JP2 period Catholicism I was raised in and the High Church Anglicanism I practice as an adult. Moribund and probably the fault of social media and the interesting leadership that has been going on in the world and Christian Church since 2012/13 or so.

 

[Aloysius]

yeah i think discussion forums are just not where people spend their time as much with the rise of social media.  everyone's out there on twitter and facebook and whatever else there is.  it's a bit of a shame, i think there's something more special about discussion forums like this than those social media sites, we really had some nice sense of community for a long while.  no idea what could be done to revive it--back in the day discussion threads about many different topics were always raging to the point one could lose their sense of time here, but you just don't see that kind of energy here anymore, probably many of the creepy aliens like me grew up and had less time, and didn't get replaced because the way ppl interact on the internet just changed way too much in the meantime.

for me i've really only been coming back around lately because the coronavirus issues left me with way too much free time some days lol.  but i've always poked my head in from time to time to make sure the lights are still on.

[cutenickname]

That all makes sense. I am nostalgic for those days, but it seems like a whole lifetime ago. I am in my 30s now. I was 15/16 when I first came here. I am not going to church rn; even though public worship has resumed where I live (NYC) I have asthma so am staying away from large gatherings of all types. I expected to find the Christian fellowship, bustle, and drama of the old days here, but the world is a different place. I remember always seeing you at 1 AM or so, I am glad you have grown into a responsible young man who keeps reasonable hours. Thank you for responding.

 

[Anomaly]

On 8/22/2020 at 1:25 PM, cutenickname said:

Where did everyone go?

I have been on this site off and on since the beginning, though I took a very long break starting in 2013, probably only lurking once a year or so. I do not remember it being so slow. No point asking who I was I have become a new creation as they say. I also seem to remember there being a rosary app thingy and asteroid here, but that might be closer to twenty years than 7. Man I'm old.

Anna? Winchester? Donna? Kilroy? Don John? Hyper? Speechless? Msigga? Iceprincess? Basilissa? Aloysius is still around. Socrates? Ironmonk? Dave? Brother Adam and Theresa? Cmom? Jasjis? 

No matter. It will be sweeter to meet in the Spirit.

 

Wow.  You are an oldie if you remember jasJis.   Thanks. It made me feel noticed. 

Life changes people.   You only see how much when looking back, as Delivery has recently realized.  

[cutenickname]

22 minutes ago, Anomaly said:

Wow.  You are an oldie if you remember jasJis.   Thanks. It made me feel noticed. 

Life changes people.   You only see how much when looking back, as Delivery has recently realized.  

Oh God yes. I remember Likos and Lil Red and Ash Wednesday and so many people from those very early days.

Yes. I saw that you are an atheist now, I am a mainline Protestant (Episcopalian). Life has a very strange way of leading us in different directions.I think my zealous teenage self would be horrified at the adult me; but I still feel Catholic, just in a different, calmer way.

[Anomaly]

34 minutes ago, cutenickname said:

Oh God yes. I remember Likos and Lil Red and Ash Wednesday and so many people from those very early days.

Yes. I saw that you are an atheist now, I am a mainline Protestant (Episcopalian). Life has a very strange way of leading us in different directions.I think my zealous teenage self would be horrified at the adult me; but I still feel Catholic, just in a different, calmer way.

Life is a strange journey when you look back and think of where you thought you were going.    Very interesting observation on what you old Catholic attitude would be about your current life.    

My old self would have been horribly disappointed.  But I’m more at peace with my life and those around me.  I am always surprised that anyone leaving Catholicism follows another religion instead of becoming atheist. 

 

Ash W just posted recently.  

I think the death of online forums is due to the inability of people to respectfully disagree.  If you aren’t “right” it’s their job to convert you.    It was my concern even when I was Catholic.  I did not encourage my confirmation class students to visit here twenty five years ago when it wasn’t as bad.  Ah, the nostalgia...

[chrysostom]

As someone who joined in 2014, I think it really started to drop off maybe 2017 and onwards?

I joined when I was the only Catholic in my household and the only one within many miles that I knew. Neither are the case now, for which I am grateful. But PM got me through some lonely stints.

[Lilllabettt]

The killer thing for PM was the outages. (Not blaming anyone.) People got out of their daily habit. They'd check back a few times to see if it was back online, then it would gradually float to the back of consciousness.  

[dUSt]

9 hours ago, Aloysius said:

yeah i think discussion forums are just not where people spend their time as much with the rise of social media.  everyone's out there on twitter and facebook and whatever else there is.  it's a bit of a shame, i think there's something more special about discussion forums like this than those social media sites, we really had some nice sense of community for a long while.  no idea what could be done to revive it--back in the day discussion threads about many different topics were always raging to the point one could lose their sense of time here, but you just don't see that kind of energy here anymore, probably many of the creepy aliens like me grew up and had less time, and didn't get replaced because the way ppl interact on the internet just changed way too much in the meantime.

