What I am trying to say is that infant baptism does not make one Catholic. If the person baptized does not agree to be Catholic after reaching the age of reason and consent, then I don’t see him as Catholic.
Lapey is right on this one. Now, the infant may not be raised as a knowledgeable, informed Catholic (and in many cases never even receives additional sacraments!), but that’s a different matter. Or he/she may be “raised” Catholic, but nominally, poorly, incorrectly, superficially according to the guidelines of the Church. Or the instruction may have stopped at one point. All that may mitigate ignorance of the faith (and thus culpability for working against the faith or merely abandoning the faith, espeically if Confirmation is never reached), but it does not cancel membership. It may just make them lost souls, of course, on a practical level, without the tools they need to enliven that faith and be supported by it.
One cannot profess what one does not believe.
Or, profession has little meaning if that profession lacks knowledge as to the content, which we have seen more and more in the Church. That just makes one a poor witness and an ineffectual member, though. It doesn’t cancel the original grace which still can always be activated by someone who seeks it wholeheartedly.
Studies have been done on people who grow up without a vibrant faith (such as those not sufficiently introduced to the faith until adulthood). It can be done, but it’s an uphill battle. (Especially if one goes from detached atheism into Christianity or Judaism.) The most famous modern case of this is Dr. Laura Schlesinger, who tried it diligently and failed, and acknowledged that on national TV, breaking down while doing so. The young brain/spirit has a degree of openness and receptivity that is unique to that developmental time period. Yes, with grace (again) that hurdle for an adult can be overcome, but often is not.
This is the main psychological/practical reason that it makes no sense to “raise a child as nothing and let him choose (a religion) for himself later.”
More often than not, that results in a lifetime of experimentation without commitment or conviction. (Or it results in detached atheism, with the experience of faith being absent.)
who’d like nothing better than to have the Church validate their lifestyle choices, abortions, contracepting, and gay marriage.