Bad Catholic: A Memoir

"How could the very thing that felt like my salvation be the exact thing that signaled my mother's ruin?"

In Bad Catholic, Joe Thomas strips away the secrets of a life defined by an unwanted adoption by a predatory stepfather and a mother who retreated into an alcoholic haze to deny the undeniable. It is the raw account of a boy forced to balance the innocence of childhood and the pressures of being a teenager with the "house of horrors" he returned to every night.

From the grit of late-night bars to the blood-stained kitchen floor of his childhood home in Connecticut, Joe's journey is one of calculated survival, culminating in a one-way Greyhound ride to Florida.

Fiercely honest and unflinching, this memoir marks the shift from a life defined by family secrets to a man defining himself by his own truth. It is a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the courage it takes to finally stop waiting for a rescue and decide, once and for all, it's time to save myself.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Fred Dunbar Publishing
Published: 03/19/2026
ISBN: 9798995078401
Pages: 394
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.25w x 0.88d