Why do people leave the Catholic Church?

[rtconstant]

Understand that my response is subjective since I can only speak from experience.

When I was a Baptist the biggest reason for a conversion was that the individual in question was perhaps baptized Catholic, but were never really practicing. Our Church turned out to be the one that introduced them to God intellectually and theologically. In other words our Church was the one that got them interested in Church. The Church my father pastored was VERY friendly and warm, and it really isn’t surprising people would want to join if they didn’t have a vested interest in their native religion.

Also, our particular congregation did not attack other denominations so there was none of the off putting hostility. Indeed My dad often worked with the local Knights of Columbus on various charitable projects, and we drove the elderly from a local low income retirement community to the store each week and such (with out proselytizing). Many of the Catholics in our Church never really converted they were just comfortable there. Dad also never tried to convince them to do so. He was is a rare bird though lol.

The second biggest reason in my experience was marriage. That one I realize is a given but it did account for many so I thought it deserved mention.

The third biggest reason was because something bad had happened to them in the Catholic Church. To be fair though that was pretty common from many denominations. As any practicing Christian knows Church drama is the worst drama.

While I’m sure there are some, I never met a Catholic that converted for theological reasons when I was Protestant.

Anyway, those are my experiences.

 

[kage_ar]

1. They were not taught the Faith.
2. Pelvic issues.

 

[The_Iambic_Pen]

I’ve never left the Catholic Church. I was actually raised Protestant, and I am thinking very seriously about entering the Catholic Church. Here are a few things I’ve observed, however:

-They find mass boring, and perhaps after visiting a more upbeat Protestant service with a friend, they begin attending a Protestant church. In this new church, there is more emphasis on dynamic preaching, the music is modern and exciting, and doctrines are simplified. There is also usually a clear connection between the biblical text and the sermon. This is not always the case in a Catholic church, where the sermon/homily might have nothing to do with the Scripture readings for the day.

-Protestantism tends to demand less from people. They are not required to fast, and their works play little to no work in their salvation.

-They can use contraception freely, so long as they are married.

-They can generally remarry after divorce.

-At some point in their past, a priest or nun was mean to them, and they are unwilling to forgive and move on with their lives.

-They are upset about the priest sex scandal and no longer feel that they can support the Church by being a part of it.

-They don’t know how to defend their faith, and when challenged by Bible-smart Protestants, they are easily convinced that the Catholic Church is wrong about any number of things.

-They encounter Protestants who are serious about their relationship with God, who love to read the Scriptures, who have great joy in their lives, and who show great kindness to others. They contrast this with some of their fellow Catholics, who seem to be just going through the motions at mass and who live like non-Christians during the week.

There is also another group of people who leave the Catholic Church. These people are more traditional, and they often join dissenting former Catholic groups, or they become Orthodox. Here is a short list for them:

-They are dissatisfied with the ordinary form of the mass, and they believe that the Catholic Church has lost its sense of the sacred.

-Through study, they come to believe that certain Catholic doctrines (specifically those defined in the past thousand years) are incorrect.

-They believe that the pope’s role ought to be in some way different than it is currently exercised.

-They don’t believe that the Catholic Church demands enough of people, and they are drawn to a stricter fasting regimen.

-They believe that the Catholic Church has been overly affected by modernism, and they are seeking a religious community where traditional liturgy, morality and practice are still the norm.

 

[Cat]

You may not know many people who have left Catholicism for another spiritual system, but the Seventh Day Adventist denomination collects Catholic converts by the thousands every year. In fact the SDAs prize Catholic converts above any others.

This is interesting. I did not know this.

Interesting that the SDA members are extremely strict and there are a lot of rules to follow regarding diet and personal habits, many more so than other Protestant sects and the Catholic Church. The SDAs are teetotallers (in fact, they even avoid drinks and foods with caffeine), and as a teetotaller myself, I’ve often offended Catholics on this board with my objections to alcohol. Does any of this have anything to do with why Catholics convert to the SDA church–perhaps they’re seeking less “jolliness”?

 

[NDfan]

Do you think people generally leave Catholicism for reasons of conscience or simply because they aren’t much interested in spiritual matters of any kind?

Curiously,
Mick

Mick,

I simply don’t agree with some doctrines. I’ve studied the history, studied the scripture, read everything there is under the sun regarding the church both from a historical and spiritual perspective. I believe that if the RCC was THE only church of Christ then everyone who was called to be a part of that church would be RC.

I’ve met pastors who have dedicated their lives to a service to Christ and are not Roman Catholic. If you talk with any of them and hear of their stories you’ll never convince me that GOD is not calling and leading them. I do think some evangelicals will not submit to church authority and ultimately that’s why we have so many fractured denominations. But I also believe GOD will judge accordingly because HE is the only one WHO knows what’s truly in our hearts.

PEACE

 

[Marsha_Adams]

This is interesting. I did not know this.

