I was very abused by religion as a child. Not by priests and nuns, who by and large were wonderful..the Irish ones especially..but by my mother, who relished the hellfire and damnation. She was Baptist to start with and converted. She was able to get people within minutes of meeting her to say to us how lucky we were to have such a wonderful, saintly mother. As soon as they were gone, back to the abuse. Her religion did not condone marrying Catholics. My father's did not condone marrying Protestants. But she was able to find not just a shelter for abuse, but a place where she was glorified almost. I don't know who knew what but it was ugly. Abusive people will seek out abusive religions ..and I don't think Catholicism itself is necessarily, although it certainly tolerates great suffering and condemns people to it...or if they are born into a religion and are abusive, they will find a way to express it via the religion. mg