{{short description|Excess guilt felt by Catholics and lapsed Catholics}} [[File:Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Toulouse - chapelle des reliques - Confessionnal PM31000752.jpg|thumb|A confessional, used by Catholics to confess their sins]] '''Catholic guilt''' is the reported excess guilt felt by Catholics and lapsed Catholics.<ref>{{cite book| last = Stravinskas| first = Peter| title = Catholic Answer Book| publisher = Our Sunday Visitor| year = 1990| isbn = 978-0-87973-458-9| page = [https://archive.org/details/catholicanswerbo0000stra/page/78 78]| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/catholicanswerbo0000stra/page/78}}</ref> Guilt is remorse for having committed some offense or wrong, real or imagined.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guilt|title=Definition of GUILT|website=www.merriam-webster.com|date=22 April 2024|access-date=5 December 2019|archive-date=5 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205164600/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guilt|url-status=live}}</ref> It is related to, although distinguishable from, "shame", in that the former involves an awareness of causing injury to another, while the latter arises from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, or ridiculous, done by oneself. One might feel guilty for having hurt someone, and also ashamed of oneself for having done so.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shame/201305/the-difference-between-guilt-and-shame|title=The Difference Between Guilt and Shame|website=Psychology Today}}</ref> Philip Yancey, a spiritual author who often writes about the Christian faith, has said of guilt that it "is only a symptom; we listen to it because it drives us toward the cure".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yancey |first=Philip |title=Can Guilt Be a Good Thing? |url=https://www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2014/september-week-3/can-guilt-be-good-thing.html |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=Today's Christian Woman |language=en |archive-date=2024-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324233413/https://www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2014/september-week-3/can-guilt-be-good-thing.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass is a liturgical rudiment of this previously sacramental Confession. Private confession to an ordained priest became the normal form of this sacrament, with a strict seal of secrecy on the part of the priest. Sometimes, the practice of the sacrament emphasized doing acts of penance, or making one's sorrow or contrition authentic. Sometimes, it emphasized confessing all of one's serious or "mortal" sins, sometimes it emphasized the power of the priest, acting {{lang|la|In persona Christi}}, to absolve the penitent of sins. Currently, there are forms that include one-on-one Confession to a priest, or communal preparation preceding a one-on-one Confession.<ref>{{cite book |first= Richard M. |last= Gula |title= To Walk Together Again: The Sacrament of Reconciliation |publisher= Paulist Press |date= 1984-05-01 |isbn= 978-0-8091-2603-3 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/towalktogetherag00gula }}</ref> After the practice of confession declined in the 1970s, it became common for Catholic theologians and clergy to attribute this to a loss of "healthy guilt".<ref name="Stotts2019">{{cite journal | last=Stotts | first=Jonathan | title=Obedience as Belonging: Catholic Guilt and Frequent Confession in America | journal=Religions | publisher=MDPI AG | volume=10 | issue=6 | date=5 June 2019 | issn=2077-1444 | doi=10.3390/rel10060370 | page=370| doi-access=free }}</ref>
== Examples == Evelyn Waugh's ''Brideshead Revisited'' involves guilt in the Catholic religion. Distressed by her romantic relationship with Charles Ryder, Julia Flyte exclaims: "I saw to-day there was one thing unforgivable{{nbsp}}[...] to set up a rival good to God's.{{nbsp}}[...] it may be a private bargain between me and God, that if I give up this one thing I want so much, however bad I am, He won't quite despair of me in the end."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shmoop.com/brideshead-revisited/lady-julia-flyte.html |title=on Julia Flyte |publisher=Shmoop.com |access-date=2013-11-02 |archive-date=2013-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106173929/http://www.shmoop.com/brideshead-revisited/lady-julia-flyte.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The subject is treated humorously in the ''30 Rock'' episode "The Fighting Irish". Catholic guilt is described by Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin): "That's not how it works, Tracy. Even though there is the whole confession thing, that's no free pass, because there is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt".<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974983/quotes IMDB] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309172125/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974983/quotes |date=2016-03-09 }} 30 Rock</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/07/11/when-catholic-guilt-gets-way-catholic-faith|title=When "Catholic guilt" gets in the way of Catholic faith|date=July 11, 2018|website=America Magazine}}</ref>
== Research == {{See also|Scrupulosity}} Guilt can be viewed in terms of constructiveness versus destructiveness: "constructive guilt" is focused on forgiving one's ethical lapses and changing one's behavior, while "destructive guilt" remains mired in self-loathing and does not emphasize learning from one's wrongdoings and moving ahead with life. A 2005 study in ''Psychology of Religion'' found that Catholic participants demonstrated a higher level of constructive guilt reactions than other groups.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/arp/2005/00000027/00000001/art00006 |title=ingentaconnect Guilt and Religion: The influence of orthodox Protestant and orth |publisher=Ingentaconnect.com |date=2005-01-01 |access-date=2013-11-02 |archive-date=2013-10-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017095630/http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/arp/2005/00000027/00000001/art00006 |url-status=live }}</ref> Research on a link between Catholicism and guilt appears to be inconclusive.
