Ex-Catholics

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eucharist04 said:
Why do ex-Catholics attack the Church?:confused:
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Most don’t. They just walk away and forget it. The ones that actually “attack the Church” have probably had some kind of negative experience related to the Church.
 
eucharist04 said:
Why do ex-Catholics attack the Church?:confused:
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I think many of them do it to justify their walking away from it and they have to blame someone. I know a lady that wasn’t married, didn’t practice her Faith, had no intentions of changing and yet wanted her baby baptized. And when Fr. was not satisfied that she would raise the baby in the Faith he put off the Baptism till he could hopefully work with the Mother. But she left and never turned back, but she has ever since bad mouthed the Church, the priest, etcs. She has jumped on ever false thing ever said about the Church and goes out of her way to start an argument. That baby has since grown up, had kids, lives with her boyfriend and agrees with her mother, who also lives with a boyfriend. God Bless. Memaw
 
eucharist04 said:
Why do ex-Catholics attack the Church?:confused:
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In my experience the reasons vary from person to person. If they have had some radical “born again” experience they tend to view thier life BBA(before born again) and ABA (after born again). This is reinforced by peer pressure of others with the same “experience”. They dismiss thier past as “before I was saved”.
The Catholic Church, and in fairness, mainstream Protestant churches become part of that BBA life. They view their church experience as keeping them “unregenerated”. Over time, this develops into actual hate for the Church or denomination. Usually fed by a preacher.
Oddly, their ABA life produces more negativity and hate than BBA.
Which should make them question the “experience” as to whether it truly came from God.
 
Most leave the church because of many different reasons. Each person has his own story. Pity really because they think they are clever. Most. I believe, leave the faith because they were menu christians. They choose what suits them without proper instruction from the cathecism and reading the New Testament. I know people who interpret the Bible as it suits them, even non Catholics do it. Most forget prayer, especially the devotion of nine consecutive communion on first Friday of each month and the rosary. We Catholics must pray for them.
 
Lots don’t attack the Church, but if they do, it is likely because of poor catechesis or negative experiences.
 
Memaw said:
I think many of them do it to justify their walking away from it and they have to blame someone.
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That has been my experience as well. It also is a mechanism for not repenting sins and justifying continuing sinful practices and leading others down the same path.

All we can do is pray for them, grit our teeth and lovingly explain or defend our faith, knowing full well it falls on deaf ears and trusting that God will them.

:gopray:
 
BettyBoop416 said:
Most don’t. They just walk away and forget it. The ones that actually “attack the Church” have probably had some kind of negative experience related to the Church.
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I know people in both these camps. I agree that the ones who attack the church are very bitter about their church experience.

That said, a lot of ex-Catholics are more anti-Catholic than the Protestants I know. It’s hard for them to accept that a lot of us are satisfied with our faith and see no reason to rock the boat on the more controversial stuff.

I tell people if they don’t like the things that Catholics do, then they don’t have to participate or join the Church. However, the Church has the right to structure its organization anyway it wants, just like any other social group.
 
Here’s a few reasons I’ve heard:

~Too many rules.

~I’m spiritual/don’t believe in organized religion.

~Too much man-made stuff/doesn’t teach from the Bible.

~It’s a Church of hate.
*Women.
*Gays.
*Won’t let non-Catholics take Communion.

~Because of the sex-abuse scandal they have no moral credibility.

~Who are they to tell me what I can/can’t do with my body?

~I want a divorce and the Church won’t let me.

~The Church is trapped in the past/needs to “get with the times”.

~The Catholic Church always wants money.

~The Church doesn’t want me to read from the Bible.

~The Church doesn’t want me to have a personal relationship with God/Christ.

I live in an area where the majority are “Catholic”, and I’ve heard all of these…
 
Memaw said:
I think many of them do it to justify their walking away from it and they have to blame someone. I know a lady that wasn’t married, didn’t practice her Faith, had no intentions of changing and yet wanted her baby baptized. And when Fr. was not satisfied that she would raise the baby in the Faith he put off the Baptism till he could hopefully work with the Mother. But she left and never turned back, but she has ever since bad mouthed the Church, the priest, etcs. She has jumped on ever false thing ever said about the Church and goes out of her way to start an argument. That baby has since grown up, had kids, lives with her boyfriend and agrees with her mother, who also lives with a boyfriend. God Bless. Memaw
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I agree they are justifying their decision.
Mary.
 
