I used to be Catholic too (yeah right)

[rinnie]

It seem’s that You hear I used to be Catholic but then I changed to Protestant because…

Now here is my question?

2 question’s really. Do you think that they really were Catholic?

And how many who claim that they really were strict Catholic’s at one time don’t seem to know the faith at all. I mean none of us know everything about our faith. Granted its hard. But the ones who claim they were like Catholic forever then changed to another faith out of the blue? Something don’t sound right. Especially when they don’t know the easy questions.

 

[notsmart]

I am not sure. You want to believe that the person is for real, but you also wonder. Now, if they came from my parish and say dropped out as a young person I would tell you its very very possible. Having had a firsthand view of the religious ed in the older grades at the school (from offering to help, which was genuine, but the other reason I did not tell them was to see what was being taught) I would say pray very hard for the kids in my parish.
They may end up coming here posting like that.

 

[thomasf]

Speaking from experience:

When I used to call myself a ‘recovering catholic’, I had no idea what it meant to be catholic at all. And that’s after 11 years of ccd.

When I discovered what it meant to be a catholic, I came back to the church whole heartedly.

IMO, many of those who have left the church are in a position I used to be.

Many of those could be where I am now.

 

[rinnie]

Speaking from experience:

When I used to call myself a ‘recovering catholic’, I had no idea what it meant to be catholic at all. And that’s after 11 years of ccd.

When I discovered what it meant to be a catholic, I came back to the church whole heartedly.

IMO, many of those who have left the church are in a position I used to be.

Many of those could be where I am now.

See you are exactly what I am talking about. You put this where it needed to be. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT MEANT TO BE CATHOLIC AT ALL. I guess what I am saying is could anyone really understand the faith, really understand it and really walk away from it? My answer if NO.

Oh don’t get me wrong, its happened but they will always come back I know it. And if they don’t they never knew it at all. Can you agree with that? But don’t get me wrong I think for some, if they didn’t walk away for awhile they could never understand what they lost. And when they do come back they are better Catholic’s them some who never left. I have seen it. I see it everyday. For some its kind of like I never knew how bad a tooth could hurt, because I never had a toothache. But I got my first toothache last week. (to me they say God never punishes you, My Mother always said he just gives you understanding. Call in what you will, I call it punishment) BUT IT WORKS.

There is always a reason. But answer me this. And please tell the truth, have you ever found more truth in any other Religion? Even if you say Yes its okay, And I promise I won’t attack you. And ask anyone to not do that. I won’t even question you again?

 

[thomasf]

When I walked away from the church I just gave up on religion. I tried for a long time to latch on with other denominations but it never fit right for me. That led me back to being catholic. IMO if I hadn’t gone away from the church I wouldn’t have the love I have for it now.

I give a lot of credit to me coming back to the little amount of faith formation that actually stuck with me. If it weren’t for that and the cursory understanding of the faith I had, I wouldn’t have given the church a chance again. But many people don’t even have that, and have nothing pulling them back to the faith. That is the real problem, so many catholics that walked away have no understanding and nothing to pull them back to the church. And there are some who have hardened their hearts against the church because of what they knew growing up, whether true or false. How do you reach them?

 

[Drilling4Truth]

I talk with a lot of former Catholics who echo the same sentiments described above. They didn’t know the Bible, their CCD or youth group was more of a social gathering, their parishes were run by internal cliques instead of the priest, etc, etc.

I think there exists many reasons for this sad situation. One is a failure of the local parishes, and this can be contributed to many causes. If religious educations isn’t taken seriously, how can we expect young people to take religion seriously? Vocations might be mentioned in passing, but how many parishes put in the work to foster and nourish vocations within the youth? Some Catholics have gotten it into their mind that we need to entertain youth groups with pizza, rock music, “youth friendly” Mass to keep them interested. It’s my belief that this approach cannot compete with the constant bombardment young people get from modern media. All this party mindset does is weaken the seriousness of Catholicism and dilute the message. In today’s world of easy answers, why not confront the youth with the hard questions and give them the tools to answer it themselves? Young people love a challenge and crave direction. Can’t we give them both?

