Former Questions Please share with us why?

[PJM]

Given the number of fallen away [Former “Catholics”], I 'd really like to gain some insight on what caused your departure?

I ask all to apply extreme charity in this dialog.

Love and prayers,
Pat

 

[Katrina5]

I hope it is ok for me to post this, since I have returned.
When I left in 1971, it was because things had changed too much and too fast. I felt left out, and the ugly music was the last straw.

Pretty sad that something so seemingly superficial would do me in.

What made me come back? Someone referred to me in passing as “an ex-Catholic” and that I might like to meet another ex-Catholic. I was completely shaken by that, and decided I didn’t want that label.

My older sister left around the same time to join the pentecostal church where she still is, and loves the loud music (a band) and the two hours of preaching “salvation”, and nothing else. She has moved from church to church, though, and been baptized more times than she can count.

 

[Cranmer2010]

I hope it is ok for me to post this, since I have returned.
When I left in 1971, it was because things had changed too much and too fast. I felt left out, and the ugly music was the last straw.

Pretty sad that something so seemingly superficial would do me in.

What made me come back? Someone referred to me in passing as “an ex-Catholic” and that I might like to meet another ex-Catholic. I was completely shaken by that, and decided I didn’t want that label.

My older sister left around the same time to join the pentecostal church where she still is, and loves the loud music (a band) and the two hours of preaching “salvation”, and nothing else. She has moved from church to church, though, and been baptized more times than she can count.

I left because I was never convinced of papal authority and the Marian dogmas.

 

[Katrina5]

All of papal authority? All of the Marian “dogmas”?

I noticed you are Anglican. I think Anglicans broke with the church over that very issue-- the pope wouldn’t allow Henry VIII to have a divorce.

As for Marian “dogmas” I’m not so sure where that fits. We believe Mary was conceived without sin because she was to be the mother of God, and the Holy Spirit planted the seed in her. And that she was assumed into heaven.

I tend to part ways with fellow Catholics who are so into Mary and the visions and such. But I see that as so peripheral to who Mary is and her place in the life of Jesus, that it doesn’t bother me. They need that for some reason.

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

I originally left because of poor catechisis. My parents divorced when I was 7 or so…after 1st communion. My mom left the church…so did I. I lived with my dad in my teen years…went to church with him and my grandmother. Neither one of them took the time to explain anything to me. When I met my husband…I followed him to Protestism. I felt at the time that the church and people in it were super legalistic.

I came back because God led me back. And I found a great parish and priest!

 

[Steven_John]

Given the number of fallen away [Former “Catholics”], I 'd really like to gain some insight on what caused your departure?

I ask all to apply extreme charity in this dialog.

Love and prayers,
Pat

Peace and blessings Br Patrick,
It is good you ask.
I am not away from her but not in full communion either.

The more problems i see best i can the closer i push in or i wont get straightened.

I would have many things having to state i believe Mary (bbhn) was always and ever virgin is a thorn for me. I wont lie.

The inconsistency of priests must be a problem for many of us.

Last week the PP explained G-d took a risk sending Jesus (pbwh) i dont even think that is Catholic.

G-d does not take risks, I trust He knows what He is doing.

Bless ya, pray well and stay well

 

[PJM]

=Cranmer2010;6978312]I left because I was never convinced of papal authority and the Marian dogmas.

So those pose a necessary question, all though I did not intend the thread for this opportunity.

If someone could explain these issues; would you consider returning?

Love and prayers,
Pat

 

[Nicea325]

I left because I was never convinced of papal authority and the Marian dogmas.

Yep! Just like the Jews who left because they were not convinced they had to eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood.

 

[SteppingAlong]

I became a Catholic four years ago (after 18 months of weekly RCIA) because I married a cradle Catholic. We both left the church 3 months ago. And the answer is not an easy one because when I converted, I was in love with the Catholic Church. I was truly happy for a long time but then slowly, I began to crave God in a way that I was not finding in the Catholic Church. And leaving has been painful but honestly, it’s what we’ve had to do. Sunday after Sunday, we went to Mass and craved wisdom and guidance for how to live my daily life and Sunday after Sunday, all we ever heard about was the evils of abortion. Yes, I am pro-life and I believe the message needs to be heard. However, when that’s the ONLY aspect of Christian living you hear week after week, it tends to lose power. Add to that priests who are tired/frustrated/burned out/have no love of what they’re doing and parishes who do nothing for community outreach/no giving and only taking and all the sex abuse scandals and it all just became overwhelming. I would leave Mass and wonder why I had even bothered to go. I felt no connection to Christ, not even through the Eucharist. I tried the rosary and Eucharistic adoration and confession and nothing, absolutely nothing, made me feel like Christ was in my life at all. So eight months ago, we stopped going to Mass completely. Three months ago, my husband inquired about Protestant churches and how he would be interested in attending services at one. As a former United Methodist, I took my husband to the church I was a member of years ago and he was absolutely overwhelmed by the passion and the preaching and the community involvement. A man I could never get to go to Mass now refuses to miss church and feels like he’s being spiritually fed. His general attitude has improved and both of us feel Christ moving in our lives in a way that previously we simply did not feel.

