Did you ever experience being a "fallen a way Catholic" not going to mass any more?

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Did you ever experience being a
“fallen away Catholic” not going to mass anymore? A month -a year or more?
 
Yes I fell away when I was around 17, I didn’t choose to walk away in the sense of giving up but I just stopped going. A couple of years later I started going intermittently and some years later stopped going again.

The first time was just being a teenager hanging out with friends and it going out of my life. The second time I had some serious problems and I hardly went out much.

If I ever left again (which I won’t), it would be a complete abandonment if you know what I mean?
 
Not fallen away but chose not to go. Was very angry with God.
 
Just ending a few years of doing that. I missed God and realized what I was doing to myself…
 
I’m a revert; 26 years away, a good part of it due to the swan dive into the shallow end of the pool catechesis turned into in the 1970s, along with access to poisonous social influences of the period (especially Playboy, etc…, But also the works of Heinlein). So, 16 years as a gutless atheist (agnostic) then back into the Faith via mainline Protestantism before reconciing to the Catholic Church in February 2002
 
I’m physically unable to go to my local church, and I prefer not to get rides, so I don’t attend Mass. And I used to receive Communion at home. I’ve been considering asking for Communion at home again, so we’ll see.
 
I went to an Episcopal Church for three years. (I never became an Episcopalian.)
In some ways, I was happier in the Episcopal parish. It was smaller. It was friendlier. And there were lots of ways to get involved. A parishioner could have an impact.

My rector wanted me to become a deacon. Though I had no vocation, at her insistence, I went to one year of Education for Ministry for classes. (It was a three-year program.). After one year, I quit.

When the rector repudiated the Atonement on Good Friday, something snapped. Soon thereafter, I packed up and left.

After a three-year hiatus, I went back to a Catholic parish. I got fed up.

Six years later, a good friend invited me to go to her parish. I felt connected in a way I never had before. It felt like home. I pray God gives me the grace to stay in the Catholic church. It’s where I belong.
 
From Protestant church yes . YEARS. Catholic Church no and I pray I never will. The Real Presence is the difference
 
Yes, I left at 18 after minimally studying Catholicism and thinking that I, in my infinite, adult wisdom, had discovered that the Catholic Church taught a lot of heresies, I left and was a Protestant for 7 years, and 3 months. My husband is a Catholic convert and while attending Mass one day with him, I looked up as the priest was doing the consecration, and I saw my Lord up there. I came back shortly after, studying Catholicism with fresh eyes and realizing that my objections were all straw men.
 
I was raised in the Episcopal church and from 18 - 42, I fell away from church life.
The next 14 years, I spent trying to find where I belonged. I visited non-denominational churches, returned to the Episcopal church, studied Judaism and
Catholicism and finally converted to the Catholic faith at 56 - 11 years ago.

It has not been a smooth journey. I have lapsed a few times and missed Mass
sometimes 1-2 months.

I think I am over the humps now. I need the Mass and I need the Eucharist.
 
In a big way…
I was born and raised Catholic. 12 years of Catholic school, and gave consideration to the priesthood. Unfortunately, I wound up going down a very bad road. I became a full time musician, and for the next 35 years, lived a terribly sinful life…marriage, divorce, living in sin, pornography, etc, etc.
About two years ago, I came under an incredible spiritual attack from the enemy. It was all unexpected and incredibly difficult, driving me to incredible despair
Fast forward to today…
Through God’s grace and the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, I attend Mass, receive Our Blessed Lord in the sacrament of communion, and pray the Rosary faithfully every day. There are a lot of other details to my story, but the bottom line is that God can use the most difficult situation to turn our lives back to Him and the one true church. I will NEVER be so foolish and neglectful to think I can live this life on my own again.
Ave Maria!
 
Quite honestly, I left when life got a little hard and things weren’t going my way. I’d pray, and feel like my prayers were never answered. I got to a point where not praying and just not thinking about the Church seemed to make me “happier”. But when I faced what was my greatest trial and struggle - my mother’s illness - my first inclination was to turn to God and the Church. That was in 2011.
 
Yes, from middle school until college.

Many reasons, really. But I can say that I should have focused on what kept me away:
  • some teachings were hard (and I didn’t know many anyways, so it was easy to come back, harder to shape up! Also many things you begin by giving assent even if you don’t understand them, like Peter in Jn 6:68)
  • the world talks very badly of the Church (so no charm there calling me to go back, in fact even people politely advising against it, actively opposing it later)
  • I thought God was angry at me (this actually kept me from going into churches - I wouldn’t go into someone’s house if he is upset at me). The first thing I learned upon returning to the Church is that God does not reject us against our will, but actually longs for sinners to repent and run back to him. That’s what the Cross is all about. God bless the crucifixes for calling us sinners to repentance!
As for what brought me back (and has kept me in so far), being channels of God’s grace of course, who alone sanctifies us:
  • having a Bible and a Crucifix around (of course, I had read the Gospels and from time to time I even got curious about the other parts and read bits, also always a lot of respect for Christ crucified!)
  • the holy Rosary and scapular (literally just having them around or on me, I barely knew how to pray the Rosary)
  • holy water (so simple, so noble. Some people may think it’s superstitious stuff, but in time you realize it’s really not!)
  • Confession (literally walked head-on one day and asked for a priest to hear my confession, that was my gate back into life and has rescued me many times since from temptations of walking away - I can recall at least one time I was barely “practicing” for a month or two, angry at God, the whole 9 yards, until God gave me the light I needed to make a good confession).
  • the Holy Eucharist (in a special way, adoration outside of Mass, which strengthens that relationship with Christ!)
  • the saints (pray and God will bring near you those who will guide you back and strengthen you)
  • the local Church (without being involved in the parish and in ministries, knowing people, doing things, in other words, experiencing the Church as it is on earth and experiencing the feeling of community and belonging, it would have been easy to fall away again)
 
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The closest I came to that was avoiding the sacrament of Confession for many months, just over a year as I recall, when I needed to go but did not. I still always went to Mass every Sunday, but I did not receive Holy Communion and I often left Mass right at Communion time. This happened back in my mid-twenties.
 
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I did for about a week. I was really upset about some things going on at the parish I was attending at that time and everything came to a head at the Easter Vigil. I left the Mass shortly after the baptisms.

I missed Mass the next weekend, Divine Mercy Sunday but went to confession that week at a new parish, there I remain.
 
Yes, have been away for the last 6 years. Will I ever go back? Possibly. My sister has judged me very harshly for this.
 
Yeah. Like someone else said, I haven’t fallen away, but I’m choosing not to go. I really don’t want to talk/pray to God these days…
 
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