This situation can also be blamed on the individuals themselves. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by former Catholics who say they never knew their Bible until they became protestant. My gentle response is, why didn’t you take the time as a Catholic to learn the Bible in the first place? If one is not willing to put in the work to grow spiritually, then how can one ever expect to gain the Fruits of the Holy Spirit? A lot of people want religion to be non-specific and gift wrapped in a fun package. This is the modern instant gratification mindset and it’s very difficult to overcome. These are the kinds of people who leave the Church of their childhood to go looking for whatever quasi-religious motivational speaker is writing in his grocery store check-out aisle released book.

This entire situations saddens me a great deal because I was neither born nor raised Catholic. I worked hard to become one and when I hear people denigrate the Church I’m preparing to devout my life to, it’s tough to take. And it’s often hard not to show charity in talking with these individuals.

 

[MarcoPolo]

My experience with those who have left the faith overwhelmingly fall into one of two categories:

a) Obviously did not understand Catholic teaching. (whether from poor catechesis or their own fault may vary)

b) Had an underlying personal issue with the Church (i.e. Church was a threat to their sinful lifestyle, they couldn’t get an annulment, can’t submit to authority, etc…)

There are surely some who understand Catholic teaching and leave, however, in good faith, for the path the Lord has set out for someone may take strange routes before they end up finally in His arms.

 

[wynnejj]

Our Lord ranted and raved about “Hypocrisy” - the “Holier than thou” brand of apologetics that do not measure up in practice. One of the saints said “Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.”. I’m sure there are a goodly percentage of people who leave the Church simply because they see the congregation receive the Holy Eucharistic weekly, yet their personal experiences may not be very good with the cause & effect on the congregation. With the clerical sex abuse scandals, knowing that they celebrate the Mass daily, it is understandable that some will find this particularly disquieting to their faith. And, with so many practicing Catholics voting for candidates who openly support abortion-on-demand, in view of their reception of the Holy Eucharist weekly, one has to wonder about cause & effect of receiving the Real Presence of the essence of all goodness.

Even if one studies and studies the positions of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, when one experiences a parish where nearly every participant at Sunday Mass receives the Holy Eucharist, yet a prayer petition or word is not spoken in Defense of Human Life, one wonders whether the Truth of the Consecration is like the story of the “Emperor’s New Clothes”.

 

[jmcrae]

When kids are learning religion as a subject in school, it gets treated as a subject in school - they memorize for the test, and then forget about it.

How do people not remember or understand what they learned in Religion for half an hour every day for 12 years?

Exactly the same way they can barely remember how to read or write, balance a cheque book, or locate their own home city on a map, after 12 years of at least half an hour every day of Math, English, and Social Studies.

Unless religion is part of their every-day experience - that is, unless they have a personal prayer life - they will never learn their faith. They have to start with a desire to be in a living relationship with God their Creator. If it doesn’t start there, then it won’t start at all.

Just as love of reading starts in the home, so does love of God, and love of the Church. No amount of book-learning does any good, without a foundation of personal interest and passion for the subject.

 

[script77]

It seem’s that You hear I used to be Catholic but then I changed to Protestant because…

Now here is my question?

2 question’s really. Do you think that they really were Catholic?

And how many who claim that they really were strict Catholic’s at one time don’t seem to know the faith at all. I mean none of us know everything about our faith. Granted its hard. But the ones who claim they were like Catholic forever then changed to another faith out of the blue? Something don’t sound right. Especially when they don’t know the easy questions.

A classmate of mine in Med School (all those years ago) said to me once: ‘‘l used to be Catholic then l saw the light…’’ My response to her was: ‘‘That light whatever it was, blinded you like a deer in the lights…not all ‘lights’ are for your benefit…’’

Catholics turned Protestants never really knew their Faith, this l have confirmed from several friends. They thought of the Hail Mary as vain repetitions of words, the images and statues as idolatry and the hymns as ‘boring’…Opening the Bible, and showing them the words of the Hail Mary that came from the mouth of an Archangel, and the direct request of God for the lsraelites to build Cherubs with wide wings in the temple for the Ark, and the significance of the Crucifix (absent in many non-Catholic churches) as the centrepoint of our salvation leaves them very baffled indeed. Which is not my wish, but really to let them become introspective enough to realise that bandwagon abandon of Catholic doctrine for a ‘‘better’’ form of worship in the Protestant way when based on certain believed ‘‘truths’’ may not actually hold water after all…

Selah.

