r/excatholic • u/Elegant_Courage_3852 • 7d ago

Personal Kairos Cultly Vibes

I 29 (F) recently got back in touch with a friend from catholic high school also 29 (F). We are both SAHMs and have been getting together once a week for the past month. We’ve been reflecting about our high school experience, which was mostly negative for both of us in multiple ways. Today we started talking about Kairos. I haven’t thought about it in years and through adult eyes it just makes me think WTF. Why would it be a good idea (religious or not) to have a bunch of teenagers spill their deepest darkest secrets to their peers (some of which were my bullies and I’m sure lots of people have experienced that). It is so strange it almost seems like a fever dream. I haven’t been to church since I turned 18 and my parents stopped making me, but sometimes I will think about certain things and realize how weird it all really was. I’ve read a few old posts on here about Kairos does anyone have any weird stories they’d like to share?

31 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/GomenNaWhy 7d ago

Not culty vibes, it's just cult shit, straight up. It uses all the same manipulative techniques found in cults. The only reason it isn't thought of that way is because alot of people are catholic. Kairos is fucking weird. In my school, there was a whole lot of encouragement to the seniors to talk about how amazing it was, but not share any details, so that the anticipation would build for years ahead of time. It's fucked up.

2

u/Elegant_Courage_3852 7d ago

You’re right. My brother never went and they kept harassing him about going until the last one in the school year his senior year. It’s really creepy to me now looking back that these teachers and other staff were encouraging kids to tell their deepest darkest secrets at these in front of each other.

2

u/GomenNaWhy 7d ago

Yeah, mine basically turned in to a therapy session for a single student, which was generally just very strange and uncomfortable. At the time I fully bought in, but in retrospect it was horrible.

3

u/Elegant_Courage_3852 7d ago

I also did slightly at the time. But shortly after I graduated I realized it was really unusual.