From Catholic to....

[kristie_m]

I’m a “revert” Catholic, and I’m curious about something. I often hear about “non practicing Catholics”–those who have basically left the church, but aren’t practicing any other faith, and reverts like myself. I’m wondering how many have left Catholicism to go to another faith, and what it is about that faith that drew them.

Please, no debates or Catholic bashing.

 

[GEddie]

I’m a “revert” Catholic, and I’m curious about something. I often hear about “non practicing Catholics”–those who have basically left the church, but aren’t practicing any other faith, and reverts like myself. I’m wondering how many have left Catholicism to go to another faith, and what it is about that faith that drew them.

Please, no debates or Catholic bashing.

Hello,

Although I am Catholic again, I did “deconvert” for about 6 years during my university-student age. Basically, I was amid a huge faith crisis, and was befriended by a group of “Bible Protestants” at UT Austin. I was drawn to them because of the apparent simpleness of their faith; their love of Scripture (everybody kept a Bible with them) and of our LORD; and the friendly openness of their ministry.
Because at the time, I believed all religions to be equivalent (and I went to Catholic prep school! – figure that out) and because of my faith crisis, I wound up switching to the other church. I say “Bible Protestant” because the name of the church, which was a non-denominational one, would mean nothing unless one lived in Austin, TX during those years.
Although I have returned to the Roman Church and have seen the flaws in this other type of faith, there are still things I miss about these other believers, including their zeal for Scripture, their expressed love for our LORD, and their yearning for Christ’s return and the Everlasting Life.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[JRKH]

Hello,

Although I am Catholic again, I did “deconvert” for about 6 years during my university-student age. Basically, I was amid a huge faith crisis, and was befriended by a group of “Bible Protestants” at UT Austin. I was drawn to them because of the apparent simpleness of their faith; their love of Scripture (everybody kept a Bible with them) and of our LORD; and the friendly openness of their ministry.
Because at the time, I believed all religions to be equivalent (and I went to Catholic prep school! – figure that out) and because of my faith crisis, I wound up switching to the other church. I say “Bible Protestant” because the name of the church, which was a non-denominational one, would mean nothing unless one lived in Austin, TX during those years.
Although I have returned to the Roman Church and have seen the flaws in this other type of faith, there are still things I miss about these other believers, including their zeal for Scripture, their expressed love for our LORD, and their yearning for Christ’s return and the Everlasting Life.

I think this is something that we can all benefit from. Converts and reverts from the “evangelical” faiths. Enthusiasm.

Peace
James

ICXC NIKA.

 

[SteveVH]

I’m a “revert” Catholic, and I’m curious about something. I often hear about “non practicing Catholics”–those who have basically left the church, but aren’t practicing any other faith, and reverts like myself. I’m wondering how many have left Catholicism to go to another faith, and what it is about that faith that drew them.

Please, no debates or Catholic bashing.

In my opinion, Catholics leave their faith out of ignorance. We have a huge problem in catechesis, which, thank God, is being renewed. However, I would venture to say that a majority of Catholics sitting in the pews no little about their faith and are therefore swayed easily by other faiths. “Would you like to be assured of your salvation”? If one is not prepared to answer the question from a true Catholic perspective, they can get caught up in erroneous doctrine without even knowing it. Sad, but true.

 

[Loboto-Me]

I was a cradle catholic who was catechished in a sense, off and on. I remained practicing because of the charismatic movement in my parents’ parish, then got married.

We continued on our imperfect, mistaken journey for a year or so then became complacent due to not enough education about our faith.

You won’t believe this, but my religion was the “Oprah” religion for many year. Whatever spiritualism she had on TV, I accepted and tried to practice (Talk to angels, Just be kind, Mysticism etc) I went along with all that kind of stuff for about 10 or 12 years. I called myself catholic because it was just my “culture” and that’s it.

It took me a crisis of faith, such as panic attacks, unwanted thoughts about the non-existence of God, and a visit from a demon. After a month of these attacks, I fell to my knees in the middle of the afternoon, crying and praying to God for help. I went to the point of asking Him to make me mentally disabled just to take away the conversations that would pop into my head about His non-existence. He answered my prayers that very day. I’m not mentally disabled (OK maybe my children would say different ) but by the end of that month, those conversations left me. Sometimes they’d try to pop back up and I’d pray for Him to help me, and almost immediately my faith would come back.

The Holy Spirit guided me to learn what being Catholic entailed. He guided me toward the Church, toward different Catholic Forums and the more I learned the more I knew that this was without doubt the Truth.

