Why I left the Catholic Church

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Disheartened

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I recently left the Catholic Church. The reason for this decision is many.

For one thing, I found out many things by reading on the internet on sites like this and others. I found out that Catholics are as unhappy and mean as I thought they were. I used to think it was just me, but then I went online and found out what people really thought. I was also treated unkindly by Catholics online.

I saw the hypocrisy of the Church. For instance, the Church has changed it’s official stance on a number of major topics to adapt to the times. They used to forbid usury many years ago, till they noticed that the Jews were taking over the banking and that they needed to get in on the action. Now the Church embraces usuary, in fact there is a Catholic Credit Union. Churches often go into debt to remodel.

The Church used to despise the Jews and participated and sometimes instigated anti-Semitic episodes in Europe throughout the ages. Now, the Jews have so much clout in the world that the Church changed it’s stance on the Jews and acts as if they are the greatest group of people in the world, even though the Jews these days don’t even follow their religion any more like they used to.

The Church claims to advocate for the poor, but then they forbid birth control and pretend that having more children doesn’t cause problems for poor people, when in fact that’s not true. The Church is loud about that, but turns a blind eye at the fact that wealthy contributers use birth control.

The Church makes a big deal about it’s own communion being the only real one and the best one. Meanwhile, the Church is not even a functional Christian community. It’s clergy have alot of emotional problems, and there is so much disagreement on liturgy, politics, and a million other things.

There are alot of other things that have finally driven me away, including the fact that my own parish is a dysfunctional wreck.
 
I’m sorry. I’ll remember you in my rosary tonight.

Please pray for me as well.
 
Do you believe the fundamental beliefs of the Catholic Church are wrong? Or do you believe Catholics fail to live up to them?

Because if you are looking for a church full of “nice” people - good luck. There are mean people all over. But I’m Catholic… and I’m nice. And there are lots just like me. Mean/unhappy is not a Catholic condition - it’s a human condition.

Also, I’m curious… how do you know that rich people are allowed to use birth control?

Did you come to this decision prayerfully? Are you at peace? You seem bitter. Forgive me if that’s not true… it’s just what I get from your post.
 
Many things are tolerated in rich parishioners because they give alto of money to the Church. The church has always pandered to the rich throughout history. Anyways I need to go now, I’ll try and check in later if I can. Just look at how the Kennedy family is put up with, and Bill Gates who supports Planned Parenthood.

I think the Mennonites and Amish are the true models of Christian communities. The Catholic Church has a bunch of neurotic priests, that’s all I saw. I don’t know if it’s because they can’t get married, but I met alot of priests with emotional problems. Look at the sex scandels and homosexuality in the clergy. Something is wrong with that picture.
 
Disheartened said:
Many things are tolerated in rich parishioners because they give alto of money to the Church. The church has always pandered to the rich throughout history. Anyways I need to go now, I’ll try and check in later if I can. Just look at how the Kennedy family is put up with, and Bill Gates who supports Planned Parenthood.

I think the Mennonites and Amish are the true models of Christian communities. The Catholic Church has a bunch of neurotic priests, that’s all I saw. I don’t know if it’s because they can’t get married, but I met alot of priests with emotional problems. Look at the sex scandels and homosexuality in the clergy. Something is wrong with that picture.
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If that’s true… if the sin’s of the weathly are ignored by the Priests… well, then I feel sorry for the rich. I guess I’m glad that my Priest expects so much of me because someday we will all stand before God as our judge. So what if the Priests tolerate the likes of the Kennedys… God isn’t impressed with their wealth and it’s Him they will answer to.

I am sorry that the Priests in your life have been neurotic. The Priests are my parish are so wonderful. I love them so much. It sounds like your parish has problems… have you tried going somewhere else?

Are you seriously thinking you’ll become Amish?

Are you at peace? I always wonder why someone posts that they’ve left the Catholic Church. I guess I just don’t understand what you’d want from us. Do you want us to talk you out of it? Do you want us to leave with you?

What I will do is pray for you. If there is another way we can help you, please let us know.
 
Disheartened said:
I recently left the Catholic Church. The reason for this decision is many.