Yes, there are things I believe to be undeniably true about the Catholic Church. But do I believe that Christ is only found in the Roman Catholic Church? Absolutely not. I’m a well-educated woman and I understand tradition versus scripture and all those aspects of the Catholic faith but I also know that the relationship with God is personal and we have to go where He calls us.

 

[Katrina5]

I became a Catholic four years ago (after 18 months of weekly RCIA) because I married a cradle Catholic. We both left the church 3 months ago. And the answer is not an easy one because when I converted, I was in love with the Catholic Church. I was truly happy for a long time but then slowly, I began to crave God in a way that I was not finding in the Catholic Church. And leaving has been painful but honestly, it’s what we’ve had to do. Sunday after Sunday, we went to Mass and craved wisdom and guidance for how to live my daily life and Sunday after Sunday, all we ever heard about was the evils of abortion. Yes, I am pro-life and I believe the message needs to be heard. However, when that’s the ONLY aspect of Christian living you hear week after week, it tends to lose power. Add to that priests who are tired/frustrated/burned out/have no love of what they’re doing and parishes who do nothing for community outreach/no giving and only taking and all the sex abuse scandals and it all just became overwhelming. I would leave Mass and wonder why I had even bothered to go. I felt no connection to Christ, not even through the Eucharist. I tried the rosary and Eucharistic adoration and confession and nothing, absolutely nothing, made me feel like Christ was in my life at all. So eight months ago, we stopped going to Mass completely. Three months ago, my husband inquired about Protestant churches and how he would be interested in attending services at one. As a former United Methodist, I took my husband to the church I was a member of years ago and he was absolutely overwhelmed by the passion and the preaching and the community involvement. A man I could never get to go to Mass now refuses to miss church and feels like he’s being spiritually fed. His general attitude has improved and both of us feel Christ moving in our lives in a way that previously we simply did not feel.

Yes, there are things I believe to be undeniably true about the Catholic Church. But do I believe that Christ is only found in the Roman Catholic Church? Absolutely not. I’m a well-educated woman and I understand tradition versus scripture and all those aspects of the Catholic faith but I also know that the relationship with God is personal and we have to go where He calls us.

This is really sad-- not that you have found another church, and God is in your life, but that the evils of abortion were preached so much that it drove you away.
If the priest is so focused on abortion to the exclusion of everything else, he really needs to talk to his bishop.

There is so much more to the church!

When I was growing up I went to Catholic school so I learned my faith. It’s a good thing I didn’t have to depend on the Sunday sermons back then, because they were nothing but “tithing, pledge drives, building funds, money, money, money” and my brother left that parish to find one with a priest who had more to teach than finances.

The church my sister attends preaches on one note-- accepting Christ as personal savior. He never talks about what happens after that moment of salvation. That isn’t just boring, it is useless, since everyone there has already done that.

 

[maryj]

I became a Catholic four years ago (after 18 months of weekly RCIA) because I married a cradle Catholic. We both left the church 3 months ago. And the answer is not an easy one because when I converted, I was in love with the Catholic Church. I was truly happy for a long time but then slowly, I began to crave God in a way that I was not finding in the Catholic Church. And leaving has been painful but honestly, it’s what we’ve had to do. Sunday after Sunday, we went to Mass and craved wisdom and guidance for how to live my daily life and Sunday after Sunday, all we ever heard about was the evils of abortion. Yes, I am pro-life and I believe the message needs to be heard. However, when that’s the ONLY aspect of Christian living you hear week after week, it tends to lose power. Add to that priests who are tired/frustrated/burned out/have no love of what they’re doing and parishes who do nothing for community outreach/no giving and only taking and all the sex abuse scandals and it all just became overwhelming. I would leave Mass and wonder why I had even bothered to go. I felt no connection to Christ, not even through the Eucharist. I tried the rosary and Eucharistic adoration and confession and nothing, absolutely nothing, made me feel like Christ was in my life at all. So eight months ago, we stopped going to Mass completely. Three months ago, my husband inquired about Protestant churches and how he would be interested in attending services at one. As a former United Methodist, I took my husband to the church I was a member of years ago and he was absolutely overwhelmed by the passion and the preaching and the community involvement. A man I could never get to go to Mass now refuses to miss church and feels like he’s being spiritually fed. His general attitude has improved and both of us feel Christ moving in our lives in a way that previously we simply did not feel.

