Im no longer going to be a Catholic

[qui_est_ce]

Catholicism has not lost Europe, Europe has lost its Catholicism. Big difference! And look at the wonderful, beautiful things Europe has gained since turning its back on its faith:

I think Gurney was quoting SpiritMeadow, but hasn’t figured out the “quote” thing yet.

 

[notacat]

I was in and out of the Catholic Church in a matter of a few years. While taking the classes I had so many questions and was told that I would understand everything once I joined the Catholic Church. Well, that understanding didn’t happen, and I left the church.

This happened a long time ago, and I am now a born again Christian with a residual fondness for Catholics.

 

[jmcrae]

We have fish fries on all Fridays in Lent and there is beer served. I don’t believe you are required to fast from alcohol on Good Friday - as long as you take it with your meal.
Well, that’s true, I forgot about that.

Aren’t we required to fast from all food? I know we are allowed to have two snack-sized meals, but a fish fry doesn’t seem like a “small meal” to me.

 

[jmcrae]

I was in and out of the Catholic Church in a matter of a few years. While taking the classes I had so many questions and was told that I would understand everything once I joined the Catholic Church. Well, that understanding didn’t happen, and I left the church.

Maybe they didn’t know the answers, either - I think people forget the fact that RCIA volunteers are just people from the parish - they don’t have theology degrees, or any kind of specialized training - and in far too many cases, they themselves have been in the Church for only a very short time, having converted through last year’s RCIA or the year before.

This happened a long time ago, and I am now a born again Christian with a residual fondness for Catholics.

I didn’t think “born again Christians” offered any kind of convert training at all.

 

[ASimpleSinner]

Ha ha fooled you…
But seriously, what i want to know is, why do people leave the Catholic religion.
Please explain your reasons why you left…
Thanks
Dolphy

I didn’t leave, I lapsed.

Why?

Sex. (I wanted to have it)
Drugs. (I wanted to try em)
Rock n’ Roll lifestyle. (I wanted to party hard Sat night…)
Wanted to sleep in on Sundays.

MOSTLY, I didn’t want to be confronted with the fact that what I was doing was wrong.

Already actually knew that… But I thought staying away would keep my conscience quiet… or at least inaudible.

It didn’t work. I am back.

 

[SpiritMeadow]

It will always be the only Church that was ever founded by Jesus Christ. That is the only thing that actually matters. Everything else is unimportant. If they ask me to stand on my head every Wednesday and sing Yankee Doodle to remain in full communion, I will do it, out of love for Jesus. Nothing else matters.

If believing that makes you feel good, then believe it, but I was taught otherwise by Catholic theologians and I don’t. They are a church, a church of fallible human beings. If you wish to grant them the power to tell you what you should believe against your own conscience then again, so be it. I for one will not stand on my head and sing yankee doodle to remain. I believe God gave me a conscience too.

 

[SpiritMeadow]

Sorry folks, I don’t in any way mean to be rude. I am not interesting in debating my decision at all. I’ve been debating here for months. I am simply tired of much of what I find here, and it reflects back on a church I love very much but I find in such total disarray as to not be healthy.

There are many people here with a strong arrogance that they are first, and best and that is the end of the story. They denigrate with virtually every sentence any other faith, any other person not agreeing with them as wrong. They tell them they have a duty to admonish the sinner. It’s but a mast for bigotry and self-importance in many cases.

I don’t go to the Anglicans because they tell me what I want to hear. I go to them because they reflect my on beliefs. And oddly enough, those beliefs were largely formed in association with religious congregations such as the Sisters of St. Joseph and the dominicans. Both are filled with women who deeply share many of my beliefs and work hard for true justice within the church. I don’t wish that fight. I want to worship in love and respect for people of all natures and cultures. I don’t choose to call people disordered or separate them from sacraments. I fevently believe that Jesus did not do so either. I do believe that the RCC will change in time, but probably not in my life time. If it does not, it will cease to exist, or do so in such small numbers as to be insignificant. you deride billions of people when you insist that there is but one way to God.

I’m not interested in discussion. I posted here, simply because I have some friends here, who can know why I don’t return.

 

[MsOKing]

Ha ha fooled you…
But seriously, what i want to know is, why do people leave the Catholic religion.
Please explain your reasons why you left…
Thanks
Dolphy

I have started seeing a priest, as I am discouraged with so many rules with in the church. I have not left…

I have friends who are fornicating according to the CC even though they are married.

