
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
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Catholic in Recovery is a nonprofit organization that seeks to serve those suffering from addictions and unhealthy attachments (including alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography addiction, sex and relationship addiction, compulsive overeating and food addictions, gambling addiction, codependency and the impact on family, and general fear, control, and anxiety) Thier blog shares information..
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
3d ago
Recently, I have been reflecting on how my porn addiction began in the first place. This took me back to a dark place in my life during college, when I had broken up with who I thought was the love of my life, which left me directionless and unstable. I had no passion for what […]
The post Lust and Love: Two Sides of the Same Coin appeared first on Catholic in Recovery ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
1M ago
The month of March is an important month in the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar. Not only does this month occur during the Lenten season, but over thirty saints are celebrated over the course of the month’s 31 days. What a gift that the Church holds up so many wonderful saints as models who can help […]
The post 3 Crucial Ways St. Joseph Assists Our Recovery and Spiritual Life appeared first on Catholic in Recovery ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
7M ago
When I first started attending secular 12-step meetings for the loved ones of lust addicts, I noticed that the facilitator of each meeting made sure to read information about the Seventh Tradition, which usually sounded something like this: “Our Seventh Tradition states that ‘every group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.’ We have […]
The post How Can I Be Self-Supporting in My Lust-Affected Marriage? appeared first on Catholic in Recovery ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
1y ago
As I entered my first meeting for family and friends of lust addicts, I looked around the room and studied the faces there, wondering if they would understand. After all, I had a secret in addition to how lust addiction was affecting my marriage, but it was such a dark secret that I knew I’d have to wait and see if these people could handle it before I would share.
One of the faces at this meeting belonged to someone I’ll call Pearl. I remember Pearl in particular because the others at this meeting seemed drawn to her like chicks to a momma hen. This seemed perfectly natural. She gave an enth ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
1y ago
We still hadn’t even finished writing out the thank you notes for the wedding gifts when the effects of my husband’s lust addiction first hit hard.
We had been married for less than three months. It was a rainy Friday night, and I’d made it home from work first. I’d heard from so many people that nothing beats the first year of marriage for the frequency of a couple’s physical intimacy. Since we had “waited until marriage,” people waggled their eyebrows at us and made references to how, now that we were married, we must be “making up for lost time.”
Our relationship wasn’t playing that ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
1y ago
I remember being at a Catholic spirituality conference the summer before I got married. The conference included a time of Eucharistic adoration, and so in the silence of that space, I did what any faithful Catholic fiancée would do and opened up to God about my fears. I was a child of divorce myself, and so was my fiancé. I so desperately wanted to avoid making the mistakes our parents had made.
I had my misgivings about getting married but everyone told me that was perfectly natural and to look at the future with my head and not my impulsive emotions. Doing so, I saw how good my fiancé and I ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
1y ago
My forty-sixth birthday had just passed. I looked in the mirror on my husband’s side of the room. He was in the bathroom, and his was the only mirror available. I pressed my fingertips to the sides of my cheeks. There was no denying it: my laugh lines, the parentheses God and joy had placed around my mouth, were shifting.
I wasn’t even sure I could call them “laugh lines” anymore. I looked at the cheeks starting to sag on both sides of those widening furrows. What had once been sharp, delicate lines etched from decades of smiles and laughter had become a pair of wider, deeper troughs th ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
1y ago
Ever since I can remember, there was always something about Mary that drew me in. I would never share this with any non-Catholic but the truth is I’ve only recently felt drawn to God the Father and Jesus. The Holy Spirit, despite being somewhat nebulous and undefinable, was the only person of the Trinity that I managed to look to; but even then, only occasionally. Perhaps my lack of resistance to the Holy Spirit was because the Spirit is hard to “pin down.”
It has only been in recent years that I have discovered why Mary was my lifeline and why God and Jesus seemed so distant and unappr ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
1y ago
When I had been dating my husband for about three months, I told him I was getting concerned about our relationship. I was feeling like he wasn’t listening to me as much as I was listening to him, and I was wondering if we could address this so we could work things out.
He told me, “Well, everyone else tells me I’m a good listener.”
Having been raised as the family scapegoat by both of my lust-addicted parents, I had been trained well for this turn of the conversation: when people say that my reaction, and not their behavior, is the problem. I had been taught that I must be the problem, and i ..read more
Catholic in Recovery » Pornography & Sexual Addiction
2y ago
The leaves are off the trees. Thanksgiving has come and gone. And stores and shops are playing Christmas music. As Christians, we are preparing now for the birth of our Savior. And specifically as Catholics, we are in the midst of Advent, which marks the end of the Year of St. Joseph.
Those of us in our recovery journey can learn so much from St. Joseph and, if we haven’t already done so, we can make this Advent an opportunity to offer special prayers and devotions to him. Indeed, what a beautiful way to prepare our hearts for the arrival of the birth of Jesus!
St. Joseph was more than ..read more