Yes, there are things I believe to be undeniably true about the Catholic Church. But do I believe that Christ is only found in the Roman Catholic Church? Absolutely not. I’m a well-educated woman and I understand tradition versus scripture and all those aspects of the Catholic faith but I also know that the relationship with God is personal and we have to go where He calls us.

Today is the day to hear the truth…GOD would never call you away from His Son in the Most Blessed Sacrament…You listened not to God but to your own personal “feelings”, that’s where the devil gets us. Faith is not about feelings. To be spiritually fed we must "eat His flesh and drink His blood, or there is no life within you! And that’s a quote!!

 

[Araninski]

Originally Posted by maryj

Today is the day to hear the truth…GOD would never call you away from His Son in the Most Blessed Sacrament…You listened not to God but to your own personal “feelings”, that’s where the devil gets us. Faith is not about feelings. To be spiritually fed we must "eat His flesh and drink His blood, or there is no life within you! And that’s a quote!!

Wow you certainly know the heart of every person.

Why did I left the Catholic Church? Well, every Sunday , I would go to the Mass, so Mass starts ,we give thanks to Jesus one time, then proceed to give thanks to Mary about 5 times, we worship God, for about 1 minute, read one book from the OT for about 1 minute, then sing one psalm for 1 minute, we read one passage from a Pauline Letter for about 1 minute , we read one passage from a Gospel for about 2 minutes. So the sermon starts, the “Father” explains the sermon (that BTW is not so good, seems as if he doesn’t prepares enough, but who knows…) for about 10 minutes,offering time 1 minute, Eucharist time lasts for other 10 minutes. As soon as Eucharist time ends everybody will just leave (without the Mass ending),announcements, some more talking. Ending worship song for about 20 seconds.

So , yes this is the sad story of every Sunday I went to the church, everyone will just rush in, so that everybody can eat and drink the body and blood of our Lord and after that leave. Why don’t they just offer Eucharist at the beginning. Cold fast-rushed worship, cold fast-rushed sermon, Eucharist. This is the strategy the church uses to maintain its member attendance I guess, so that people won’t get bored.

So then I started to question, if the Eucharist is really the body and blood of Jesus, then why after receiving it,people would leave like, if they didn’t wanted anything else, after that people fighting at the parking lots(…).

Every Sunday people come in the same way , eat the Eucharist and bye bye. Then when I did discovered (this is my belief no offense intended to what you believe), that the body and blood of Jesus are spiritual food and drink, I discovered how to eat it and drink it. So I no longer believe as the Catholic Church teaches so I can’t be a part of the Catholic Church, that would be hypocrisy. Nonetheless, I still admire the CC for the work it has done, and I don’t think it is “wrong” maybe innocently (like the Indulgences) , just that some of their teachings are misleading and can cause more harm than well.

I am much more better at the church I am in right now. Worship lasts for about one hour, sermon for about 45 minutes, Lord’s Supper, as He commanded it. And again praise and worship our Lord for 30 minutes. There are many testimonies, many youth groups,many activities, preachers, and empowers people to preach to people without God, hunger for the saving of the souls that is. I got to admit it, sometimes is boring, but nevertheless my faith is strong, and I keep on worshiping my God, Yahweh.

God bless

 

[Katrina5]

Wow you certainly know the heart of every person.

Why did I left the Catholic Church? Well, every Sunday , I would go to the Mass, so Mass starts ,we give thanks to Jesus one time, then proceed to give thanks to Mary about 5 times, we worship God, for about 1 minute, read one book from the OT for about 1 minute, then sing one psalm for 1 minute, we read one passage from a Pauline Letter for about 1 minute , we read one passage from a Gospel for about 2 minutes. So the sermon starts, the “Father” explains the sermon (that BTW is not so good, seems as if he doesn’t prepares enough, but who knows…) for about 10 minutes,offering time 1 minute, Eucharist time lasts for other 10 minutes. As soon as Eucharist time ends everybody will just leave (without the Mass ending),announcements, some more talking. Ending worship song for about 20 seconds.

So , yes this is the sad story of every Sunday I went to the church, everyone will just rush in, so that everybody can eat and drink the body and blood of our Lord and after that leave. Why don’t they just offer Eucharist at the beginning. Cold fast-rushed worship, cold fast-rushed sermon, Eucharist. This is the strategy the church uses to maintain its member attendance I guess, so that people won’t get bored.

So then I started to question, if the Eucharist is really the body and blood of Jesus, then why after receiving it,people would leave like, if they didn’t wanted anything else, after that people fighting at the parking lots(…).

Every Sunday people come in the same way , eat the Eucharist and bye bye. Then when I did discovered (this is my belief no offense intended to what you believe), that the body and blood of Jesus are spiritual food and drink, I discovered how to eat it and drink it. So I no longer believe as the Catholic Church teaches so I can’t be a part of the Catholic Church, that would be hypocrisy. Nonetheless, I still admire the CC for the work it has done, and I don’t think it is “wrong” maybe innocently (like the Indulgences) , just that some of their teachings are misleading and can cause more harm than well.

