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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"I'm not a religious man, right, I don't even believe in God. But still Catholic, obviously."''
|'''[[Mock the Week|Dara Ó Briain]]''' (Irish comedian)}}
There are many who were raised Catholic,
This also pops up a lot with many comedians, directors, and musicians. Even though they may be lapsed, converted to another religion, or are now atheists, Catholic imagery and topics often still appear in their works. There are also certain [[N
Somewhat [[Truth in Television]], although it's a matter of debate among more faithful (or, if you prefer, more doctrinaire) Catholics as to what extent nominal Catholics can really be regarded as "good" ones.
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For whatever reason (perhaps because [[Christianity Is Catholic]]), there seems to be no common Protestant or Orthodox equivalent to this trope, even though people paying lip-service to their family or culture's religion is as old as religion itself. However, you can compare [[Informed Judaism]] as a kind of Hebraic counterpart. A possible explanation for this is that Catholicism and Judaism, much more than Protestantism, are considered by some to be a part of one's heritage in addition to being a religion, especially to those whose national heritage is tied to religion, such as people of Irish, Italian, or Hispanic descent.
There are shadings of this- a "Christmas and Easter Catholic" is someone who attends Mass only on those holidays regardless of how closely they hold to Church doctrine; a "cafeteria Catholic" is someone who chooses which teachings to follow or ignore, regardless of frequency of attendance; an "ex-Catholic" or "[[Tropaholics Anonymous|recovering Catholic]]" has left the Church, may or may not self-identify or have formally converted to another religion, but still has the cultural baggage of having been raised Catholic; a "cultural Catholic" or "non-practicing Catholic" still identifies as Catholic due to family or ethnic heritage but really doesn't adhere to the religion itself; and a "lapsed Catholic" or "fallen-away Catholic" is the Catholic Church's own term for all of the above.
Anyone who was born and raised in the church - regardless of their current status - might also be described as a "cradle Catholic."
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Comic Books ==
* Catwoman from [[Batman]]. Her sister's a former nun, too, but has some mental health issues and believes that Selina is possessed by some sort of cat-demon. This leads to problems when she becomes possessed by an ''actual'' demon and attempts to perform a lethal exorcism on Catwoman.
* [[Huntress]], aka Helena Bertinelli, of the [[Batman]] family and [[Birds of Prey]], doesn't bring it up often, but she wears cross jewelry and prays before she fights [[Dark Action Girl|Lady Shiva]], possibly to the death. Her faith has varied in strength over the years, from non-existent (an important plot point in one story) to firm (but never devout). The strength of her faith is used as a symbol of how much hope and optimism she has for the future. In bad times, her faith declines. For example, after causing the death of a mob boss who knew her identity, she throws away her cross. In good times, her faith is stronger. For example, she plans on attending mass after getting her teaching job and feeling accepted by the Birds of Prey.
== Fan Works ==
* Douglas Sangnoir of ''[[Drunkard's Walk]]'', even though (technically) he's ethnically Jewish. It actually becomes story-relevant in the course of ''Drunkard's Walk V''.
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* ''[[The Boondock Saints]]''
* Silent Bob, according to ''[[Chasing Amy]]''. In a moment where he exemplifies [[The Silent Bob]] he explains how he ended up breaking up with his girlfriend after finding out about her previous sexual experience -- not from any disgust, hatred or anything but because...
{{quote|
* In ''[[Dogma]]'', at the beginning, Bethany doesn't believe in God and works at an abortion clinic, but still goes to Mass on every Sunday.
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** The same joke [[Isaac Asimov|was also told]] about a man who calls off an engagement when his fiancée tells him she had to become a prostitute to survive once, thinking she said "Protestant" (she clarifies, and the engagement is back on).
* A similar story is told of [[James Joyce]], who, after he left the Church, was stopped on the streets of Dublin by a woman who congratulated him for becoming a Protestant. "Madam," he said, "I have lost my faith; I have not lost my reason."
