Why do Catholics become Protestants?

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Charlemagne_II

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This thread is designed for dialogue between Catholics and Protestants. Catholics who have become Protestants are especially invited to participate. By the same token, Protestants who have become Catholics are also invited to help answer the primary question, especially if they have known Catholics who joined their church when they were Protestant.

Am looking for a pattern here, or perhaps several patterns, if they can be found.

Thanks for your participation.
 
In my experience from friends that have left the RCC, it was a classic case of poor formation of their faith in addition to a grade school understanding of what the RCC really teaches.
 
I’ll list some reasons from the people I’ve known.
  1. Bad experiences with Catholicism in the past. One fellow I knew was actually molested as a boy. Others had some harsh treatment by nuns or other negative experiences.
  2. Lack of fellowship opportunities. Catholic Churches are weak in ministries compared to Protestant ones. Some Catholic youth attend Protestant youth groups because the Catholic ones are weak or non-existent. Protestants will invite any children to their Vacation Bible Schools and any person is welcome to their Bible studies. The people get invited to these things, like the more casual atmosphere, and stay.
  3. Don’t like the amount of structure and legalism they find in the Catholic Church. Some want a more free form worship style and don’t want to deal with the red tape that doesn’t seem to make sense to them.
  4. Disagree with the Church on birth control. This is a biggie for many and they don’t just want to quietly use birth control like most Catholics do. They don’t believe birth control is a sin.
  5. Disagree with Church on other social issues such as homosexuality, divorce, things like that.
  6. Got disillusioned by sex abuse scandal
 
Charlemagne_II said:
This thread is designed for dialogue between Catholics and Protestants. Catholics who have become Protestants are especially invited to participate. By the same token, Protestants who have become Catholics are also invited to help answer the primary question, especially if they have known Catholics who joined their church when they were Protestant.

Am looking for a pattern here, or perhaps several patterns, if they can be found.

Thanks for your participation.
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Dear brother.
I grew up Lutheran. Altogether lacking in knowlege about the Catholic Church… in my world it didn’t even exist, and Luther was the big rational hero. I was on the surface and had no real living relationship with Jesus.
6 years ago this changed. I was made into a personal believer (what Evangelicals call “born again”) when Jesus lifted the veil off my eyes. From the beginning He started guiding my steps into Catholicism, first through the mystic tradition, and through testimony and seeing lives changed and bodies and souls healed around me. Then secondly through apologetics. Everything Catholic corresponded to my soul… it was like having an experience of remembering something that I of course already knew:)
From the beginning and the main reason for my becoming Catholic was, as I experienced it, Jesus said: “Come and eat my Flesh and drink my Blood”. I had to have this and thus became Catholic because I thirsted for this union with the great Bride groom with whom I was madly in love. And it is lovely 🙂 I have not been disappointed. The Holy Spirit is guiding me into all truth.
I still love my brethren in the Protestant and Evangelical churches and I believe we have so much to learn from them like they have to learn from us. I have not closed the door to them, I keep praying with them and worshipping with them. But whenever I was urged by human considerations to join them wholly, God gave me the answers to all my questions… He has made it clear to me that He wants me Catholic… This does not mean that I think the Catholic Church is perfect or ever has been… but God has placed me here, and here will be the ground from which I serve Him.
Praised be His name.

**YESHUA HA MESSHIAH! HALLELUJA **
 
It’s easier to be Protestant than Catholic.

I really didn’t understand sin until I became Catholic. And now I trying not to become scrupulous.

When you go to confession and talk about your sin and the priest asks why are you here?, I think that was a hint. 😉
 
Charlemagne_II said:
This thread is designed for dialogue between Catholics and Protestants. Catholics who have become Protestants are especially invited to participate. By the same token, Protestants who have become Catholics are also invited to help answer the primary question, especially if they have known Catholics who joined their church when they were Protestant.

Am looking for a pattern here, or perhaps several patterns, if they can be found.

Thanks for your participation.
Click to expand...
It’s a matter of “Converting the Baptized” Many Catholics are Baptized Catholic and “learn” the Catholic faith but never really are converted to the Catholic faith. They are easily converted away from the Catholic Faith when the practices and teachings of the Faith do not match their idea of how they should be.

Many who leave also simply never really learned the teachings of the Catholic Church, or understood them, and are easily mislead by others.
 
Miriam

It’s easier to be Protestant than Catholic.

This was the reason my cousin gave when she converted to the Catholic Church for some years, and then reverted to the Lutheran Church. She said the Catholic religion must be the most difficult religion in the world to practice.

I know she is right in many ways … but it’s also the most beautiful and true, so I just muddle through the best I can.
 
Miriam1947 said:
It’s easier to be Protestant than Catholic
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Can’t agree with that! When I was growing up, movies were evil so we didn’t go to movies, dancing was evil so we couldn’t go to school dances, smoking was evil and drinking was evil so we did neither of those. Seems like the Catholic kids were having all the fun. Being a protestant is really tough.
 