Guilt is an important factor in perpetuating obsessive–compulsive disorder symptoms.<ref>{{cite web |author=Leslie J. Shapiro, LICSW |url=https://www.aacp.com/Abstract.asp?AID=9322&issue=February%202011&page=C&UID= |title=Pathological guilt: A persistent yet overlooked treatment factor in obsessive-compulsive disorder — |publisher=Aacp.com |access-date=2013-11-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201040951/https://www.aacp.com/Abstract.asp?AID=9322&issue=February%202011&page=C&UID= |archive-date=2012-12-01 }}</ref> Research is mixed on the possible connection between Catholicism and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. A 2002 study of 165 individuals by the University of Parma found that religious individuals scored higher on measures of control of thoughts and overimportance of thoughts, and that these measures were associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms only in the religious participants.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Religiousness and obsessive–compulsive cognitions and symptoms in an Italian population |date=2002-07-31 |doi=10.1016/S0005-7967(01)00120-6 |pmid=12074375 |volume=40 |issue=7 |journal=Behaviour Research and Therapy |pages=813–823|last1=Sica |first1=Claudio |last2=Novara |first2=Caterina |last3=Sanavio |first3=Ezio }}</ref>
A 1998 study noted a link between intrinsic religiosity and obsessive-compulsive cognitions/behaviors only among Catholic participants.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Personality predictors of religious orientation among Protestant, Catholic, and non-religious college students |date=1998-02-28 |doi=10.1016/S0191-8869(97)00164-5 |volume=24 |issue=2 |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |pages=145–151|last1=Hutchinson |first1=Geoffrey T. |last2=Patock-Peckham |first2=Julie A. |last3=Cheong |first3=Jee Won |last4=Nagoshi |first4=Craig T. }}</ref> However, a 1991 study from Boston University found that no particular religion was more common among OCD patients, and that OCD patients were no more religious than other subjects with anxiety. Religious obsessions were connected to the participants' religiosity, but sexual and aggressive symptoms were not. Greater religious devotion among OCD patients was correlated with increased guilt.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Religion and guilt in OCD patients |date=1991-12-31 |doi=10.1016/0887-6185(91)90035-R |volume=5 |issue=4 |journal=Journal of Anxiety Disorders |pages=359–367|last1=Steketee |first1=Gail |last2=Quay |first2=Sara |last3=White |first3=Kerrin }}</ref>
A 1984 study in ''American Behavioral Scientist'' analyzed interviews with participants from Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant backgrounds. The author reported that most participants "eagerly described an experience of guilt."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Contrasting Experiences of Shame and Guilt|journal=American Behavioral Scientist|first=J.|last=LINDSAY-HARTZ|date=1 August 1984|volume=27|issue=6|pages=689–704|doi=10.1177/000276484027006003|s2cid=57554624}}</ref>
In 2004, Ulster University students participated in a study that found a slightly higher level of collective guilt among the Catholic students than the Protestant students.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cS5fqn3KJKIC&q=Catholic+guilt&pg=PA193 |title=Collective Guilt: International Perspectives – Google Books |access-date=2013-11-02|isbn=978-0-521-52083-6 |date=2004-09-06 |last1=Branscombe |first1=Nyla B |last2=Branscombe |first2=Nyla R |last3=Doosje |first3=Bertjan |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref>