* A Protestant nod towards this trope goes thus: [[There Are Two Kinds of People in
== Literature ==
* Cole St. Clair in ''[[Wolves of Mercy Falls Series]]'' is heavily implied to be this, without the title "Catholic" ever being used. He is seen holding a rosary, "Fingers grasping the beads as if the gesture was familiar" and later, an interviewer questions his belief in God, quoting Cole's former role as a choir boy. Given that Cole is now a ''[[Sex, Drugs and Rock
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* Booth on ''[[Bones]]''.
* DS Matt Devlin in ''[[Law and Order UK]]''.
* Henry Fitzroy on ''[[
* A lot of the characters (noticeably not the lead, though) on ''[[Saving Grace]]''.
* Kate on ''[[NCIS]]''.
* Michael Garibaldi on ''[[Babylon 5]]''.
* Jack Donaghy on ''[[
* Det. Elliot Stabler on ''[[Law and Order SVU]]''
** Jack McCoy on the original ''[[Law and Order]]''.
* Peggy Olson on ''[[Mad Men]]''
* Scully on ''[[The X-Files]]'' starts out the series as a devout Catholic, having been raised as one along with her siblings. She then struggles to strike a balance not only between her faith and work as a scientist, but her faith and her new knowledge and experiences surrounding the paranormal. There are several episodes that deal with the issue.
* Bernadette on ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''.
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== Web Original ==
* [[
* Kyle "Oancitizen" Kallgreen of [[
* Nella in [[
{{quote|
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* [[Kevin Smith]], who makes foul movies filled with all sorts of cussing and donkey shows, is still obviously obsessed with his Catholic upbringing. And made the movie ''[[Dogma]]''.
** However, he goes to Mass only before commencing the filming of a movie, and before the premiere. He's also pretty open about being a Cafeteria Catholic.
* [[Martin Sheen]] has been quoted thus: “I'm one of those cliff-hanging Catholics. I don't believe in God, but I do believe that Mary was his mother.” His screen/stage name (Sheen) is also an intentional reference/homage to a Catholic archbishop, Fulton Sheen.
* Ben Gibbard of [[Death Cab for Cutie]] has described himself as "this indoctrinated Catholic even though I haven't been to church of my own volition in 10 or 15 years now."
* Pete Jones, the winner of ''Project Greenlight'''s first season, made a movie about a young Catholic boy trying to convert a dying Jewish boy to Catholicism.
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* [[Jimmy Carr]], who references his upbringing in his stand-up routine despite being an anti-theist.
* Joe Rogan, who makes references to his Catholic School education and Catholic upbringing despite being an atheist now.
* Richard Hammond of ''[[Top Gear]]''
* A number of Catholic writers, such as John Caputo and his "religion without religion," deconstruct this trope by rethinking what constitutes religion and belief in the first place. Hence to press the "Cafeteria vs Faithful" Catholics issue (especially in terms of "piety") would be missing the point of actually ''believing'' in something.
* [[Denis Leary]] goes so far as to found the Lapsed Catholic Church at the end of his second album, ''Lock'N'Load''. He also admits that he couldn't remember the Hail Mary prayer during a scene when his character in ''[[Rescue Me]]'' has to recite it, but can name the starting lineup of the 1967 Red Sox off the top of his head.
{{quote|
* Brazil is a Catholic-majority country. Brazilian Catholics are Non-Practicing-majority Catholics.▼
* And Dara Ó Briain, who provides the page quote.
* [[George Carlin]]'s massive hit show ''Class Clown'' was all about being the class clown of a Catholic high school. A prominent joke: "I used to be Irish Catholic; now I'm American."
* [[Stephen Colbert]], while himself a Catholic in person (and in fact teaches Sunday school), views it differently from [[The Colbert Report|his persona]].
* [[Dan Savage]] is openly atheist and a supporter of the skeptical movement, but considers himself "culturally Catholic".
▲* Brazil is a Catholic-majority country. Brazilian Catholics are Non-Practicing-majority Catholics.
* In the United States, it has been estimated that approximately three-quarters of Catholics don't attend Mass regularly. And in the last fifty years, the number of American nuns has dropped to one-third of what it was in the 1960s, ''despite'' population growth, and the percentage of Catholic elementary school children (not ''all'' children, just the Catholics) who attend Catholic schools (rather than public schools) has dropped from 51% to 14%.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
[[Category:Raised Catholic]]
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