The ethics of prostylizing as it relates to LDS methodologies

[gh4]

Could one of the knowledgeable folks here, speak to what a baptized Catholic must do to no longer be considered a baptized Catholic by the Catholic church and its members?

When I asked a priest about this a couple of years ago, I was told that there is NO WAY to get that done. I will always be considered catholic and will forever more be counted as a catholic. I no longer attend mass and do not consider myself catholic any longer and do now belong to another church.
I have never experienced this with other denominations that I’ve been a part of, you can easily remove yourself from their rolls with just a fairly simple request.

If anyone knows if there is a way I can get myself removed from being catholic I would appreciate learning how.

 

[TypesAndShadows]

When I asked a priest about this a couple of years ago, I was told that there is NO WAY to get that done. I will always be considered catholic and will forever more be counted as a catholic. I no longer attend mass and do not consider myself catholic any longer and do now belong to another church.
I have never experienced this with other denominations that I’ve been a part of, you can easily remove yourself from their rolls with just a fairly simple request.

If anyone knows if there is a way I can get myself removed from being catholic I would appreciate learning how.

What rolls?

You are a Catholic forever, in that supernaturally you have been marked forever as a Catholic. If you ever want to access the Sacraments, the rules for Catholics apply to you. Nobody can take it away from you, because God gave it to you.

This doesn’t mean you are ‘counted’ as a Catholic when deciding numbers of Catholics in Pew surveys, or censuses, or things like that. If you think you’re on a parish census, or some parish rolls somewhere (you would have had to register somewhere, filling in a form, for this to be the case) you could just say “I no longer go here” and be taken off, but I don’t know what difference it would make: does anyone come to see you, or call you, or bill you?

If you mean the Baptismal register, all that does is record who received certain Sacraments when. It is a legal document in some countries, and so cannot be tampered with or altered. If you wanted to marry in a Catholic church, your Baptismal register back wherever you were Baptised would be checked to see if you are free to marry, and would have your marriage added to it. If you marry somewhere else, your Baptismal register will probably never be altered or used for anything.

 

[RebeccaJ]

When I asked a priest about this a couple of years ago, I was told that there is NO WAY to get that done. I will always be considered catholic and will forever more be counted as a catholic. I no longer attend mass and do not consider myself catholic any longer and do now belong to another church.
I have never experienced this with other denominations that I’ve been a part of, you can easily remove yourself from their rolls with just a fairly simple request.

If anyone knows if there is a way I can get myself removed from being catholic I would appreciate learning how.

Forever counted, how?

The RCC does not have a rite for removing people.from Catholicism. To leave, just leave.

 

[gh4]

What rolls?

You are a Catholic forever, in that supernaturally you have been marked forever as a Catholic. If you ever want to access the Sacraments, the rules for Catholics apply to you. Nobody can take it away from you, because God gave it to you.

This doesn’t mean you are ‘counted’ as a Catholic when deciding numbers of Catholics in Pew surveys, or censuses, or things like that. If you think you’re on a parish census, or some parish rolls somewhere (you would have had to register somewhere, filling in a form, for this to be the case) you could just say “I no longer go here” and be taken off, but I don’t know what difference it would make: does anyone come to see you, or call you, or bill you?

If you mean the Baptismal register, all that does is record who received certain Sacraments when. It is a legal document in some countries, and so cannot be tampered with or altered. If you wanted to marry in a Catholic church, your Baptismal register back wherever you were Baptised would be checked to see if you are free to marry, and would have your marriage added to it. If you marry somewhere else, your Baptismal register will probably never be altered or used for anything.

Forever counted, how?

The RCC does not have a rite for removing people.from Catholicism. To leave, just leave.

And that’s exactly what I did, left.
Of course I registered with this parish when I moved here, I was a Catholic then. When I asked the priest to remove me, he said that it could not be done. The reason I left the church is a very long story and a bit complicated, so I’m not going into that here. I left, I will never go to another catholic church. The bishop of our Diocese is aware (and I am NOT the one who talked to him about this) and agrees that there is no way to become not catholic.
My Baptismal records are only goodness knows where, I was baptized as a child in another church that no longer exists. (the physical church no longer exists, the denomination is in existence)

It’s really not a big deal I suppose, and it has no effect on me at all at this point. Hopefully it never will.

 

[TypesAndShadows]

And that’s exactly what I did, left.
Of course I registered with this parish when I moved here, I was a Catholic then. When I asked the priest to remove me, he said that it could not be done. The reason I left the church is a very long story and a bit complicated, so I’m not going into that here. I left, I will never go to another catholic church. The bishop of our Diocese is aware (and I am NOT the one who talked to him about this) and agrees that there is no way to become not catholic.
My Baptismal records are only goodness knows where, I was baptized as a child in another church that no longer exists. (the physical church no longer exists, the denomination is in existence)

It’s really not a big deal I suppose, and it has no effect on me at all at this point. Hopefully it never will.

Saying that there is no way to become not Catholic is not at all the same as saying you can’t be taken off whatever parish register you added yourself to when you arrived. The one is supernatural, the other is administrative paperwork. That sounds really odd, if your priest said that, but what you have the bishop agreeing to doesn’t (as you’ve written it here) sound like he’s talking about paperwork at all.

I agree that it has no impact on you, but that does sound odd if there wasn’t a miscommunication on this point. At least over here, that would run afoul of the Data Protection Act, I’m pretty sure, as well as being fairly stupid from an admin point of view. It certainly isn’t doctrinal.