Why are people leaving the church

[InLight247]

Just from what I’ve observed in the eight years I’ve been Catholic, I would have to say there are several reasons Catholics leave the Church, many of them have already been posted. I would say two of the most important reasons are poor catechesis and poor liturgical practice. Every single ex-Catholic I’ve met and talked to has revealed a poor understanding of the Catholic faith, and many Catholics I meet still in the Church have a poor grasp of the Faith as well. I’ve met very few who completely adhere to Church teaching or even know what the Church teaches on various matters of faith and morals. Better faith formation for children that actually teaches doctrine instead of just touchy-feely warm fuzzies would help alot and on-going faith formation for adults. I’ve been a member of three different Catholic parishes, and I’ve been appalled at the lack of faith education for adults. The Protestant churches I attended were much smaller but always offered a variety of classes for adults to attend to learn more about their faith. Catholics unfortunately seem to think they learn it all when they graduate from CCD classes, so they have only the most elementary understanding of their faith.

Another big problem I see is how the Mass has been dumbed down and desacralized. There is simply little sense of the sacred, that Mass is a participation in something timeless, holy and divine. The pop music used, the architecture that is merely functional and not inspirational, and homilies that don’t really give much instruction all contribute to this problem.

There also just seems to be a great deal of spiritual apathy/indifference in many Catholics, even those who attend Mass regularly. It seems like they practice their faith more out of habit rather than zeal and love for the Lord. Being surrounded by that kind of example certainly doesn’t inspire people to remain in the Church.

What can we do? Be faithful to whatever God is calling us to do in our own sphere of influence, doing what we can to address the problems we see around us or help Catholics we know who are doubting or struggling in their faith. However, the most important thing is for us to pray and fast and make sacrifices on behalf of the Church and people we know who have left the Church for whatever reason.

Good points!
I know how important the religious education is. That is why I am recently called to be a catechist. If we don’t convert young people while they are in CCD, someone else (the world) will convert them later.

Please say a prayer for all the catechists.
God bless!

 

[Jabronie]

I honestly know a couple of people who were raised the in the Church and left it for sillly reasons like “Catholics don’t allow abortions” or “Catholics don’t allow gay marriage.”

All we can do is pray for them.

 

[Rolltide]

I say being a believing Catholic in this century is harder than any other including the 1st century Christians. We battle evolution which makes the Bible look patently false and like a made up fairy tale, previous Christians didn’t have to deal with evolution and the fossil record. We deal with attacks from fellow Christians that call us idolators etc… And in this day of instant information there’s no limit to the amount of dirt that can be slung.

Wow, I’m totally opposite of you. I’m actually strengthened in my faith because of how well the Catholic Church deals with issues like evolution. I see nothing incompatible at all! The fact that Catholicism can incorporate such beliefs so well and many Protestant denominations cannot reassures me of the truth of Catholicism to no end.

And idolatry isn’t worse now by a long shot. It’s worst point was during the Iconoclastic Controversy of the 7th and 8th centuries.

 

[crmcfl]

Our church just broke ground for a new building. We’ve outgrown our present church twice now in the past 10 years or so and we were a pretty big parish to begin with, so I see standing room only and a jammed parking lot. In this week’s bulletin there was an order form for a catechism book. We have a school, perpetual adoration, prayer groups, choirs, coffee and donuts after Mass, retreats, etc. and our priests’ sermons are never boring. One is a teacher and often quizzes us (he doesn’t put anyone on the spot, just fill in the blank type things).

I can say why I left for a while. Mostly it was pure laziness. I was exhausted, and I couldn’t skip work. I could skip church. When I took a break in college it was because I wasn’t always living the way I was supposed to and I didn’t particularly want to be reminded of that. Partly it was disillusionment at discovering the church was full of human beings and my false expectation that only perfect people would be in church. My mother’s position was always “Where better for sinners to be but in the church where they might have hope of redemption?” Now I agree with Mom. Also, the Catholic church doesn’t spout popular “do what you want” doctrines. It’s not a cotton candy church. It’s easier to throw rocks at it than do right. Easier still to get huffy and leave.