Interesting that the SDA members are extremely strict and there are a lot of rules to follow regarding diet and personal habits, many more so than other Protestant sects and the Catholic Church. The SDAs are teetotallers (in fact, they even avoid drinks and foods with caffeine), and as a teetotaller myself, I’ve often offended Catholics on this board with my objections to alcohol. Does any of this have anything to do with why Catholics convert to the SDA church–perhaps they’re seeking less “jolliness”?

No, none of that has to do why Catholics convert to SDAism. The reason is that SDAs teach (using a distortion of Scripture and history for proof) that the Church is the Whore of Babylon and the Anti-Christ which placed itself above God and changed God’s Law making Sunday the Sabbath (Sunday keeping is the Mark of the Beast) and placed tradition over the Bible.

 

[Snerticus]

As a Catholic revert, I personally think it’s lack of adequate catechesis. But I have to expand upon that. For the longest time, I just didn’t care either. Not only was my catechesis weak, but I just didn’t care about religion in general. And I didn’t particularly want to learn any more either.

So, right there you have two reasons. I’m sure there are many more. But I am convinced that catechesis remains the biggest. So many people just don’t understand their faith. (I can imagine it’s just not a Catholic thing, though)

I know I didn’t. But if you had told me that I would have said you were lying. As a famous apologist said “the problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know. If we knew what we didn’t know we would simply learn it. But the fact is we don’t know what we don’t know.” Ignorance of the facts doesn’t necessarily equal bliss.

One thing I do see though, is that almost all the ex-Catholics I know absolutely hate, and I mean HATE, their Catholicism. That’s not good. Many, many converts to Catholicism, on the other hand, truly love their old faith and don’t consider it an obstacle or wasted time. They truly appreciate what they’d gotten and recognize their gifts from whatever background they came from. They just feel like now their previous beliefs are fulfilled. I find such a stark contrast between the two groups disturbing.

I know an ex-Catholic who told me all the problems that he thought the Catholic Church had. I brushed them off (although I hope I didn’t appear that way to him) because 1) he was never a practicing Catholic anyway, yet he considered himself knowledgable in it and 2) everything he told me he disliked about the faith was not true. And when I tried to explain to him what he thought was not true, he didn’t believe me. That of course was frustrating. … So there is another example of lack of catechesis, mixed with indifference.

That said, I am happy my friend found Christ in another denomination, even though he wanted to “save me because I wasn’t saved”. Had he not, he may have just lapsed from religion altogether, and possibly lost hope. So I do believe that non-Catholic Christians are just where God needs them to be. God has His own plans for us and just because one is not Catholic doesn’t mean they are headed in the wrong direction. And yes, this is coming from a Catholic. One who just can’t get enough of learning about her faith…

 

[estesbob]

I have run into a lot of former Catholics who dropped outbecause they could not reconcile the teachings of the Church with their politics.

 

[abirdrrl]

I left because of theological reasons.

 

[estesbob]

Good answer. If a person cannot believe in the truths Catholicism teaches, let them go else to find Truth.

Does that mean there is more than one version of the truth?

 

[Snerticus]

Does that mean there is more than one version of the truth?

No, I think it means if they can’t recognise the Truth in Catholicism, then it might be easier to see it in another denomination. Catholicism from what I can tell is hard to understand from other perspectives. Other denominations might make a more complex teaching in Catholicism more easily assimilated with a more simplified version.

I hope I am correct. That’s the way I took it, anyway…

 

[NDfan]

Does that mean there is more than one version of the truth?

Bob there is only one truth and that is Christ died for our sins. I don’t consider a truth to be transubstantiation for instance. That’s an improper definition applied to the Lord’s supper.

 

[abirdrrl]

Poor catechesis.

Guilt or rebellion.

Boredom resulting from poor catechesis.

I’m a convert to Catholicism, by the way, from a fundamentalist/charismatic/methodist upbringing.

Becasue people can’t leave the Catholic Church and join another faith for the same reason you left other faiths and joined the Catholic Church, it’s just poor catechesis

 

[kage_ar]

Bob there is only one truth and that is Christ died for our sins. I don’t consider a truth to be transubstantiation for instance. That’s an improper definition applied to the Lord’s supper.

What about John, Chapter 6?

 

[jhcooper]

I am a convert. I have extremely passionate thoughts about this. I have heard many say they left because the found it mass boring. Do they really know what they left! The Evangelical Protestant churches have been quite sucessful at providing entertainment and a whole spectrum of services. They have also been excellent at honing their message to defeat Catholicism. We Catholics have destroyed our own culture and our own message. We have been involved in establishing a church within a church which conditions people to look at the Protestant churches as having the correct messages.

The salvation of the church is to be found in Catholicism not Prostestantism!

 

[laverita]

No, none of that has to do why Catholics convert to SDAism. The reason is that SDAs teach (using a distortion of Scripture and history for proof) that the Church is the Whore of Babylon and the Anti-Christ which placed itself above God and changed God’s Law making Sunday the Sabbath (Sunday keeping is the Mark of the Beast) and placed tradition over the Bible.