In 2008, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and from the University of Notre Dame examined the concept of Catholic guilt among American teenagers. The authors found no evidence of Catholic guilt in this population, noting that Catholicism both caused and relieved less guilt than other religious traditions. The authors found no evidence that Catholic teenagers experience more guilt than non-Catholic ones. The authors did not find that more observant Catholics feel guiltier than less observant Catholics. The study noted no difference in the effect of guilt-inducing behaviors on Catholic versus non-Catholic participants.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=20447515|title=Catholic Guilt among U.S. Teenagers: A Research Note|first1=Stephen|last1=Vaisey|first2=Christian|last2=Smith|date=1 January 2008|journal=Review of Religious Research|volume=49|issue=4|pages=415–426}}</ref>
A 1988 study from Hofstra University reported no difference in total guilt among religions, although religiosity itself was connected to guilt.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Predicting guilt from irrational beliefs, religious affiliation and religiosity –|date=1988-12-01 |doi=10.1007/BF01061292 |volume=6 |issue=4 |journal=Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy |pages=259–272|last1=Demaria|first1=Thomas|last2=Kassinove|first2=Howard|s2cid=144607681 }}</ref>
==Catholic viewpoint== {{Expand section|date=August 2023}} According to the website Catholic Spiritual Direction, guilt is a by-product of an informed conscience but "Catholic" guilt is often confused with scrupulosity, and an overly scrupulous conscience is an exaggeration of healthy guilt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.catholicspiritualdirection.org/scrupulosity.html|title=Catholic Spiritual Direction|website=www.catholicspiritualdirection.org|access-date=2017-04-25}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2023}}
Phillip Campbell, an author with Catholic Exchange, wrote an article in February 2024 in which he insists that Catholic guilt is not real. He calls it "a trope wherein Catholics are said to be guilt-obsessed to the point of neurosis, wringing our hands about incidental personal flaws, exaggerating personal culpability, and loving suffering to the point of masochism"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-15 |title=Catholic Guilt is Not a Thing |url=https://catholicexchange.com/catholic-guilt-is-not-a-thing/ |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=Catholic Exchange |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324234318/https://catholicexchange.com/catholic-guilt-is-not-a-thing/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and that it plays upon stereotypes of Catholics by getting a fact correct but missing the point.
== See also == * Guilt society * Guilt trip * ''On the Genealogy of Morality'' * Scrupulosity * Sin * Victim soul
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
== Further reading == * {{cite journal | last =Sheldon | first =Kennon M. |author2=University of Missouri-Columbia | s2cid =4541326 | title =RESEARCH: Catholic Guilt? Comparing Catholics' and Protestants' Religious Motivations | journal = International Journal for the Psychology of Religion | volume = 16 | issue = 3 | pages = 209–223 | year = 2006 | doi = 10.1207/s15327582ijpr1603_5 }} * {{cite news | last =Mallon | first =John | title =The Primacy of Jesus, the Primacy of Love | publisher =Inside the Vatican | date =April 2006 | url =http://www.insidethevatican.com/articles/status-ecclesiae/status-ecclesiae-apr-2006.htm | access-date =2006-11-01 | archive-date =2016-03-03 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232713/http://www.insidethevatican.com/articles/status-ecclesiae/status-ecclesiae-apr-2006.htm | url-status =dead }}
==External links== * [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/opinion/the-end-of-catholic-guilt.html?_r=0 Egan. Timothy. "The End of Catholic Guilt", ''The New York Times'', April 15, 2016]
Category:Guilt Category:Religious stereotypes Category:Catholic spirituality Category:Catholic culture Category:Culture-bound syndromes