What brought me back-my life works better when I live it the way I’m supposed to. The realization that I’m not nearly as perfect as I thought and need all the help I can get. As far as education, if you’re near a library or have the internet you can learn about your faith. You don’t have to wait for the church to do it for you. If you only get one book, get the catechism ($8.99 in paperback).

 

[Genesis315]

The Church as a whole is actually growing. Last time the numbers came out our net increase was the highest among all denominations (but our percent was not the highest–having five times more members than the next closest denomination will do that).

People have always left and people have always come in.

That being said, we should do our best for no one to leave, while at the same time being uncompromising with Truth.

I hope itsjustdave doesn’t mind me posting things from his blog

Some interesting statistics to consider regarding the Catholic Church of the past 100 years…

From the Catholic Encyclopedia(1909) “Statistics of Religions”, Table VIII:newadvent.org/cathen/14275a.htm

In 1909, Catholics comprised 18.7% of the world population. Non-Catholic Christians comprised 20.8% of the world population.

Ratio of Catholic/Non-Catholic Christians: 0.900

From Encyclopedia Britannica’s “Adherents of All Religions by Six Continents - Mid- 1995”: zpub.com/un/pope/relig.html

In 1995, Catholics comprised 16.9% of the world population.Non-Catholic Christians comprised 16.8% of the world population.

Ratio of Catholic/Non-Catholic Christians: 1.008

It’s seems all of Christianity has dropped 5.8% as a percentage of the earth’s population in the past 100 years. In the same period, Catholicism has dropped 1.8% as a percentage of world population, while Greek/Oriental Orthodox have dropped 4.9%.

**In other words, the drop in Catholicism is significantly smaller than both Orthodoxy and non-Catholic Christianity overall.
**
Why the drop in Catholicism? Catholics having less children than they used to? Doesn’t seem as big a drop as I would have guessed over the past 100 years.

However, the ratio of Catholic/Non-Catholic Christians has increased over the past 100 years.

itsjustdave1988.blogspot.com/2005/05/pauline-mass-or-traditional-latin-mass.html

 

[itsjustdave1988]

…
I hope itsjustdave doesn’t mind me posting things from his blog

No problem.

This is so funny… I started skimming your post and said to myself, “this sounds very familiar.” Then I noticed why.

 

[Ianjo99]

I think the reason why many college-age students leave the faith (as this is all I’m really familiar with) is that many of them find it as a sort of rebellion against what they were raised in.

As many others said, they were poorly trained. I have only met three people who know the most basic of beliefs outside of what they hear repeated during Mass. Not that they should be able to recite encyclicals verbatim, but when I ask them things like what the magisterium is, I expect a reasonable answer.

Also, it doesn’t help that many times Catholics are lumped with the glassy-eyed evangelical “fire and damnation” preachers who pass out flyers declaring how God will kill them and if they aren’t born-again, they are going to be tortured for eternity.

 

[Caesar]

Why are people leaving the church? What can we do to stop this? This is rather worisome to me. Thanks and God bless.

We have lost our Catholic identity when the Church tossed tradition down the drain.

The Church needs to regain her glory and her sacred tradition in order to be renewed.

 

[ricmat]

We have a problem in our diocese with “alternative Catholic” churches. On the outside, they appear to be Catholic, but they are not sanctioned by the real Church.

A new one started up a few months ago that allows divorce, gay marriage, married priests, etc.

In my mind what this boils down to is that people feel a real need for spirituality (it is part of our God-implanted nature). But they want to worship God on their terms instead of on God’s terms. They don’t want to do what God wants them to do. They want to do “what they want to do.” If you listen carefully, you hear that phrase a lot, although perhaps in a less obvious wording.

