samuraivader wrote:
Hi! I want to know if there are catholic (preferably young) aspies in these forum. How is your religious life?
Does it cause you problems with your nonreligious life?
Do you get scruples?
Yes, there are young Catholic Aspies in this forum! I'm a first-year undergraduate at a college far from home, and my religious life consists of weekly Mass, regular chats with my pastor (the only one in our group who knows my diagnosis), events with my campus Catholic Student Union, and searching for information and interpretations online. I can't seem to pray effectively, because during both repeated and contemplative prayers I get distracted. So I don't do it nearly as much as I should.
But maybe that's just my scruples talking. I don't actually have full-blown OCD, but I have thoughts and worries that keep coming back. What am I called to do with my life, professionally and relationally? (This sometimes causes a feeling of emptiness, as I see why I would do poorly in every path I could take). As someone with a social disorder, how am I ever going to get close to God? How can I/why can't I overcome my sins? My mother says that for this reason, going to Confession is a compulsion, so I should limit myself to once every few months--even though others have told me that "unhealthy" is more than once a week. For what it's worth, I've been told by multiple confessors that I need to stop being so hard on myself.
Despite my lack of ability/motivation to pray, my faith is a special interest of sorts, although not to the point where I can't get schoolwork done or do other "normal person" things. That would be the telltale sign of OCD. So I'm not in the red zone, but I'm in the yellow zone, and I have to learn to balance the legal-moral and relational aspects of my faith.