For one thing, I found out many things by reading on the internet on sites like this and others. I found out that Catholics are as unhappy and mean as I thought they were.[wrong, that is what you were looking for, to use for justifaction of doing thing in a more convienant way for you ] ] I used to think it was just me, but then I went online and found out what people really thought. I was also treated unkindly by Catholics online.all 1.something billion of them?. your general statements could be insulting, as most blanket statements are]

I saw the hypocrisy of the Church.[what about your hypocrisy? your a sinner aren’t you] ] For instance, the Church has changed it’s official stance on a number of major topics[define “major topics” , it does have the power to bind and Loose, and has never changed Dogma] to adapt to the times. They used to forbid usury many years ago, till they noticed that the Jews were taking over the banking and that they needed to get in on the action. Now the Church embraces usuary, in fact there is a Catholic Credit Union. Churches often go into debt to remodel. [how is banking any kind of reason, that is how the work works…people dont bring it eggs, chickens and goats for offering anymore. Personally i would love to use a Catholic Credit Union, for i know where the profits would go]

The Church used to despise the Jews and participated and sometimes instigated anti-Semitic episodes in Europe throughout the ages.[some sources please? i know Martin Luther published some not to friendly books towards the Jews, one of which inspired Hitler] Now, the Jews have so much clout in the world that the Church changed it’s stance [define “the Church’s stance”]on the Jews and acts as if they are the greatest group of people in the world, even though the Jews these days don’t even follow their religion any more like they used to. another blanket statement]

The Church claims to advocate for the poor, but then they forbid birth control [um hello, you don’t need Birth control if you love the Lord, cause if you do, then the whole premarital sex thing and the not being open to life ideas are pretty high on your list] and pretend that having more children doesn’t cause problems for poor people, when in fact that’s not true. The Church is loud about that, but turns a blind eye at the fact that wealthy contributers use birth control. [another judgemental and blanket statement…all the members of the Catholic Church are sinners FYI]

The Church makes a big deal about it’s own communion being the only real one and the best one.[because it is] Meanwhile, the Church is not even a functional Christian community. It’s clergy have alot of emotional problems, and there is so much disagreement on liturgy, politics, and a million other things. [wow entire books and years of Study could come out of just this statement alone to come even close to proving it true…again, another blanket OPINION…same could be said for ANY organization that involves “humans” ]

There are alot of other things that have finally driven me away, including the fact that my own parish is a dysfunctional wreck.
[Sadly, though your eyes, i am sure that is all that you see…i pray you engage in some honest Piety, Study, and Action to find the Truth, because your assessments are just justificaitons for your immediate personal agenda. Peace of the Lord be with you, and i hope your journey doesnt keep you away from the Eucharist for to long ]
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Your observation that people in the Catholic Church, sometimes including Church leadership, do not act Christ-like is unquestionably true. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to maintain a vision of the way Christ would have us live when we can’t see at least some true examples of what a Christian should be. I encourage you to keep looking for those true examples, both within and outside of the Catholic Church. They can be found.

Perhaps you could also consider the 23rd chapter of Matthew where Jesus finds enormous fault in the religious leaders of his day, but he tells his disciples at the beginning of the chapter that the ideal response to these flawed leaders is to still accept that they do fill a real historical role that does warrant a measure of respect.

It is a difficult lesson - one I am still trying to sort out myself.

Good luck

Jim
 
Disheartened said:
Many things are tolerated in rich parishioners because they give alto of money to the Church. The church has always pandered to the rich throughout history. Anyways I need to go now, I’ll try and check in later if I can. Just look at how the Kennedy family is put up with, and Bill Gates who supports Planned Parenthood.

I think the Mennonites and Amish are the true models of Christian communities. The Catholic Church has a bunch of neurotic priests, that’s all I saw. I don’t know if it’s because they can’t get married, but I met alot of priests with emotional problems. Look at the sex scandels and homosexuality in the clergy. Something is wrong with that picture.
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Well, Bill Gates isn’t a Catholic…
 
I’m sorry about the bad experiences you’ve had with other Catholics. I’ve been Catholic for eight years now, and I have to admit I haven’t been impressed with many of the Catholics I’ve met. But, I don’t believe the Catholic Church is true or not true based on the fervency of most of its members. Remember Jesus said very few take the narrow path of salvation and the weeds would grow up right alongside with the wheat, so it doesn’t surprise me to see alot of lukewarm Catholics that aren’t happy or a particularly good witness to the world of the Catholic faith. But there are sincere, committed Catholics out there and they do impress me with their love for the Lord and others, and those are the Catholics who encourage and inspire me and that I keep my eye on as an example for me to follow. It was reading the life of a Catholic saint (before I became Catholic), St.Maximilian Kolbe, that made me realize what it really meant to love Christ and how far short of that I fell. The lives of Catholic saints outshine anything I’ve seen.