I have friends whose marriages have been put to the test because of NFP & abstinence and celibacy.

I have friends who cannot take communion because they are remarried without annulments.

I know of elderly people who refuse to take communion that is brought home to them. (they feel they are so unworthy to receive, since they have been homebound for health reasons and have missed masses)

I have friends who are told that only the CC church holds the Authentic Eucharist and their Eucharist is invalid.

I have friends who have been told by Catholics that their loved ones who have died are in hell.

I have friends who wish to receive Jesus, but never do, because they are told they must be obedient to everything the CC teaches in order to do so.

The list could go on…

 

[jmcrae]

If believing that makes you feel good, then believe it, but I was taught otherwise by Catholic theologians and I don’t.

What “theologian” told you that the Church was not founded by Christ? I look here, and I see Christ founding the Catholic Church. It doesn’t take a degree in theology to follow a chain of command.

 

[minkymurph]

Apologies if I am repeating what anyone has already said but on the subject of ‘what’s wrong with a Protestant wedding;’ define ‘Protestant wedding.’ There are so many different views of marriage within Protestant denominations that I’m not sure I could define ‘Protestant wedding.’ I know for sure that the Church recognises Church of Ireland marriages, and baptisms, as they are sacramental. They don’t recognize others as the parties entering into the marriage do not believe marriage is a sacrament and neither does the person performing the marriage. Therefore, how can it be a sacramental marriage? Performing a wedding ceremony in a Church does not in itself make a marriage valid in God’s eyes.

Back to the thread, I know many who have left the Church due to disillusionment. Does the Catechism of the Catholic Church not teach that if the Church is a contributary factor in relation to that person loosing faith, the Church is more reprehensible than that person? Jesus said, if you cause one of these little one’s to loose faith, you may as well have a millstone placed around your neck and be thrown into the sea. (Or something like that). Jesus was not saying, ‘go ahead and loose faith and that’s fine by me.’ Therefore, if someone looses faith and we as individuals have been a mitigating factor in their loss of faith, we are more culpable. That’s why I believe we should be careful with our words and actions in relation to another’s faith or belief. Our intention may be well meaning but there are I believe, more serious repurcussions for those who are guilty of causing another person to loose faith.

I always mention it in confession as I may not know I’ve caused another person to loose faith.

 

[1234]

There is a famous saying that goes: “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” The Church is very welcoming of all sinners, because we are all sinners. But the Church has a duty to teach against sin, be it greed, lust, pride, or in the cases you cited, having sex outside of the bounds of Holy Matrimony.

No one is asking you to. But if you accept the Bible and Tradition, you will realize that your Christian conscience should be formed by these things. We cannot overlook passages such as Romans 1, the Genesis destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and other Biblical passages condemning the sins of practicing homosexuality or any other sex outside of marriage.

The Anglican Church was founded in the 16th century because the English King, Henry VIII, was sad that he could not get an annulment. (Died, beheaded, died, died, beheaded, survived I believe the rhyme goes for the fates of his six wives.)

Anybody can be a blind follower no matter where they are. If you want an example of critical church thinkers, look at St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. The Doctors of the Church were people who did a lot of thinking and wrote on Catholicism. People like G.K. Chesterton and J.R.R. Tolkien did too.

It is sad that people only give lip service to the Church. But what is equally sad is those who pick and choose what they like from the Gospels. What is extreme rightism? Is it stating what the Bible and Tradition state? Contraception implies that conception is a mistake, a broken system that needs fixing. God forming you in your womb can never be a mistake.

You will also notice as an Episcopalian that you are in a church that is in the midst of a huge riff over the ordination of a practicing gay bishop. As of right now, episcopalian parishes are joining more traditional (and dare I say, Catholic-like?) dioceses.

Secularism is to blame for that. Catholicism and Christianity as a whole for that matter is designed to challenge the world we live in. Jesus was a radical. So are we. The problem is, sticking to morals is very unpopular in the Western world. Rather, it is more popular to give lip service to God, referring to him in vague, “inclusive” worship services than present the true sacrifice of the Mass and the Eucharist. It is quite popular to forget God and shun His Word in favor of secular inclusiveness, confusing loving the sinner with loving the sin. However, the Church is growing in the East and in Africa. Maybe someday soon these places will be the new centers of Catholic thought, replacing cities such as Loyola in Europe.