Charlemagne_II said:
Miriam

It’s easier to be Protestant than Catholic.

This was the reason my cousin gave when she converted to the Catholic Church for some years, and then reverted to the Lutheran Church. She said the Catholic religion must be the most difficult religion in the world to practice.

I know she is right in many ways … but it’s also the most beautiful and true, so I just muddle through the best I can.
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I forget who said it, but the old saying is that it’s much harder to live Catholic than non-Catholic, but it’s a whole lot easier to die Catholic than non-Catholic.

And those who leave the Catholic Church usually rail about this or that in the Catholic Church. In other words, they talk about what they left. Those who come into the Catholic Church don’t rail about their former denomination, but say how excited they are to come into the Church. In other words, their focus is on what they’re coming to, rather than what they’re leaving, like those who leave the Catholic Church.

Also, I think folks leave for one of two main reasons: 1) ignorance of their Catholic faith and/or 2) they’re in some sort of moral crisis, i.e., they’re not living their Catholic faith.
 
Charlemagne_II said:
This thread is designed for dialogue between Catholics and Protestants. Catholics who have become Protestants are especially invited to participate. By the same token, Protestants who have become Catholics are also invited to help answer the primary question, especially if they have known Catholics who joined their church when they were Protestant.

Am looking for a pattern here, or perhaps several patterns, if they can be found.

Thanks for your participation.
Click to expand...
In my experience, there are a couple of significant reasons.
  1. Poor catechesis and faith formation. Let’s face it. In many respects, the Church lost a good generation or generation and a half because of poor faith formation. When one doesn’t truly understand what the Church is or what the Church believes, one can easily lose one’s connection.
  2. Sexual morality. Again, in this area, the Church is even more counter-cultural than in the past. The Church has not changed on abortion, birth control, divorce, etc. Many Catholics-turned-Episcopalians have done so for precisely these reasons. (I saw a book some years ago detailing some of this – in an Episcopalian bookstore – sort of a reverse “Surprised by Truth”.
Blessings,
 
The first reason that hits me is improper formation. I am a convert, raised Fundamentalist, and now totally Catholic. I know why I am here because it took quite a bit of study to show me why I should give up the practices I was raised to follow. In the time since crossing the Tiber, I have been stunned with the erroneous beliefs I have been quoted by cradle Catholics. Ask around and you too will be surprised with the answers you get on what is meant by immaculate conception or on any other number of teachings. Try declaration of nullity and as often as not you will hear a Catholic tell you it is all smoke and mirrors and that it is a money making scheme. If so, the Church needs a lesson on economics.

My wife did CCD for a couple of years while I acted as something of a substitute teacher. I am a believer in involving people in classes, so I asked the kids lots of questions to draw them out. I quickly learned most of them were almost never taken to Mass. They were not learning when they could most readily absorb the teachings of the Church. I will never forget one class in which I asked a question about our pastor. Only two kids in the class knew who he was. Children whose parents raise them without any formation beyond classes that are required for the sacraments leave them suceptable to any plausable errors.

The second reason is divorce and re-marriage. I know several people who have hit the rocks on that one. They seem to find a way to blame the Church and then go to a church where there are no real rules on marriage.

The third I often see is that my area has many of what I call entertainment-value churches. They had multi-media, all kinds of activities, social outlets galore, and lots of fun. We cannot compete with that with so many masses that we did not know our fellow parishoners, followed by a get-out-of-my-way exit from the parking lot. I really do wish the Church would offer things that would get people to mingle after Mass. It would be a great support to those waivering in their faith. And it would be fun too!
 
I left the Church, walked around the block, and now (thank God) I am back.

The reason I left the Church was sin and poor faith formation. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to go to confession and so I put a wedge between myself and God. After several years I wanted to reconnect with God, but was still unable to go to confession. So instead, I went to a few different protestant churches.

I think the beginning of my realization that I needed to return to the RCC was when I received communion in a Presbyterian church. A friend of mine (Presbyterian) asked me if I understood what receiving communion meant. I thought it funny because I knew what it should mean and I knew that what was in that Church was not the Real Presence. The whole experience was not even a shadow of receiving the Body and left me very cold.

Luckily, I married a good woman who decided to become Catholic. This let me hang out at RCIA and actually learn the Faith. After way too long, I was able to gain the courage to confront my sin (and all those extras I accumulated). That reconciliation was the greatest event of my adult life.

I thank God for His mercy and praise Him for the wisdom that gave us the sacrament Reconciliation.

Sorry to go on.
 
PJJH said:
I left the Church, walked around the block, and now (thank God) I am back.

The reason I left the Church was sin and poor faith formation. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to go to confession and so I put a wedge between myself and God. After several years I wanted to reconnect with God, but was still unable to go to confession. So instead, I went to a few different protestant churches.