I have looked and studied the SDA church prophesy along with what I consider the Protestant interpretation as it is today. I have been looking for Catholic perspectives, but they are few and far between. It appears the Catholic Church in this forum spends a lot of time defending its position of THE church. But has not spent a lot of time teaching from “the” bible, this fact viewed from a person perhaps looking for answers could be a viewed as a short coming. On the other hand Protestants encourage bible reading and many have a broad understanding of the scripture. It would appear that the Catholic Church places greater emphasis on function. Because, as I have found for myself, someone that has a lot of bible study from many perspectives, is disappointed to some degree that it does not play as great a roll in the Catholic Church. People that acknowledge God also to some degree acknowledge the bible. I asked for a Catholic perspective about a story in numbers 11:16 on another thread from someone that was clearly dominating the position of the Catholic Church only to be greeted with disappointment. Well please consider my opinion of not why people leave, I dont know, but I have offered a view as to why the Catholic Church may find its self not attracting as many as it could.

Back to the SDA, they have greeted the Catholic Church with a simulator general position the Catholic Church views all Protestants in, that they are a false church. The SDA are very bible savvy, they can use there prophesy, (which is as far as I can tell uniform threw out there churches). To show you how it relates threw out the whole bible. They claim that this is based on the foundation of the reformers. Despite the fact that this leaves the CC in a bad light it is in my opinion the largest interpretation in the fact that it encompasses so much of scripture. It also addresses the error (in there opinion) with current Protestant revelation.

The Protestants teach for the most part the Darby interpretation. That became popular in the early 1800s and has found almost complete acceptance in churches today. This leaves out almost the entire book of Revelation stating that the church will be gone from chapter 4 on. In comparing SDA and the Darby I find that Darby makes a good case but it depends on your interpretation of some of the basic foundations of the bible message, It depends on the literal Israel, the Israel that Paul said were 2 the Nation by generations, and the Israel of the promise. In my opinion this is a key point that must be observed to accept Darby. Darby follows that all Israel (literally) and that all the Jews have received a spiritual blindness until the Church is complete. After this time the Church is in heaven and the Jews are left on earth to witness Jesus Christ in the great tribulation, leading people out to salvation. Its not spoken of much in these churches but there is a broad acceptance of the CC being a false church. Most dont include it in there public teaching, but if asked directly will confirm it.

Dispensationalism is a Protestant, Christian, evangelical tradition and theology. The name derives from the concept of a “dispensation” or administration. Dispensationalists hold that there are a series of chronologically successive dispensations, that emphasize certain Biblical covenants, and that the nation of Israel is distinct from the Church. Most believe that God is going to fulfill His promises to national Israel in the process of Israel being revitalized, that Christ will rule the world from there upon His return, and they deny the teachings of Replacement Theology (supersessionism). The teachings of Dispensationalism contain a distinctive eschatological “end times” component, as all dispensationalists hold to premillennialism and most hold to the pretribulation rapture. In other areas of theology, dispensationalists hold to a wide range of beliefs within the evangelical and fundamentalist spectrum.

Men have always been drawn to the meaning of bible prophesy as well as scripture. I would very much like to find the official Catholic Church teaching on this subject.

Most people will accept teaching at face value, but that will not suffice the few. One reason that the SDA bible view has not gained more traction is the fact that people just dont look. The SDA is looked upon as a cult type church from main stream Protestants. And the protestants insist they are right in view of there view of Dispensationalism.

 

[mangy_dog]

Do you think people generally leave Catholicism for reasons of conscience or simply because they aren’t much interested in spiritual matters of any kind?

Curiously,
Mick

Spiritual matters are much misunderstood by persons of conscience that leave the catholic church.

The poor in the catholic faith are very rich.

The very wise and “learned” in the faith are the ones who tend to stray from the one true faith. Simply because they confuse the value of being poor in spirit.

Aquiesce anima mea, in Deus salus mea.

 

[NDfan]

What about John, Chapter 6?

Kage terrible misinterpretation. But I’m fine with the real presence. I just don’t believe in transubstantiation. Certainly not by the way Trent and Aquinas tried to define it. This may need to go to another thread as I don’t want to derail

 

[SSTeacher]

I left for many reasons. What got the ball rolling was that I realized that I was involved in idolatry. Praying to Mary and the saints. Getting on my knees in front of statues…etc

If I might ask – how do you view the presence of icons in Orthodoxy?

Grace and peace,
Mick

 

[NDfan]

I am a convert. I have extremely passionate thoughts about this. I have heard many say they left because the found it mass boring. Do they really know what they left! The Evangelical Protestant churches have been quite sucessful at providing entertainment and a whole spectrum of services. They have also been excellent at honing their message to defeat Catholicism. We Catholics have destroyed our own culture and our own message. We have been involved in establishing a church within a church which conditions people to look at the Protestant churches as having the correct messages.

The salvation of the church is to be found in Catholicism not Prostestantism!

Are you saying there’s no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church??