Some, I know of several cases including mine when I get that way, are turned against Roman Catholicism after they leave by very rude, arrogant Roman Catholics. Some Roman Catholics cannot accept anyone having a valid reason for leaving their church. I think it makes them feel insecure about their faith. So they attack people who leave. When I left Roman Catholicism I had very positive feelings about it, but was so berated, insulted, criticized and patronized by Roman Catholics for that decision, was told so many times that I was going to become a bitter, angry ex-Roman, that I sometimes am bitter and angry at Roman Catholicism, because her children want me to be.
 
Avila123 said:
That has been my experience as well. It also is a mechanism for not repenting sins and justifying continuing sinful practices and leading others down the same path.

All we can do is pray for them, grit our teeth and lovingly explain or defend our faith, knowing full well it falls on deaf ears and trusting that God will them.

:gopray:
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I always ask God to send them a “Simon”, someone to help them carry their cross right back to Jesus. God Bless, Memaw
 
Rawb said:
Some, I know of several cases including mine when I get that way, are turned against Roman Catholicism after they leave by very rude, arrogant Roman Catholics. Some Roman Catholics cannot accept anyone having a valid reason for leaving their church. I think it makes them feel insecure about their faith. So they attack people who leave. When I left Roman Catholicism I had very positive feelings about it, but was so berated, insulted, criticized and patronized by Roman Catholics for that decision, was told so many times that I was going to become a bitter, angry ex-Roman, that I sometimes am bitter and angry at Roman Catholicism, because her children want me to be.
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Not sure where your meeting these “rude, arrogant Roman” Catholics but I have not met any of them in my nearly 77 years of being a Catholic. God Bless, Memaw
 
Because they are angry and have nothing better to do with their lives than attack the Church. Just like the protestants, who attack and attack and attack what they falsely believe to be the Church.
 
Same could be said of ex-(anything)…

Many ex-Catholics attack the Catholic church
Many ex-Mormons attack the Mormon church
Many ex-JWs attack JW’s
Many ex-Opus Dei attack Opus Dei…

It’s not a unique phenomenon that any one group has the corner market on…
 
Rawb said:
Some, I know of several cases including mine when I get that way, are turned against Roman Catholicism after they leave by very rude, arrogant Roman Catholics. Some Roman Catholics cannot accept anyone having a valid reason for leaving their church. I think it makes them feel insecure about their faith. So they attack people who leave. When I left Roman Catholicism I had very positive feelings about it, but was so berated, insulted, criticized and patronized by Roman Catholics for that decision, was told so many times that I was going to become a bitter, angry ex-Roman, that I sometimes am bitter and angry at Roman Catholicism, because her children want me to be.
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Yes, we tend to generalize the faults of persons as though they were built into the Church’s teachings or creed, and that’s where we go wrong.

The first thing I would do in dscussion with someone embittered is to validate his pain and that he was wronged. Truly. Only after such acknowledgement is it possible to show him how he has been betrayed, and mentioning that Jesus was betrayed helps to put that into relevance where your next message can even be heard.

I ALWAYS acknowledge the validity of anyone’s experience as a first step. Then what I say can be considered.

I like to say that if Catholicism was translated into everyday terms, just about everyone would say, “Wow, that makes sense.” I do believe that just about every real disagreement is not with our truth, but about an inaccurate perception–believing we do or subscribe to things that are simply dead wrong. There are zillions of such misperceptions out there.

Truth when clarified is wonderfully wonderful!!!
 
Memaw said:
Not sure where your meeting these “rude, arrogant Roman” Catholics but I have not met any of them in my nearly 77 years of being a Catholic. God Bless, Memaw
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I have met many people of different denominations that have the attitude of the Pharisee and lack the humility of the Publican…

The human ego, esp the American human ego, can really get in the way of striving for authentic and credible dicsipleship of our Lord. 🙂
 
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