Leaving the Church

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Casilda said:
From baptism we have an indelible mark on us, that we belong to Christ. We may reject Him but He is always there to take us back. So you may leave and the door is always open for your return.

That said, I did not find an open door at any Roman Catholic Church. Which may be what your question is referring to. I believe there are 23 Eastern churches in communion with Rome. You may want to try one of them. I did 😃 so, I did officially leave.
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You never left then. You are still Catholic. Just because you are Eastern Catholic doesn’t mean you left the church.
 
I’m not advising it but you just stop attending Mass etc. We are not Mormons or JW’s we won’t come after you. It’s your decision to sever yourself. We are all responsible for our own salvation journey. Although, once baptised you are Catholic forever. You would simply be viewed as a lost Catholic. Sheep who wandered from the flock.
 
Ormond said:
you could always do something to get yourself excommunicated.
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Excommunication does not make one any the less a member of the Catholic Church. It is a serious penalty designed to urge the person to repentance.
 
Ormond said:
Hmm… If there is no formal process available, you could always do something to get yourself excommunicated. It would however be much simpler to just walk away. I’m unaware of any downside to that.
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Excommunication does not “kick you out of the Church”. It is put in place as a penalty to help you realize that you have do a great disservice to yourself and to God. It calls you to repent so that you are once again full of saving grace.
 
Casilda said:
From baptism we have an indelible mark on us, that we belong to Christ. We may reject Him but He is always there to take us back. So you may leave and the door is always open for your return.

That said, I did not find an open door at any Roman Catholic Church. Which may be what your question is referring to. I believe there are 23 Eastern churches in communion with Rome. You may want to try one of them. I did 😃 so, I did officially leave.
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How does this make you non-Catholic???. My wife was born and raised in Lebanon. She is from the Maronite rite and I am from the Latin rite. We are both Catholic and will go to either service depending on what is happening any given day. Your post is a bit odd!🤷
 
Todd977 said:
The bad news is there is no way to formally defect from the Catholic Church. The good news is that should you ever change your mind and want to live as a Catholic again all you will need to do to is go to confession.
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And this is a good thing. Because one never ceases to be a Catholic there is no need for a formal ceremony of re-reception or anything. Just go to Confession, which only Catholics (generally speaking) can do.
 
I would be surprised if this is the first time a Catholic has wanted to join their church. Ask them what they need. Im surprised that they need some kind of formal documentation???

There is no formal way of resigning from the Catholic church.
 
Canon 1364 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states:

§1. Without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 194, §1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication; in addition, a cleric can be punished with the penalties mentioned in ⇒ can. 1336, §1, nn. 1, 2, and 3.

Denying even one dogma of the Catholic Faith (e.g. papal infallibility) means that you are a heretic, and thus incur a latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication.

t86ware,

Please don’t leave the Catholic Church. I am coming almost the opposite way than you are - I left the church about 5 years ago and for the last 4 years have been attending a Reformed Church. The thing that has led me back was reading about church history. The Early Church was Catholic - Jimmy Akin’s book The Fathers Know Best made a great impression on me.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of Protestant denominations out there, each claiming to interpret the Bible on their own. Jesus prayed that His followers might be one (St John 17:21) and said that there would be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16).
 
Casilda said:
From baptism we have an indelible mark on us, that we belong to Christ. We may reject Him but He is always there to take us back. So you may leave and the door is always open for your return.

That said, I did not find an open door at any Roman Catholic Church. Which may be what your question is referring to. I believe there are 23 Eastern churches in communion with Rome. You may want to try one of them. I did 😃 so, I did officially leave.
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24, Eritrean Cathlic Church was raised to a Sui Iuris by Pope Francis in 2015
 
ProdigalSun said:
How does this make you non-Catholic???. My wife was born and raised in Lebanon. She is from the Maronite rite and I am from the Latin rite. We are both Catholic and will go to either service depending on what is happening any given day. Your post is a bit odd!🤷
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“Roman” Catholic is often used by Eastern Christians to refer to those Catholics that do not belong to the “uniate” churches.
 
By the way, to the OP. I am curious to know why you would like to go to the Weslyan church. (If I am reading you correctly) If you’d be able to, please start a thread elsewhere so that we may discuss this.
 
As others have said, you’re asking the wrong people. If you were a member of a Catholic parish, perhaps you could turn in your unused offertory envelopes.

I think there are many Catholics who defect from the RCC, for their own reasons. I’ve never found a reason I wanted to leave.

You’ve left us in suspense about the reason for your departure.

My neighbor’s adult son (~60 yrs old) got married and joined his wife in a Lutheran church. he thought the pastor was friendlier and the ceremony was less expensive than his Catholic pastor wanted for the service.

I am reading Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation titled Amoris Laetitia (the joy of love) and it talks about what goes on at a catholic wedding. The bride and groom are the actual ministers of marriage, and they really can take their vows anyplace (skydiving, scuba diving, etc.) but the document explains the reasons for*** a public profession of vows in the Church before witnesses and God.*** Well, actually, that’s the reason for being married in a church – to make those vows publicly to each other.

Would you say that you have a mature understanding of the teachings of the Church? have you read the catechism? Can you cite the paragraphs that you disagree with? or, are there personality issues involved? (I moved into a different parish because my lifelong parish was not the “welcoming” parish it professed to be, up to and including the pastor.)
 
There IS a process called “deliverance ministries” which
treats Roman Catholicism as a “cult” and you need to
be “delivered” from it’s doctrines, I was approached by
a pentecostal woman who gave me a “number” to call
should I decide to leave the Roman Catholic Church,
I was also at that time(Christmas 2014) considering
declaring myself an Agnostic. But, thanx be to Christ
who kept me from doing either.
 
t68ware said:
I am seeking to rejoin the Wesleyan Church, which i belonged to in my past, but they need affirmation I am no longer considered a member of the RCC. That is why i asked.
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Since that isn’t going to really happen in the way they want it to [they have not had that experience hence their request] you should print out a copy of this thread so they will understand what they are asking for really isn’t done. That should be proof enough. I hope you change your mind.
 
👍
esieffe said:
Since that isn’t going to really happen in the way they want it to [they have not had that experience hence their request] you should print out a copy of this thread so they will understand what they are asking for really isn’t done. That should be proof enough. I hope you change your mind.
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Oneofthewomen said:
You didn’t “leave” the Church, you transferred rites. Big difference.
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technically Maronites are not a rite, they use the West Syriac (or Syrian) Rite. The sui iuris is what changed, although for some reason that has never been quite explain to me it is quite common to use the word rite to describe those even though they are different realities. I think the comment was about the term Roman Catholic since not all Catholics are Latins
 
I’m sure that our Wesleyan friends will allow the OP to attend, make contributions, and participate in the church picnic.

But I think the problem is that he already defected from the Wesleyans, and they want to be assured that he’s going to stay committed before they grant him membership again.

My guess is that if he attends faithfully for a couple of years, they’ll let him back into good standing.

Unless he changes his mind, and decides again in favor of the Catholic Church.
 
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