The word orthodox means " adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion". Is that an insult? To adhere to the tenets of a religion which Christ himself built? I take it rather as a compliment.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.

All Christianity is growing in Asia and Africa. Any religion would, surrounded by poverty, overpopulation, and repressive regimes with periodic genocide. What else do they have? The Anglican communion is thriving there.

From what I hear, the pentacostals are making serious inroads in all of America south of El Paso.

Tradition is the worst reason to support something. It’s Traditional to hate Jews. It’s Traditional to burn witches. There’s a lot of Tradition in the Roman Catholic Church’s large closetful of skeletons which is now conveniently forgotten.

–where is contraception forbidden in the New Testament?

 

[LittleDeb]

–where is contraception forbidden in the New Testament?

If you are really interested in the answer to this, let’s chat. I have about 130 talks by an amazing theologian that I would love to introduce you to.

Seriously, I used to ask the same question. God gave me a deluge of an answer. My life is so much richer because of it.

 

[mercygate]

–where is contraception forbidden in the New Testament?

Romans, chapter 1.

 

[notacat]

Maybe they didn’t know the answers, either - I think people forget the fact that RCIA volunteers are just people from the parish

Actually, many of my questions were directed to a priest.

Since then I’ve found many of the Catholic Church’s answers to those questions. It’s much easier to find answers on the internet than it was when I was searching. Yes, I know that shows my age

 

[Christy74]

Ha ha fooled you…
But seriously, what i want to know is, why do people leave the Catholic religion.
Please explain your reasons why you left…
Thanks
Dolphy

I leaving tomorrow to join the only Apostolic, Historical Church which has maintained the Fullness of the original deposit of Faith/Teaching. The Orthodox Churches.

 

[qui_est_ce]

Actually, many of my questions were directed to a priest.

Since then I’ve found many of the Catholic Church’s answers to those questions. It’s much easier to find answers on the internet than it was when I was searching. Yes, I know that shows my age

Is it a possiblity that you didn’t like the answers the priest gave you, and the internet gave you the ones you wanted to hear?

 

[jmcrae]

I leaving tomorrow to join the only Apostolic, Historical Church which has maintained the Fullness of the original deposit of Faith/Teaching. The Orthodox Churches.

Which one? Greek? Russian? Ukranian? Polish National?

 

[notacat]

Is it a possiblity that you didn’t like the answers the priest gave you, and the internet gave you the ones you wanted to hear?

I don’t really think so as most of the answers I’ve found on the internet match the answers that I was given when my questions were addressed.

 

[Sideline]

I don’t really remember the exact reason I had for leaving the Church, but I know what I was doing.

I was out on a long walk. I was feeling miserable… which wasn’t all that uncommon an occurrence. I wasn’t walking to any particular destination. I found myself about 3 blocks away from my church and I decided that I would head in that direction. I hadn’t been to Church in about 8 months, but I still considered myself Catholic, sort of.

I didn’t even know if it would be open, but I found myself practically running to the door as I was getting closer. I was so desperate for some connection with God. A new priest, whom I had never met, was hearing confession. I went in and told him all of my sins. It was an unsettling experience. There I was telling him all of these mortal sins that I was supposed to be upset about, but wasn’t. And telling him things that I felt really guilty about, but he told me weren’t really sins.

I don’t remember exactly how many prayers I was supposed to say, but I think it was something like 2 Our fathers and 3 Hail Marys (something terribly onerous like that). Even with so few prayers, I lost count of how many I had said. Usually, I would have just started over again. But I couldn’t be bothered.

I realized that it didn’t matter if I said 1 or 10 million prayers. It was a complete waste of time. God didn’t care, the priest didn’t care, my family didn’t care, and I didn’t care. I could knelt there until they kicked me out, uttering every prayer I had ever learnt and it would have profited me nothing.

I hadn’t completely given up on a god at that point, but I knew by the time I left the church that I wasn’t Catholic anymore.

 

[ASimpleSinner]

I leaving tomorrow to join the only Apostolic, Historical Church which has maintained the Fullness of the original deposit of Faith/Teaching. The Orthodox Churches.

One wonders your criteria… But seriously, I thought you had already left.

You remain in our prayers.