I was also brought up as a Catholic, in the 50's and 60's. I am not sure what its like these days, as I am now an atheist but I now realise that we were told an awful lot of complete, relatively harmless guff.
I remember asking a Nun on the teaching staff what Heaven was like. She asked me what my favourite thing to do was ? Well, I was only 7 but answered very honestly that eating my Mums Apple Pie with custard was one of my favourite ways to pass the time. The Nun then said that I could eat Apple Pie in Heaven 24 hours a day if I wanted ! So I grew up not really knowing exactly what Heaven was like but suspected that it probably smelled of apples.
On a Monday morning we used to bring our bright shiny (old) pennies in for The Black Babies collection. For our penny, we got a sticker to put on our savings card with a smiling black baby on it. I thought at the beginning that once we filled up the card, a black baby would be delivered to the door, probably by another Nun ( Nuns were a regular feature of my childhood. Even now, if I see a Nun with a collecting tin in the street, I find my hand going into my pocket to pull out a pound coin without even realising what I am doing ) This was terribly exciting as I had a little brother but he was very white and anyway there weren't any black children in our street and I wanted to be the first person that had one.
Religion in general was discussed in a very narrow way at my Catholic Primary School in North London. We were the good guys as Catholics. All other people, who believed in Jesus were Protestants. I was at least 18 before I realised that there were any such things as Baptists, Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, etc, etc. We didn't talk about Jews very much as They Killed Jesus. I don't remember ever hearing about Muslims although they must have existed I suppose. Everybody else on earth were usually heathens and normally black.
The cane was a regular feature at our school. I don't think I was any naughtier than any other boy but I saw my fair share of it, mostly for pushing unpleasant boys into the girls toilets at playtime. For some reason that was considered a huge sin. If you were lucky you got caned by one of the Friars that worked in the school. They at least cared about the tenderness of a boys bottom.
( I know what you all must be thinking but I can honestly say that nothing "unnatural" ever happened to me at the hand of a representative of the Church, ever. Nor did I know any other boy that anything happened to either )
But if you were really unlucky, you got caned my Sister Bridgitt. She had muscles that Popeye wouldn't have been ashamed of, and she took a run-up that a triple jumper wouldn't have thought excessive. When you got caned by Sister B, it stung for the rest of the day. A lot.
As a little boy I believed everything that I was told by a grown-up, including plainly daft things like God being three different people, Jesus feeding the multitude with a few loaves and fishes, etc. In north London where I lived, I had lots of Jewish friends and they thought that it was hilarious that Jesus didn't use caterers. Samuels mother said that something along the lines of " Oy veigh...so we have all day to make sandwiches already ? "
All in all it was a happy childhood. I was a good little Catholic boy, learning my Catechism and serving on the Altar. For our instructional classes for the First Holy Communion, we had a really funny and jolly Priest from India, black as your hat, who told us all about his homeland. I wanted so much to go and see India as a result, and still do.
I have nothing to compare my childhood to, but I am still glad that I had the Catholic upbringing, even though I am no longer a believer. It gave me a very good moral foundation which I am sure has helped me in life.
I am very nearly 60 now and I can't remember much else !