PS: I have not had a panic attack in 10 years, have never been on meds, and finally feel fulfilled

 

[rev_kevin]

I left the CC after going to school to be a priest. I did not agree with some of the teachings of the church. I also don’t believe that worshiping Christ is done only through the Euchrist and a Mass that is pre-written in advance and the same thing over and over. Some may say we leave out of ignorance. That is because they think if you don’t believe the way they believe you can’t know Christ because you are not a part of the “true and only church.” That to me is ignorance on their part. If one chooses to worship Christ in a different way then the CC what does it matter? We are worshiping the same God but in a different way and I don’t think God really cares if you worship him like the CC does of like for instance the way a Baptist worships him. I don’t think you will be sent to eternal damnation if you don’t do it the CC way. I like being a Baptist and the way we worship God. I feel Christ in a way I have never felt him when I was a Catholic.

 

[cyberwolf001]

Catholic to Druid

The more I learned the less I liked. The constant excuses for wrongs the Church did, the arrogance to non-Catholics.

The fact that almost every Catholic argument came down to A) An appeal to authority fallacy or B) An appeal to blind faith on pain of eternal torment. I mean seriously it is a mortal sign to doubt and question according to one of the booklets Tan puts out that has those two things in Latin them. Imprimatur and Nhil Obstate I think but probably mutilated the spelling.

The anti-life teachings (remember folks I am pro-life anti-abortion) an example being impotent people are barred from marriages even though Josephite Marriages [in which the couple swears to be celibate] are considered the holiest of marriages. On a side note that just leaves me perplexed: I’ve been told abstaining from sex on the anywhere from your first to your first three nights of marriage or even the entire honeymoon is considered an especially holy way to start a marriage, it’s like the Catholics really are anti-sex.

The constant hammering of the message that if your not suffering and are very happy with no problems your doing something wrong and are on the way to hell. Plus the fact that many Saints writings (again with those two bits of Latin saying nothing contradicts the faith in the writing) saying souls go to hell through no fault of there own (Saint Faustina I want to say it was).

I finally return to Paganism and have been better for it ever sense.

Please not the above is not up for debate in this thread given the OPs request.

 

[SSTeacher]

In my opinion, Catholics leave their faith out of ignorance.

I’ve certainly met Catholics who don’t seem to know much about what they believe or why they believe it but wouldn’t you concede the possibility that there might also exist intelligent and informed people who leave the Catholic Church not because of ignorance but because they become totally convinced that the Catholic Church is wayward and does not contain the fullness of truth?

Curiously,
Mick

 

[AJTheMan]

I came within a week of Baptism and Confirmation through the RCIA program at the local parish. I asked myself if someone could really make a decision with eternal consequences in the matter of a few years. Later I realized that even though Catholics thought I would go to heaven for being Catholic, Islam still said my destination was clear. I then realized that in some way or another, one group is going to condemn you to hell. Who is to say they are wrong? Islam could be correct just like Catholicism.

That’s why I searched for a belief that is more practical than “Pray your way out of hell.”

Buddhism teaches a path out of daily and eternal suffering.

 

[cheese_sdc]

I’m a “revert” Catholic, and I’m curious about something. I often hear about “non practicing Catholics”–those who have basically left the church, but aren’t practicing any other faith, and reverts like myself. I’m wondering how many have left Catholicism to go to another faith, and what it is about that faith that drew them.

Please, no debates or Catholic bashing.

I left Catholicism for the Unitarian Universalist church. What drew me was the attitude that everyone is welcome, no matter their personal theology or understanding of the divine.

And I’d ask that I have not bashed Catholicism, you do not bash me.

I’d like to add that, as per

wouldn’t you concede the possibility that there might also exist intelligent and informed people who leave the Catholic Church not because of ignorance but because they become totally convinced that the Catholic Church is wayward and does not contain the fullness of truth?

That I fall into this category, though I believe that no religion can contain the fullness of Truth.

 

[SSTeacher]

I came within a week of Baptism and Confirmation through the RCIA program at the local parish. I asked myself if someone could really make a decision with eternal consequences in the matter of a few years. Later I realized that even though Catholics thought I would go to heaven for being Catholic, Islam still said my destination was clear. I then realized that in some way or another, one group is going to condemn you to hell. Who is to say they are wrong? Islam could be correct just like Catholicism.

That’s why I searched for a belief that is more practical than “Pray your way out of hell.”

Buddhism teaches a path out of daily and eternal suffering.

Am I correct in thinking that Buddhism doesn’t teach condemnation of any other belief system?

Cordially,
Mick

 

[SSTeacher]

kristie_m;6449048:

I’m a “revert” Catholic, and I’m curious about something. I often hear about “non practicing Catholics”–those who have basically left the church, but aren’t practicing any other faith, and reverts like myself. I’m wondering how many have left Catholicism to go to another faith, and what it is about that faith that drew them.