I think the beginning of my realization that I needed to return to the RCC was when I received communion in a Presbyterian church. A friend of mine (Presbyterian) asked me if I understood what receiving communion meant. I thought it funny because I knew what it should mean and I knew that what was in that Church was not the Real Presence. The whole experience was not even a shadow of receiving the Body and left me very cold.

Luckily, I married a good woman who decided to become Catholic. This let me hang out at RCIA and actually learn the Faith. After way too long, I was able to gain the courage to confront my sin (and all those extras I accumulated). That reconciliation was the greatest event of my adult life.

I thank God for His mercy and praise Him for the wisdom that gave us the sacrament Reconciliation.

Sorry to go on.
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Do not apologize.
Blessed be the Lord for your testimony. Halleluja 👍👍👍
 
I have many opinions on this issue as I am a convert to Catholicism. I believe many Catholics leave the Church for a variety of reasons. Allow me to list some.
  1. Ignorance of the faith. Shame on us!
  2. Today’s Church is systematically destroying its own culture when identity is extremely important.
  3. Many parishes are replacing Catholic culture with Protestant culture.
  4. Many parishes are becoming copies of the Protestant Churches.
  5. Ignorant Catholics are confused by the loss of culture and easily move into the Protestant culture.
  6. Our young people are also confused and easily caught up in the “entertaining” services provided by the Protestant churches.
  7. We Catholics are losing reverance for the sacraments.
  8. Our leadership often lacks backbone.
  9. I became a Catholic because of the rich culture, history and intellectualism of the Church. Todays church is devoid of culture, ignorant of history and focused on emotionalism rather than reason.
God help us all! Acta non verba!
 
jhcooper

Hello, fellow Texan!

Many of your ten comments will resonate with many of us. I left the Church for 25 years. Upon my return I also noted how the Church seems to have become “Protestantized.”

I think the leadership, or the lack of true leadership, has had a lot to do with this.
 
A good reason to go to an evangelical congregation istead of a Catholic one is the stress on:
  • Personal relationship with Christ. This point is often brought about by very challenging and fulfilling sermons and testimonies from everyone in the congregation… they are there because they burn… not because its a sunday obligation (gosh how I hate that word … it has nothing to do with true piety).
  • Experience of God. The notion that the supernatural should be a natural part of a Christian person’s life. This is also practiced… both in the expectation of being led by God, by expecting Him to do great things, and actually seeing these great things taking place… true miracles just like Jesus did them in His ministry because He knew this was beneficial.
As long as the Evangelicals get the importance of these two points and the Catholics dont, we will continue to see an explosion in people who join the Evangelicals… and I cant blame them.
 
Scoobyshme said:
I forget who said it, but the old saying is that it’s much harder to live Catholic than non-Catholic, but it’s a whole lot easier to die Catholic than non-Catholic.
And those who leave the Catholic Church usually rail about this or that in the Catholic Church. In other words, they talk about what they left. Those who come into the Catholic Church don’t rail about their former denomination, but say how excited they are to come into the Church. In other words, their focus is on what they’re coming to, rather than what they’re leaving, like those who leave the Catholic Church.
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This is a very good point.
The farther I am from the evangelical/fundamentalist world, the less intrest I have in it. I am too busy re-discovering my Catholic faith to worry about arguing with Protestants. I feel pity for those lapsed Catholics who think there is something better beyond her doors. When they leave, they become ‘spiritually homeless’, endlessly going from one spiritual soup kitchen to the next.
When all the while there is a banquet set for them in the Church they discarded.
 
JustaServant

*When they leave, they become ‘spiritually homeless’, endlessly going from one spiritual soup kitchen to the next. When all the while there is a banquet set for them in the Church they discarded. *

If they are lucky and really into the Bible, sooner or later they will get around to the parable of the prodigal son. That may start some nostalgia for the Eucharistic feast set in their Father’s house.
 
Charlemagne_II said:
JustaServant

*When they leave, they become ‘spiritually homeless’, endlessly going from one spiritual soup kitchen to the next. When all the while there is a banquet set for them in the Church they discarded. *

If they are lucky and really into the Bible, sooner or later they will get around to the parable of the prodigal son. That may start some nostalgia for the Eucharistic feast set in their Father’s house.
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Evern non-Catholics have a hunger for the Eucharist, they just cannot identify what it is. They try to fill that void with everything BUT the Body of Christ. Music, Bible study, speaking in tongues, faith healing, (in the 1990s it was ‘holy laughter’), being ‘slain in the spirit’, and on and on. It amazes me that many charismatic evangelicals have no problem with the most bizarre ‘manifestations of the spirit’.
But bread and wine becoming the Body and Blood of Christ? impossible!
For those of us who grew up Catholic, it is like returning to the Father’s House.
 
*For those of us who grew up Catholic, it is like returning to the Father’s House. *:amen:
 
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