As CS Lewis said, at the end, there will be two categories of souls: Those in heaven that said “Thy will be done” and those in hell to whom God says “Thy will be done”.

 

[HailMary]

Why are people leaving the church? What can we do to stop this? This is rather worisome to me. Thanks and God bless.

1. Individualism (aka: Americanism): see papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13teste.htm
2. Contraception
3. and all of the above people mentioned

God Bless

 

[ncjohn]

I guess I look at this completely differently in that I see two real causes, neither of which have anything to do with scandals, or dumbing down liturgy, or lack of catechesis, etc.

The first factor I see is material prosperity. Since the sixties the material prosperity in the world has grown greatly. This has led to many “bad” things, including the seduction of worldly goods and an increase in pride as we define “success” in terms of what “we” accomplish or what we have. The second we start to define success based on our own accomplishments, we no longer need God because God’s laws just get in the way of all of that. I think if you look worldwide, you will find that places where great prosperity has occured have experienced drops in religious attendance, while places where economic conditions are abysmal and people still see God as their only salvation still experience tremendous interest in the spiritual things. As the saying goes, it’s hard to approach God for His gifts when your hands are already full.

The second major factor in my mind is the lack of people who actually live the gospel message. In the early Church, in spite of the great persecution and danger in even being a Christian, the Church grew at tremendous rates because people banded together and actually lived the things that Jesus taught. We still have places like that today in counrtries where persecution of Christians is the norm. The fact is that when there is a price to be paid for your religious beliefs, you will hold and protect them much more dearly.

The other part of that is that the early Church grew in the context of the small community where everyone knew each other in their small community and there was accountability because of that, much like small town living used to be here. Now we have mega-churches and people living in gated communities, and tremendous mobility where the people you see during the day are not the same people you see at night or on the weekend. We don’t live in community any more and that sense of fellowship and accountability has disappeared with it. And when that happens in conjunction with a lack of modeling of the gospel message, there is nothing to draw people to God.

You can preach all you want, and come up with the best catechesis in the world. If you don’t show and live the attractiveness and the love of God though, all the words are for nothing. Francis of Assisi stated: “Preach the gospel always; use words when necessary.” That is just as true today as it was when he single-handedly renewed a floundering church.

God made us to desire Him. If you want them to come, you have to reflect the love of that God in how you treat the “least of His brothers”. Too many of our churches today unfortunately do anything but that. The ones that do, grow.

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.

 

[xsuasox]

I left because no one really instilled the Faith to begin with, making Mass on Sunday a chore to be dreaded. I knew absolutely nothing about the Faith until this year when I got over my highschool/post highschool rebellion against everything and picked up some books and re-learned Catholicism. Now I’m back and I can’t imagine life without the Church again.

Plus we do live in a society where openly admiting one is religious is scoffed at. We’re bombarded with ads telling us to buy buy buy, to be ‘sexy’ and what not. Spending more time in a church than at the mall is considered weird and unusual. That is one of the benefits of the South, where living a Chirsitian life is encouraged. Of course, living a Catholic life is often complicated in the South too, but it’s not as bad as it once was.

Our pastor made a comment about how some Northern parishes were complaining about how their congregations are shrinking. He said if our parish was any indication, it seems they’re all relocating to the South and joining our churches. It’s true, almost every Catholic I have met is from the North or Latin America. Our parish is bursting at the seams!

 

[mrs_abbott]

Why are people leaving the church? What can we do to stop this? This is rather worisome to me. Thanks and God bless.

I left because I was committing sins of a grave nature and felt myself being pulled away. When I changed what I was doing, I just felt immense guilt and like I had slapped God in the face. Why woud He take me back after how awful I was? I still have a handful of sins, nothing like I used to though, that I can’t seem to shake. Hence, I feel hesitant to return to know that I’ll just screw up again. I like talking to God through prayer and telling Him that I’m sorry for everything but I don’t feel worthy to be in His presence at Church. I know He hears me because He tells me to just keep trying until I get it one day.

