Bad Catholic: A Memoir

By Joe Thomas

"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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GT8VR5X2
• ISBN13: 9798995078401
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Fred Dunbar Publishing
• Length: 392 Pages
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.0" x 5.3"