Could you ever leave the Church?

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Alberich

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Okay, in the recent evolution thread, one poster noted that if evolution was ever made dogma (won’t happen, I’m sure–but still), he would leave the Church. So, since then, the question has been playing on my mind: Is there anything that could ever make me leave the Church?

In college, I briefly flirted with leaving the Church because of bad catechesis, especially dealing evolution, ironically enough. Thankfully, the Holy Ghost helped show me that God, in his infinite wisdom, could create his world however He wanted to. I found evolution to be an elegant way of doing so.

I’ve also been in situations in which I thought I understood the Church’s teachings on certain subjects, only to find that I thought the teachings were ludicrous, again giving rise to a temptation to leave. I thank God for once again setting me straight and showing me that I never had a good understanding of those topics to start with.

At this point, I can’t imagine what would make me leave the Church. Given my own history of presumption followed by gentle correction from above, I don’t believe that I would ever have enough arrogance to claim that I could “out-think” Rome. I don’t think I could ever even consider leaving.

Pax vobiscum,
Alberich
 
Ihave been out, am back in, and please God will never even think about leaving again. The bad catechesis was part of it for me, also. Thank heaven for EWTN and Catholic Answers. They were what made me realize what is true about the faith.
 
I have tried to leave the church before. I’ve gotten mad certain priests, nuns, the pope, etc. I’ve even had my phone book out to look for different churchs to talk to about joining them. Something always stopped me. I don’t know why.

Instead of leaving (officially), I did stay away for a while and was more of a cafateria Catholic. I finally came to the conclusion that, for better or worse, I’m Catholic, so deal with it. I had to forgive some people in the church (the ones I was mad at), and get over it. I also started praying the rosary, going to mass every week, and learning more about my faith. The more I have learned, the less I want to leave.

Short answer: at this point in my life, no, I could not leave the church.
 
Alberich,

In a very real way…all Catholics leave the Church in little ways and big ways at any given time all of our lives. No Catholic alive is beyond responding ‘yes’ to your question…’ Even the most model perfect looking Catholic leaves the Church in particular ways.

I leave the Church everyday in my own obstinate and rebellious way.

Thank God for His Mercy and Kindness.

Contemplative
 
The Catholic Church: 1.2 billion people trying their best to become good Catholics, and each in a different place on the journey - some even moving backwards - but they are all us. 🙂
 
I could never leave the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church Jesus founded and guaranteed being the one with the “fullness of truth”.
 
These particular Gospel readings always plays through my heart and keeps me mindful that anyone can slip and slide back and forth…and be forgiven.
He said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.”
But he replied, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me.” Luke 22:34-35
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later Jesus says…
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep. John 21:17
Click to expand...
This combination of events show how predictable humans are and how loving and forgiving God is.
 
I can’t say I would never leave the Church. I am human, all too talented at sinning, and so won’t say anything like that.

I hope I will never leave the Church. (and if I did then for Orthodoxy!) People might annoy me, teachings may be hard to follow, sometimes people don’t even teach the teachings. BUT. Big But. The Church has the Eucharist. So I could never go back to being Protestant. The Church has Jesus and intimacy with our loving triune God. With continuing faith in that I could never quit Christianity. As the Scripture says (paraphrasing) “You have the words of eternal life. Where else would I go?”

In any case, I’ve tried deserting Christianity before. God hasn’t let me and has always drawn me back to the journey.

That doesn’t mean I will always follow God and the Church teaching fully. In that I fail, just as we all do, every day.
 
There is nothing the Church could do that would make me leave. I might be saddened, but I would continue to trust that the gates of hell will not prevail.

Earlier posts in this thread have reminded me of my own human weakness and that nothing is certain about what sins I might commit that would separate me from the Church. I hope that never happens, but I would not eliminate the possibility 100% until after I die.

Betsy
 
I could NEVER leave the Catholic Church. I pray that if the time came to be a martyr, I would stay strong and die with the faith.
 
No one who truly knows the Church and loves Jesus would ever leave it. Now that I know her, I can say I could never leave.
 
I have spent years listening to non-Catholic preachers, who can be quite interesting at times. I’ve never heard enough to want to join another church.

On the other hand, I don’t don’t attend Mass, because there are too many dissenting priests in our diocese. I keep saying, when the real Catholic Church comes back around here, I’ll be glad to go back.

I don’t feel it is right to attend Mass when the priest is giving his own made up teaching, rather than the authentic teaching of the Church.

There’s too many instances of parishes arguing against Rome, doing things not in the GIRM, for example.

My reservations are not just intellectual. It makes me sick to go to church when I don’t believe what the priest is saying. It’s too much pressure for me. I had twelve years of Catholic schooling, where I was trained what was right and to form my conscience and act appropriately.

Priests on EWTN say that the current turmoil in the Church isn’t bad, it was much worse in previous times. Well, excuse me, but I think the Church should have learned some lessons from the “previous times.” In particular, some have said that after a Church council, there might be 50 - 75 years of people being upset.

And, they cite the example of another change, when the Church was adopting the scholarly theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. There were a lot of people who were opposed or weren’t sure or felt things were going too fast, etc.

Half the professed religious sisters have disappeared, so catechesis has taken a big “hit.” A lot of Catholics don’t even believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. So, that is certainly a related problem to the dissension and factions we see in the Church.

There’s other issues such as the role and prominence of women in the Church. You know, the Church moves very slowly on issue like this (or any other, for that matter).

The last time I personally spoke with a priest, he was physically ejecting me from his office and calling me an a - hole. The strange thing was, I hadn’t even said a word to him.
 
Hi Crumpy,

I don’t want to belittle your issues nor the extent of your grievances but you yourself could do a lot.

What I mean is, prayer. If you feel there are not enough nuns or good priests you could pray very strongly and the most important place to pray is during the Holy Mass. You could do a lot of good rather than enbroil yourself with what disturbs you.

I’ve always been taught that we go to Mass to hear the Word of God in the Gospels - not to think about the Priests life or imperfections. They are people too just like us yet they have given their lives for Christ. They need our prayers.

I ask that you give Catholicism a chance but let the change begin in you. Sitting home avoiding Mass accomplishes nothing.
 
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