I’m also grateful that I was exposed to Monty Python at a young age. With that said, in the year I was born, Monty Python’s and The Meaning of Life was still banned in Ireland. That ban would only be lifted in 1990, a ban which was in place as a result of Ireland’s long history of heavy censorship. The censorship came as a result of our national identity being heavily influenced by none other than the Catholic church.

Again, I’m not at all surprised the church resisted the likes of Monty Python because they had created a fantastically catchy song which perfectly sumises by point on church doctrine largely centering on recruitment.

That’s Why I’m Getting Out

Watching the Matrix and seeing Neo “wake up” for the first time, happened while I was still a practicing Catholic. As is the case for many in Ireland, that definition for me meant my mother would bate me out the door of a Sunday morning to go to mass.

But when I watch Neo “wake up” now I can really relate to him. The world looks different. When I hear someone say they’re religious I do struggle to understand how they can believe the non-sense. It’s important to point out that I do respect them and their beliefs, but I just really struggle to understand how they can believe in and follow the church.

The church has moved priests around and hidden the fact they were and are abusing children. Watching The Two Popes on Netflix recently, I was left feeling like I’d watched a propaganda movie funded by the church, but still this movie does touch upon how The Pope knew about abuse cases where the orders were to simply cover it all up and, in turn, facilitate the continuation of child abuse.

Just this weekend, followers of the church stand outside maternity hospitals in Dublin with images of abortions and tiny coffins in an effort to shame women making the difficult decision to have an abortion. Women also pass these signs after having still births or finding out they’ve lost a pregnancy.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Right here (national maternity hospital), right now 1/1/20; wonder why we need exclusion zones <a href=”https://twitter.com/LeoVaradkar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LeoVaradkar</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SimonHarrisTD</a> — beneath the windows of a postnatal ward, in front if people leaving after a miscarriage, with small coffins, crosses and unsavoury images. <a href=”https://t.co/DXBVWXw0GB">pic.twitter.com/DXBVWXw0GB</a></p>— Mary Higgins (@mairenihuigin) <a href=”https://twitter.com/mairenihuigin/status/1212394443606839297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2020</a></blockquote>

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Combined with my understanding of how business scams work, I could no longer align myself to the church. Rewiring my brain is hard. When someone sneezes, I do have to stop myself from saying “bless you”, but it’s this level of decoding my brain that I feel is important. I’ve written to the Bishop of Ossory and informed him I wish to leave the church. Unsurprisingly, the mechanism to leave the church was removed by Pope John Paul II leading to a website which helped 12,000 people start their exit to cease operating in 2013. Again, protecting the follower number is a priority for the church.

As a result, my name has been recorded on a piece of paper somewhere saying I am no longer a Catholic. Was this supposed to feel like a victory? For some, perhaps, but for me it didn’t.

Can You Leave The Church Using GDPR?

I look at the church like a club or maybe even like a GYM membership. It’s something I used to be a part of but things have changed and I no longer want to be a member. When GDPR came into law, I saw an opportunity to treat the church like any other club. No longer was the data they held on me accurate and actually the data they were holding on me was being held without my consent. As an adult, I never consented for them to process my data. My membership of this club was always as a result of my parents consenting to the likes of baptism and communion.

Finding an exit from the church isn’t always so easy

So I’ve lodged a complaint with the Data Protection Commission stating that I wish to have my data deleted by the Catholic church. I honestly cannot imagine a reason why the church should not be treated like every other company in Ireland and the EU and have their data processes governed by GDPR like everyone else. You can follow my full story on leaving the church using GDPR over on Goosed.ie because I do hope to have some very interesting updates in the near future.