This sums it up.

 

[cutenickname]

5 hours ago, Anomaly said:

   

My old self would have been horribly disappointed.  But I’m more at peace with my life and those around me.  I am always surprised that anyone leaving Catholicism follows another religion instead of becoming atheist.

I am not going to get very far into why I left the Church, suffice it to say that I fundamentally disagree with several moral teachings and the political orientation of most of the conservative Catholic lay people I knew back in the day. I have never had any serious doubt that Jesus took flesh from a Virgin, died and was raised for my sins, and now I get to belong to this cantankerous and quarrelsome body of Christians working out their salvation in fear and trembling; the Catholic Church just increasingly became an institution that I felt was hampering my relationship with God and with other Christians, including Catholics, ironically. My understandings are nearly all Catholic understandings. A different kind of brain and I could've just stayed on as a cafeteria Catholic, like most of my large, loud, and poorly catechised latino family.

4 hours ago, chrysostom said:

 

I joined when I was the only Catholic in my household and the only one within many miles that I knew. Neither are the case now, for which I am grateful. But PM got me through some lonely stints.

That was definitely my experience. My whole family is Catholic, but very lax and lazy. The teenage me of 2002/3 had become deeply convinced of Christ and deeply committed to theology, the Bible, etc. This place really deeply grounded me in Christian fellowship and in Christ Himself. I will forever be grateful to it for that.

[Aloysius]

now I'm really getting curious who you are haha.  I started around 14/15 years old also and am in my thirties now as well.

anyway I'm actually in a different time zone at the moment, so never assume I'm actually being responsible

Good to know you're still finding Christian fellowship.  Some of us Catholics will still keep the light on for you (or the votive candle, as it were) anytime you want to come home.  Even Oscar Wilde had his death bed moment, never say never

[cutenickname]

6 hours ago, Aloysius said:

Good to know you're still finding Christian fellowship.  Some of us Catholics will still keep the light on for you (or the votive candle, as it were) anytime you want to come home.  Even Oscar Wilde had his death bed moment, never say never

The strange thing about my denomination (Episcopal) is that this is the closest thing this country ever had to a state church during the old days of the WASP ascendancy. Congregations where I live are most entirely ex-Catholics (LGBTQIA people, Latinos, Italians, and Irish) many of whom experience our Anglicanism as a kind of mournful and exhausted exile from Catholicism sprinkled in with a few WASPs. It is also an ageing and shrinking denomination in the United States.

I do actually feel that the Catholic Church is home on like a really visceral and emotional level; the same way I feel about my mom and my welita's apartments in the South Bronx. Very familiar, very comfortable, but ultimately a place I visit, not a place I see myself living. The weirdest part of my post-Catholic life has been settling on how to raise my kids to love Jesus. They were both baptized Catholic and go to a Episcopal school, but I have never quite trusted the idea of leaving their catechesis in Episcopalian hands; though I more or less agree with the doctrinal positions of the Anglican Communion, there is never any real guarantee that the people teaching religion, the priests, etc actually believe in things like the Trinity, the creeds, sin, etc. If I were straight, at this point, I'd probably move to Colorado and put them in some back to the land Evangelical school.

Interesting thing about Oscar, the Catholic Church was basically the only institution he never disrespected. It took him 30 years to actually convert, but he always said he would and in the end he did. I don't think his conversion requires an "even" Oscar was a gay man who cheated on his wife, but he was also a deeply convinced believer in Christ's work on the cross. The 19th/20th/21st Century veritably drips and oozes with straight men who were sexually incontinent, but in love with Jesus. These are common sins and if I remember John Paul II correctly distinct from and rather easier to repent of than a malignant heart.

I am on a ramble.

[Aloysius]

I meant no disrespect by saying 'even' Oscar Wilde, the 'even' was just referencing how well known he was for drawing outside the lines, as it were, and he came home in the end.  My implicit comparison of him to you was meant to be complimentary to both and subtly encouraging to you without being confrontational about it hahaha. 

anyway, as I say, the light's always on.

[cutenickname]

7 minutes ago, Aloysius said:

I meant no disrespect by saying 'even' Oscar Wilde, the 'even' was just referencing how well known he was for drawing outside the lines, as it were, and he came home in the end.  My implicit comparison of him to you was meant to be complimentary to both and subtly encouraging to you without being confrontational about it hahaha. 

anyway, as I say, the light's always on.

Oh to be clear I wasn't offended and if provided with the luxury of death bed I will die Catholic. I tend towards verbosity. It is a besetting sin of mine.

St Joseph, patron of the good death, pray for us (me specifically).

Edited August 25, 2020 by cutenickname
changed "clearer" to "clear"