Please, no debates or Catholic bashing.

I left Catholicism for the Unitarian Universalist church. What drew me was the attitude that everyone is welcome, no matter their personal theology or understanding of the divine.

And I’d ask that I have not bashed Catholicism, you do not bash me.

I’d like to add that, as per

wouldn’t you concede the possibility that there might also exist intelligent and informed people who leave the Catholic Church not because of ignorance but because they become totally convinced that the Catholic Church is wayward and does not contain the fullness of truth?

That I fall into this category, though I believe that no religion can contain the fullness of Truth.

That’s a reasonable stance.

Truthfully,
Mick

 

[Madaglan]

Orthodox. In making the transition from Catholic to Orthodox, it felt like I was becoming more Catholic.

 

[Yggdrasil]

I’m an Anglican who converted to Catholicism (for seven years) and then “reverted” back to my original fold. This actually happened quite recently—Ash Wednesday of this year, to be precise.

I left the Catholic Church because it became clear to me that she no longer bore all four of her distinguishing marks of identification. It dawned on me that I was executing all sorts of maddening mental gymnastics trying to convince myself of the Catholic faith as the “deposit of Truth.”

All the while I had been ignoring the obvious: that—as the Hindu Vedas say—“Truth is One, but sages call it variously.” I remembered that my native Episcopalian Church tended very much in favor of this perspective, and in short order I was back in the old pews.

 

[SSTeacher]

I left the Catholic Church because it became clear to me that she no longer bore all four of her distinguishing marks of identification.

Which of the four distinguishing marks did you conclude were no longer evident?

Curiously,
Mick

 

[AJTheMan]

Am I correct in thinking that Buddhism doesn’t teach condemnation of any other belief system?

Cordially,
Mick

We are to show compassion and tolerance to those who have not heard of or reject the teachings. This does not mean that Buddhism is universalism though. It is a fact of life that all* suffer and all go through the cycle of rebirth, whether they realize it or not. Some particularly bad people may even be reborn into hell.

*Except Arhants.

 

[The_Geographer]

Hello,

Although I am Catholic again, I did “deconvert” for about 6 years during my university-student age. Basically, I was amid a huge faith crisis, and was befriended by a group of “Bible Protestants” at UT Austin. I was drawn to them because of the apparent simpleness of their faith; their love of Scripture (everybody kept a Bible with them) and of our LORD; and the friendly openness of their ministry.
Because at the time, I believed all religions to be equivalent (and I went to Catholic prep school! – figure that out) and because of my faith crisis, I wound up switching to the other church. I say “Bible Protestant” because the name of the church, which was a non-denominational one, would mean nothing unless one lived in Austin, TX during those years.
Although I have returned to the Roman Church and have seen the flaws in this other type of faith, there are still things I miss about these other believers, including their zeal for Scripture, their expressed love for our LORD, and their yearning for Christ’s return and the Everlasting Life.

ICXC NIKA.

would you have happened to attend a Church of Christ? Your choice of words seem to point in that direction.

 

[GEddie]

would you have happened to attend a Church of Christ? Your choice of words seem to point in that direction.

Nope, not them. Although the CoC was located next to the UT campus, I did not in fact meet anyone from them during my years in Austin.

ICXC NIKA!

 

[The_Geographer]

Nope, not them. Although the CoC was located next to the UT campus, I did not in fact meet anyone from them during my years in Austin.

ICXC NIKA!

Okay. It’s obviously another church then. Sorry, just sounded similar in some ways. I went to Texas State University and was part of the CoC bible chair during that phase of my life. The irony is that a huge Catholic Student Center was built right next to the old puny bible chair the semester we left. I can’t tell you how many dreams I had of being at the Catholic Student Center over the years. It was a nightmare to me, very disturbing, but ultimately it must have been the Holy Spirit calling me home.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Which of the four distinguishing marks did you conclude were no longer evident?

With certainty, “apostolic” and “holy.” I am wholly convinced of the arguments against both the validity of the new rites of episcopal ordination and the sanctity of the changes to the liturgy.

Perhaps with less certainty, “one.” There has, of course, always been a healthy amount of theological debate within the Church, and this does not corrupt her unity. It’s a little problematic, however, when even the settled points of doctrine become matters of reinterpretation, are robbed of their integrity, or are all but reversed. The Church must be united not only in time, but across time—“yesterday, today, and the same for ever.” In my opinion that aspect of unity has been compromised.

The upside to all this gloom is that, now no longer a Catholic, I am free to take a broader view. I no longer worry myself over whether the Catholic Church is the sole proprietor of the Christian truth—on the contrary, I see the Christian tradition in line with the perennial Truth. As Our Lord said, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.”

I mistook a branch for the vine.