 

[itsjustdave1988]

I left because I was committing sins of a grave nature and felt myself being pulled away. When I changed what I was doing, I just felt immense guilt and like I had slapped God in the face. Why woud He take me back after how awful I was? I still have a handful of sins, nothing like I used to though, that I can’t seem to shake. Hence, I feel hesitant to return to know that I’ll just screw up again. I like talking to God through prayer and telling Him that I’m sorry for everything but I don’t feel worthy to be in His presence at Church. I know He hears me because He tells me to just keep trying until I get it one day.

I think the presence of God in His Church is given for sinners, for healing, not merely reserved for saints.

The Physician of our lives provided a cure for us, and that cure is sacramental grace. I too was away from the Church for decades, and after returning, discovered my healing came from a immersing myself into a sacramental life, and my big regret was that I discovered the cure was there all along, yet I didn’t partake of it due to my own neglect.

The sacraments are certainly no substitue for personal prayer, but are instead complementary. The sacraments are Christ-centered, Christ-established prayers of the faithful together in the assembly of God. Understanding this earlier rather than later would have helped me during my “prodigal” years.

It took me a long time to return to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Yet, doing so has made all the difference in the world. You are in my prayers.

 

[mlchance]

Y;know… I hear this from time to time, but I think someone’s pulling our leg because I see more people coming into the Catholic Church than I see leaving…

The Catholic Church is growing. It’s the old mainline Protestant churches, like the Anglicans, that are dying, and they’re doing so because of decades of repeatedly comprising doctrine in an effort to appear modern and palatable.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[ribozyme]

The Catholic Church is growing. It’s the old mainline Protestant churches, like the Anglicans, that are dying, and they’re doing so because of decades of repeatedly comprising doctrine in an effort to appear modern and palatable.

– Mark L. Chance.

Hmm… I find that interesting. It seems that the creationists accuse theistic evolutionists of compromising the truth of the Genesis to make it palatable to modern science.

 

[mlchance]

Hmm… I find that interesting. It seems that the creationists accuse theistic evolutionists of compromising the truth of the Genesis to make it palatable to modern science.

You’ve really got to get over your deification of science. It’s unseemly, and really has nothing to do with this thread.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[ribozyme]

You’ve really got to get over your deification of science. It’s unseemly, and really has nothing to do with this thread.

– Mark L. Chance.

So how I am deifying science in this thread?

Creationists do complain that Christians who believe in an old Earth and evolution are compromising the truth of the Word of God (see: creationontheweb.com/content/view/2417/)). I only pointed that out because it seems similar to your observation (I’ll uncritically assume it is correct) that Protestant churches are compromising while the Catholic Church which does not compromise is thriving in contrast to the Protestant churches.

 

[Pug]

Why are people leaving the church? What can we do to stop this? This is rather worisome to me. Thanks and God bless.

Lead a joyous, loving life. Don’t be a stumbling block for your brethren. Fulfill your role in your local parish. Of course, the way to do these three things is to love Jesus with all your heart, and seek to know him more every day.

I agree with another poster that prosperity is a stumbling block for some. For those who tell themselves they don’t suffer, why turn to God for relief? Even if you think you suffer, but you suppose whatever solace there could be in God is illusory, you would reject God out of a sense of duty to the truth. So I guess I think world view is a problem for many. The beliefs people are raised with contain the seeds of eventual break with religion unless those beliefs are rejected for some reason.

Anyway, that is what I think in the wee hours of the morning.

 

[mlchance]

The Catholic Church is growing. There is no mass exodus from the Church. Individuals who leave the Church, IME, claim to do so because they’re either very poorly catechized and/or because they refuse to accept the Church’s teachings regarding sexuality.

The Church cannot stop people from leaving. What the Church must do is insist that her pastors and teachers adhere faithfully in all ways to the Magesterium.

As the Blessed Mother Theresa observed, we’re not called to be successful. We’re called to faithful.

– Mark L. Chance.