 

[damooster]

My boss was a devout Catholic for over 40 years, but stopped practicing because he married a woman who was previously married and never got an annulment. He also said something about the church wouldn’t recognize her children and labeled them as bastards or something like that (not sure what he was talking about…anyone have any ideas? he won’t talk about it any more).

He taught Sunday school for the Church too, but now shuns all religion. He’s giving me a lot of grief for becoming Catholic.

 

[graceandglory]

It seem’s that You hear I used to be Catholic but then I changed to Protestant because…

Now here is my question?

2 question’s really. Do you think that they really were Catholic?

And how many who claim that they really were strict Catholic’s at one time don’t seem to know the faith at all. I mean none of us know everything about our faith. Granted its hard. But the ones who claim they were like Catholic forever then changed to another faith out of the blue? Something don’t sound right. Especially when they don’t know the easy questions.

Yes, once Catholic always Catholic. I used to be a very faithful Catholic. The grace you receive at Baptism stays with you forever.

Because of the scandal of the sex abuse and the new agey teachings I learned in my Catholic upbringing, the homosexual priests, the women priest movement, an alcoholic and agnostic priest in my Catholic university and the sin in the media, I left the Catholic Church for twenty years.

I was a faithful bible believing protestant. During all of those years, please forgive me for saying this, I saw “Catholics” in my family, and among co-workers and on TV, and I would think, “Heck, I’m a better Catholic than they are, but I don’t call myself Catholic.”

I have come full circle, having discovered the truth of the Catholic Church in the Bible that I was devoted to reading for those 20 yrs.

Yes, my protestant “testimony” always referred to my being raised Catholic and never having a “born again” experience as a protestant.

So, the answer to your question, is yes, I was a faithful to the end Catholic until I was scandalized, then I became a faithful to the end evangelical. Now I am a faithful to death Catholic and will never change. I am Home.

 

[graceandglory]

Catholics turned Protestants never really knew their Faith, this l have confirmed from several friends. They thought of the Hail Mary as vain repetitions of words, the images and statues as idolatry .

This might be true of some Catholics, but not all. In all my years of Catholic school and CCD, including Catholic high school religion and religion at a Catholic university, I was never taught how to DEFEND my faith. I did know my faith however, and the thread that unified my whole experience as a “lapsed” Catholic, or an evangelical, was my Catholic faith. Looking back at so many years, I was Catholic throughout. There must be something to be said about saving and sanctifying graces that came with my Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confession, Communion, and then Confirmation.

I think it’s scandalous that Catholic families who spend thousands on “Catholic” education, don’t even get some kind of assurance that the children are being taught the faith.

I have other friends who left the Catholic Church for the same reason I did. Scandal. They love and serve God to the best of their knowledge and ability. It’s amazing how Catholic they are, but they are missing out on the Source and Summit of our Faith, the Eucharist.

 

[graceandglory]

**There are surely some who understand Catholic teaching and leave, however, in good faith, for the path the Lord has set out for someone may take strange routes before they end up finally in His arms. **

Hi Marco Polo, I hope my recent posts help you see another type of person who left the Catholic Church.

This end part of your post makes me smile and put a tear in my eyes. I really thought I left in order to worship in Spirit and Truth. There was much error mixed in with the Catholicism I was raised in.

Rejoice and be glad at the new apologetics that is spreading like wild fire throughout the church and especially via the internet.

People should not blame “the little ones” for leaving the faith when they have been scandalized. I think Christ was clear who is to blame in those circumstances.

 

[mom4truth]

If people can read, they it’s their responsibility to learn about the Faith. Don’t blame it on the Church. People in the Church are human and imperfect. Ask for the desire to learn the true faith. Get on the internet, go to the library, whatever. Get over the scandals! Scandals come and go throughout history, Jesus never leaves us, we leave Him.

 

[rinnie]

This might be true of some Catholics, but not all. In all my years of Catholic school and CCD, including Catholic high school religion and religion at a Catholic university, I was never taught how to DEFEND my faith. I did know my faith however, and the thread that unified my whole experience as a “lapsed” Catholic, or an evangelical, was my Catholic faith. Looking back at so many years, I was Catholic throughout. There must be something to be said about saving and sanctifying graces that came with my Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confession, Communion, and then Confirmation.

I think it’s scandalous that Catholic families who spend thousands on “Catholic” education, don’t even get some kind of assurance that the children are being taught the faith.

