Hi from Barb

[BarbBth]

Hi if anyone is out there. I have only just registered and have noted that this site is not very active at all. I am a practising Catholic and my Faith defines all I am coming from and all I am. I am a cradle Catholic but went through a crisis of Faith in my teens which I negotiated - somehow - Grace prevailed - with Faith intact. My Faith then became a matter of choice, renewed daily. My Bipolar condition has been stable for quite a few years now and life cruises along and I am a student on an adult campus in South Australia here - Award of Merit for Outstanding Student in Journalism for 2004..........since I am mainly interested in the subject of Catholicism and journeying with a mental illness in a Catholic culture and with a few ideas about it, I decided to introduce myself in this Forum. I guess if there is any hanging around to be done (depends on activity on this site), then this will be my main Forum of choice.
I am not so much a dogmatic Catholic although I do uphold Catholic dogma personally, as I am a spiritual person who is a Catholic with a structure of Catholic spirituality and interested in same.
My journey with Bipolar (with quite serious psychotic episodes in severity) since its onset at 28yrs (now 62yrs) has been for me horrendous as has I know the journey of many and perhaps most who do suffer mental illness. Why my condition decided almost suddenly to stabilize some 10years ago is a mystery. I will in all probability be on medication for life which is of no concern to me personally.
My journey with my Catholicism has not been a smooth path either.........it has been an equally difficult path.
My sons are now 42 and 45 and my best friends. My Catholic marriage is now annulled and has been for some 20 odd years and I have chosen to live under private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to a specific way of life under the direction of a Catholic priest. I have lived under these vows since my marriage collapsed 28 years ago and was hoping to enter monastic life once my sons were independant; however, Bipolar presented an insurmountable obstacle to all religious orders in Australia anyway.
From membership/reading/lurking of what seems to be mainly American discussion sites of various kinds, I have become increasingly aware that there are many Catholic sufferers of mental illness who are interested in religious life who cannot enter a convent or monastery due to their illness presenting an impediment. I have my own ideas about setting up a type of religious life for sufferers...........and I need to start somewhere.
START.............


Blessings this Easter............Barb