I am much more better at the church I am in right now. Worship lasts for about one hour, sermon for about 45 minutes, Lord’s Supper, as He commanded it. And again praise and worship our Lord for 30 minutes. There are many testimonies, many youth groups,many activities, preachers, and empowers people to preach to people without God, hunger for the saving of the souls that is. I got to admit it, sometimes is boring, but nevertheless my faith is strong, and I keep on worshiping my God, Yahweh.

God bless

Then you are certainly in the right place, and did the “right thing” by changing churches.
It is more important for many people to have a good time and be entertained.

 

[Todd520]

Then you are certainly in the right place, and did the “right thing” by changing churches.
It is more important for many people to have a good time and be entertained.

The OP asked for ‘extreme charity’ in our dialog

I only read the poster changed to build a stronger relationship with God, not have a ‘good time’

 

[timotheos]

Do reverts qualify for this thread? I left for about 20 years. Watered-down or non-existent catechesis and hipocrisy weakened my parish among young and old. And so it offered no resistance to the raging culture of the 1960s and '70s. The rare kid who wanted to seriously discuss Christianity was derogatorily labelled as a “Jesus freak” and was treated like a serious dweeb. But you have to understand, this was in the Catholic school system — eerily representative of the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s reflections on the state of Catholic education.

Bottom line - There was seemingly no one around, religious or lay person, that was grounded enough in the faith to pass it on. At the time it appeared to me there were simply no grounds for faith in God at all. In my later years I found out that there was someone who did have a clue, namely the lady next door who studied Hebrew and whose brother was an archbishop. She was always happy and seemed unconcerned about the state of the Church at the time.

I am very sympathetic toward those who have left the Church over perception of hipocrisy, ie. a disconnect between what you say you believe and what your actions say you believe. And it’s not the sinning that gets me, but the confession lines that are so short.

 

[guanophore]

We both left the church…

I was truly happy for a long time but …
I was not finding…
… it tends to lose power

Add to that priests who are tired/frustrated/burned out/have no love of what they’re doing and parishes who do nothing for community outreach/no giving and only taking and all the sex abuse scandals and it all just became overwhelming.

I felt

… me feel…

…both of us feel

… previously we simply did not feel.

I understand tradition versus scripture

 

[TedDC]

I simply came to the realization that I do not believe all of the essential tenets of the Catholic faith.

 

[Steven_John]

I have listened to a couple of stories here and praise G-d for your sharing.
Brethren i can identify with how you feel, i too have felt similar on many occasions.

If good fruit is coming from your change then it is of G-d and not of your feelings.

If good feelings are coming and no fruit beware, feelings are used by both sides.

As for some of the things you share they make me push in as i love her and want her to be as G-d wills. Yes i fellowship at AOG and some other places now also.

But if i had a love for the Catholic Church how can i leave her?? can a man leave His wife because he sees error in her?

Did Christ leave Israel when he saw error in her? or did he give more and more even though it hurts.

Brethren i urge you all, when your priest goes on and on about abortion, tell him how you feel. The next time when he is having tea at your place would be a great opportunity. If your normal dinner conversation when you have him over is not about challenging things go gentle. You have him captive if you are full of love and want to help bring it up before sweets, has he ever left before sweets?

Now if you say oh but we dont have over for tea, no wonder he is tired and wearing out.
Yeshua (pbwh) died so we dont need priests and he told us we are all brothers.

If you left the Catholic church so someone could give you what you need, rather than giving of your self where you were. You fell to the trap of satan that the priest was better than you.

I don’t love him any more than you but i need you to help me by serving him, if Our Father showed you right from wrong it is for a reason that is selfless not self serving.

“I will be who I will be”. you have free will so choose who you see

 

[hizstory]

While I joined the Catholic Church from an evangelical protestant background, a friend of mine left the Church. He was getting married to a non-catholic who had been previously married. She was in the process of joining the Catholic Church when they felt the questions they were being asked by the priest were becoming “too personal”. They decided that the “invasion of privacy” was too much. Now, they don’t go to any church although they allow their kids to sometimes attend a United Methodist Church.

Having gone through the anullment process myself, I understood how uncomfortable the questions can be, but it’s sad that someone who was raised Catholic would walk away from the faith because of that.

 

[guanophore]

The OP asked for ‘extreme charity’ in our dialog

I only read the poster changed to build a stronger relationship with God, not have a ‘good time’

I think you misunderstood. I think the compliment was for being true to oneself, not being a hypocrite.

The message did not say anything about wanting to have a “good time”. He clearly was seeking a more authentic and meaningful worship experience.