A Different Religion

I understand that some people are religious, and I respect that. I understand that some people are not religious, and I respect that. What I don't understand completely is how some people can allow religion to become so much apart of them that certain parts of life are ignored. I think that religion should help guide those who need to feel guided, but I don't think that religion should overtake the mind and force people to do things they think they should do simply to satisfy a higher power. Doing good things or living a good life should be a personal endeavor, in my mind, with or without the help of a higher power, but definitely not to satisfy a higher power.

I would love to know what a Parisian or Prussian Catholic is. I'm not sure if that's how you spell it, but a new co-worker revealed to me that he's of this religion (I guess I was trying too hard to make him feel welcome and asking him too many questions to try and include him in conversations), so he finally came out and said that he is of this religion. Being of this branch of Catholicism means that he's not allowed to talk to me or the other co-workers about anything except work, supposedly because we all dress differently than him (I assume this means outside of work) and simply don't hold the same beliefs. This is very limiting in the workplace for him because it excludes him from bonding moments such as lunch, tea time, and probably also from social events that we occasionally hold outside of work. Even talking about something as vague as public transportation, I have noticed that he puts his head down and pretends not to listen to the rest of us.

I'm all for respecting people who believe in various religions, but never before have I encountered someone whose religion overtakes his right to live. That said, I'd love to be an invisible bug on his shoulder for one week, to see what it's like at his home, at his church, what his social outings consist of, what he wears, etc. I'm very happy for my freedom and I'd like to keep it that way, still, his religion intrigues me. I wish that I could even look it up on the Internet (I'm having no luck though), then again, I suppose, how would it be possible to look up a religion where they don't believe in talking to anyone other than those who are the same as them...

If anyone has heard of this type of Catholicism, please let me know. I'd be interested to get an alternate view on what it entails...