I converted from Mormonism to Catholicism. I now look back and realize that a large percentage of converts to Mormonism came from Catholicism. I didn’t have a religion before I became Mormon, but what gives with all of these Catholics becoming Mormon? I really can’t imagine why a Catholic would become Mormon. Almost all of these ex-Catholic Mormons bring up the Trinity as being a reason they have become Mormon – they almost all rejected the doctrine of the Trinity as “incomprehensible” while the Mormon Godhead makes sense to them. I’ve found just the opposite. It is not as if the ex-Catholic Mormons converted to Mormonism so they could sin more.
I was baptized and raised a Catholic, with very Catholic aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. But my parents left the Church and ended up checking out all kinds of religions, dumping me with the Jehovah’s Witnesses when I was in my teens while they left to divorce and pursue more self-centered interests. After several years in that group I returned to the Catholic Church as an adult.
I have wondered the same thing for a while since the situation is similar with those who are converted to become Jehovah’s Witnesses.
While not exhaustive, I have been able to p(name removed by moderator)oint a few reasons why so many Catholics end up Mormons or Jehovah’s WItnesses…or seemingly so. Part of it is just an illusion, so to speak.
1. So many converts are Catholics because the majority of people are Catholic.
If you had a basket filled with marbles of many colors, but the majority of them were red, you are likely to grab more red marbles with every handful than any other colors. It’s just simple math. The Christian majority is Catholic, so that’s reason number one (even though these religions usually ignore this fact and make it sound as if the larger number is due to other reasons). You have less converts from other religions because they have less members. Less marbles, less chance for one of them to show up in your hand.
2. Number of Catholic Vs. Quality of Catholic.
What kind of Catholic becomes a convert to another religion has a lot to say regarding what kind of people might make up that new religion of choice. I know for the Jehovah’s Witness the profile is a non-educated (no college), non-professional Catholic, one who was mostly Catholic because they were baptized as one and little more. Practically none of the converts were regular attendees at Mass. None in my experience had been keeping up with Catholic religious education as adults or were engaged in the apostolate.
We would teach these people a thing or two and they would be amazed that “such-and-such” was in the Bible (they would also admit they never read the Bible before as Catholics). This “enlightenment” would be seen by many converts as “proof” that their previous religion was wrong, “otherwise I wouldn’t have had a need to be enlightened, right?”
But the truth is that these people hadn’t bothered to take advantage of what the Church offered in the first place. Most of these converts would latter burn-out soon and end up being very uneducated about the Jehovah’s Witness faith. Ingrained habits don’t wash out. If they weren’t very good Catholics to begin with, they usually ended up being just as serious about their new religion after the initial excitement wore off.
3. Anti-catholic Propaganda
Showing off the number of Catholic converts and speaking against the Catholic Church is actually a form of anti-catholicism that gets so firmly fixed into some of these other religions that they don’t realize they are passing on harangued habits to non-Catholics.
It’s a very bad habit that sometimes doesn’t get noticed when people leave these religions like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. They take for granted these religions’ anti-catholic views and keep them. So we might “notice” more Catholics leaving the Church because we were trained to notice and make an anti-catholic issue of it.
How often do we notice Presbyterians leaving their faith? Do we talk about all the Methodists leaving their church to become members of LDS and the JWs? Does it even have the same amount of “punch” to boast about them?
No. It’s because these religions (though the LDS has lately been making strides in building bridges with Catholics) have a long anti-catholic history. Old ways die hard, especially when they get passed on to new members without ever realizing that anti-catholicism is just as bad as antisemitism.
Reasons for leaving are often attached to what the religion finds most troubling about Catholicism. For Mormons it’s the Most Holy Trinity, for Jehovah’s Witnesses it’s images and prayers to Mary and hellfire (the Trinity too, but less down the line at times). I’ve heard religions that do accept the Trinity boast about Catholic converts while making an issue of the Corpus being displayed on the Cross (because for them that’s the sticking issue).
There are a lot of other reasons too, but this is just the main list I’ve composed. I preached and made converts for over a decade with the Witnesses and talked to hundreds of thousands of people across the United States in three different languages while doing so. It’s based on that limited experience (and yes, I view that as limited). I am sure there are other valid points others can add to my list.
In the end it’s easier to blame the Catholic who leaves the Church, but that’s not always fair or correct to do so. These religions are in the business of making converts. They are going to come from somewhere. Where they come from is not necessarily proof of what they might claim it to be. Just because a tree drops leaves doesn’t mean the tree is dead or dying.
