I admit, however, that I am the type of Catholic that, if my mother isn't with me, wont kneel if I don't feel like it - for example, if I'm too hungover, period-ridden, or just plain tired. I will retreat to the back of chapel after communion and hover by the door until the mass is over. My catholic guilt - and God knows there have been tracts written about this complex - wont let me leave straight after communion. God will know!
At Oxford, I don't go to mass. I don't have time. Sunday is my deadline day, which usually means I work Sunday morning. Oddly enough, away from Ireland I don't feel so dreadfully guilty about not going to mass. I think because in Ireland Catholicism is bound up with cultural identity. Especially North, where I come from. A lot of people will disagree, but I think in old communities, were there is a living memory of oppression, not to practice your faith is very much connected to spitting in the face of history.
Of course, if you are born Catholic you can never really quit. Even if you stop practicing, your name will always be written in a dusty book in the Vatican claiming you as theirs. Excommunication is an escape route but I'm not quite sure what you'd have to do to warrant it - something pretty bloody bad, I'd imagine, and a high price to pay to escape Catholicism.
What annoys me, however, is the label 'lapsed Catholic'. I think its become a bit of a fashion accessory, and, forgive me if its my upbringing thats talking, but I find it goes hand-in-hand with intellectual snobbery. For a lot of people, to claim you are 'a lapsed Catholic' is the intellectual equivalent of getting a handbag dog ala Paris Hilton. If you really genuinely don't believe, that's absolutely fine. What I heartily disapprove of is those people who adopt the face of 'lapsed Catholicism' so they can sneer or be condescending, to be utterly disrespectful.
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