What is a "cradle Catholic"?

[kresbrook]

I’ve heard this term many many times, and always thought it to means someone who was raised in the Catholic faith.

However I used the term with a fellow church member, and he was angry. We cleared up the miscommunication and he informed me that a “cradle Catholic” is someone who claims to be Catholic but does not follow the teachings of the Church.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

You are correct. A “cradle Catholic” is someone who has been raised a Catholic “from the cradle.” In other words, that person was baptized a Catholic as a baby and raised in a Catholic family.

I suspect that your friend is confusing the term cradle Catholic with cafeteria Catholic. A “cafeteria Catholic” is someone who does not believe all that the Church teaches but instead picks and chooses what he will believe, as if the Church’s doctrines were a menu of options rather than divinely revealed teachings incumbent upon the consciences of all Catholics.