I have other friends who left the Catholic Church for the same reason I did. Scandal. They love and serve God to the best of their knowledge and ability. It’s amazing how Catholic they are, but they are missing out on the Source and Summit of our Faith, the Eucharist.

You know I think you hit the nail on the head, they did learn it but DEFEND IT thats something else. We were always taught never to argue or really discuss other religions. Now when we do and defend it we are mean you name it.

 

[KingAlfred]

It seem’s that You hear I used to be Catholic but then I changed to Protestant because…

Now here is my question?

2 question’s really. Do you think that they really were Catholic?

And how many who claim that they really were strict Catholic’s at one time don’t seem to know the faith at all. I mean none of us know everything about our faith. Granted its hard. But the ones who claim they were like Catholic forever then changed to another faith out of the blue? Something don’t sound right. Especially when they don’t know the easy questions.

Sure. People can change. Change is a constant in our lives. Every time we breathe, we change.

 

[graceandglory]

If people can read, they it’s their responsibility to learn about the Faith. Don’t blame it on the Church. People in the Church are human and imperfect. Ask for the desire to learn the true faith. Get on the internet, go to the library, whatever. Get over the scandals! Scandals come and go throughout history, Jesus never leaves us, we leave Him.

Thanks to the internet, I did come back to the Church. No thanks to the library though. There still aren’t any good Catholic books there.

I could read. I knew that to be Catholic was to be faithful to Scriptures, to live holy, to pray, to attend Church, to believe in priestly celibacy, to be chaste and to believe in Authority, and to have a gospel of life. In the media, I read that 75% of priests were sexually active during their priesthood. I read that like half the priests were homosexual. 80% of Catholics used Artificial birth control!!! That was the “church” I left.

“Get over it?” It’s my story! There’s nothing to get over! I never left Christ. I was eighteen. I had my sacraments. I had parents, godparents and a confirmation sponsor, who could have stepped up to the plate and done their job. Not one did. If ANYONE shared with me the truth of the Catholic Church, I would not have left. I would definitely have changed parishes, but I wouldn’t have left. That was not where my heart was. I wanted a truer purer Church. I wanted to fellowship with Catholics who knew that we were Christians. I did not want to associate with what I now call “Cafeteria Catholics.”

When I was a practicing protestant, I even shared the sacramental view of marriage with folks in my church groups. One couple stopped using birth control after that evening in my home.

 

[mom4truth]

g & g,

I guess I just don’t get your point.

 

[graceandglory]

g & g,

I guess I just don’t get your point.

Mom4Truth,

This is the age of information. Type a question into Google and you can get an answer. Several years ago, I did that, and started learning Catholic apologetics.

Our Church knows that you can’t just get the faith by osmosis. It must be shown to you. I didn’t meet a faithful Catholic until I was homeschooling and met a faithful orthodox Catholic family through that venue. (They are now my children’s Godparents, btw)

We have a system set up where parents say they will raise their children Catholic. Then if they are unable or don’t for whatever reason, we have a set of two godparents. If that doesn’t work, then we have Sponsors at our Confirmation.

At any point in there, when I was sharing some of my thoughts, back when I was a teenager, and still in communication with all of them, any one of them could have stepped up to the plate to show me the truth of the Catholic Church.

Not one of them did. I was an on fire Christian, and would have made a good Catholic missionary, or even considered a vocation, and as a young single woman, I might have even visited some communities of Sisters. No one, not even my priest when I went to talk to him, said anything. No, I talked to two different priests. I had some questions about apologetics that I didn’t know how to answer that I heard from evangelical friends in high school. I asked my mom, she didn’t know how to answer. But she did do the next best thing. She had me write my apologetics questions down and drove me to visit the priest. I stood at the door of the rectory, getting cigarette smoke in my face, and the priest didn’t even know what a brown scapular was.

I’m not omniscient. I was very teachable and the church failed. I asked my questions and I didn’t get any answers.

I share my story because I am not alone. Thousands of young Catholics who love Christ and love Mary and want to be faithful Christians and live converted lives, leave the Church every year.

Jeff Cavins, a Catholic author and apologist, has a very similar story to mine, that he writes in his book, My Life on the Rock. He even became a protestant pastor before reconverting to the Catholic Church.