Sex is part of the human condition and the snake oil salesmen and many followers pretend that this is not so (unless of course they're stealing some on the side).

According to that way of thinking premeditated sex, so to speak must be a bigger sin than just letting things get out of hand in the heat of the moment. It's rather like the difference between first degree murder and other forms of homicide. Using birth control, even 'natural' birth control requires forethought.

As for the father of the unborn child--you damn well know he doesn't want to get stuck for child support--and will push the woman to "take care of it".

God will forgive--after all it "just happened".

An Act of Contrition, a few dozen Hail Marys and an Our Father and they've prayed it away.

Of course there's no punishment for recidivism in Catholicism so it is not terribly meaningful unless you truly take it to heart.

80 percent of the time, it seemed he forgot. I miss the "red light" days. I no longer practice, but my mother now participates in "group confessions" meant to take the shame and humiliation out of confession.

Our priests always said "go forth and sin no" more after handing down the penance. Maybe it was a local rule. Of course I was just a kid so my sins were pretty minor.

We moved every 2.5 years when I was a kid, and I never saw the purpose. I remember laying in bed thinking,"God forgives even if we forget something so these are the things I'll confess to."

For me, personally, it was one of the things I disliked the most. Give me my parents ripping us away from our Christmas toys for 7:45 a.m. mass any day.

and Bad Catholics: everyone's a sinner, remember, and that cuts both ways

good girls (who made "tragic mistakes&quot do. I went to the church to have my child baptized.

In the discussion with the Deacon (why are deacons ALWAYS pompous asses?), he looked at me and said,"What you have done, in God's eyes, is commit a sin worse then murder..." This was in the pre-Baptism parent group. The takeaway here is that apparently it would be better to have an abortion and confess it afterward, apparently. The priest overheard this discussion (I did ask the deacon about that), came out and said it would be "okay" to baptize the child because children shouldn't "pay" for the "sins of the parent." (I still get misty-eyed--from contained laughter--over that)

For some dumb reason (19 years of life probably), I went ahead with the baptism. When it came time to bring the god parents in, I brought in my brothers to be her god fathers, which completely sent the deacon into hysterics, asking me,"Is there no woman worthy enough to be your child's god mother.

What 45-year-old me wishes I had said:"No, I hang out with sinners. Only my brothers have been touched by His presence."
What 19-year-old me said: "No. Since she has no father, this is best."

She ended up being baptized by an angry deacon, in the arms of a god father who wore neon orange sneakers and a Pearl Jam jacket with his tie.

6 years later, I married. 2 years after that, we had a child. He remains a heathen to this day.

didn't drink or smoke dope, but they were more sexually active. It seems that the most sexually active people are the least likely to use birth control, at least among the youth.