I’m not up to speed on the topic of usury, but I am on the topic of birth control. Having children doesn’t keep people poor. In fact, in many countries where people have large families it’s because children are their “social security.” Children take care of their parents when they get older and are unable to care for themselves. We’ve kind of lost sight of that in our culture, but it’s the way it is in many others. What causes widespread poverty is lack of education and job opportunities, the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. The answer to poverty isn’t to eliminate the poor by birth control and abortion. You should read George Grant’s Grand Illusions, the Legacy of Planned Parenthood. It’s a very sobering, documented history of the modern birth control movement. It sprang from anything but altruistic motives, and its attitude towards the poor was anything but compassionate. The Catholic Church is the only Christian church that hasn’t compromised on this issue, but maintains 2,000 years of apostolic teaching.

As for anti-Semitism, the Church has never encouraged or taught that. Many Catholics through the centuries have been anti-Semitic, but if you take the time to read church history you’ll find the Church often acted to protect Jews, not kill them (Pope Pius XII is credited with saving thousands of Jewish lives during his papacy, and during that time the chief Rabbi of Rome converted to the Catholic faith, and showing his respect for the pope, took the pope’s baptismal name as his Christian name). And the Catholic Church is the only Church I know of that has acknowledged and asked forgiveness for her past failings of her members. I see a consistent charitable attitude towards non-members, even non-Christians, in the Catholic Church than I do in others. I’ve never heard other people bashed from a Catholic pulpit like I have from non-Catholic pulpits. Yes, I am disturbed by some of the things I see happening in the Church, especially at the parish level – heretical teaching, lukewarmness, ignorance, liturgical abuses, etc., but the Church has always had its problems and always will, more prevalent in some ages than others, but the Church is still the Body of Christ and for that reason I belong to it. I do what I can to try to make the Church better, to light a candle instead of just cursing the darkness, and thankfully the Church accepts flawed people like myself or I would still be on the outside looking in. I am grateful for the truth and the riches of grace I have found in the Catholic Church, and I pray God will open the eyes of your heart to see them too.
 
carol_marie said:
Are you at peace? I always wonder why someone posts that they’ve left the Catholic Church. I guess I just don’t understand what you’d want from us. Do you want us to talk you out of it? Do you want us to leave with you?

What I will do is pray for you. If there is another way we can help you, please let us know.
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What i always notice about those who post claiming they have left the catholic Church is how very little they know about the Church they claim to have left. I was a bit disapointed that the Crusades and the Inquisition didnt make the cut in his post…
 
So then, where will you find the church you seek, the one without sinners and hypocrites? And will you be good enough for them to accept you?
 
There is a big difference between usury and bank’s interest on a loan. I quote Why Do Catholics Do That? :
A television reporter recently asked a Vatican official about the Church’s stand on birth control. “If the Church is going to have a place in America today,” she asked, “why don’t ou just change your rulling on birth control? You changed your ruling about taking interest on money.”
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It’s a faulty analogy, on more than one level. For one thing, the Church has never objected to the principle of interest (no pun intended). There are some biblical warnings against taking payment for a loan, but they refer to an entirely different matter. In the ancient world, there were banks (see Mt 25:27), but the idea of debt was abhorent. You borrowed money because you had to, because your crops failed, maybe, and you needed the money to keep yourself and your family alive.
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But nowadays, you usually borrow money because you want to buy a new car or start a business or something. The lender offers you the use of his money–his property–and has every right to expect payment for it. He’s renting you his money, you might say. If the lender asks too much for it, you can go to someone else who asks a lower rate. As long as you have choices at every stage of the transaction, there’s no moral objection per se. Still, if you need money to live because of some catastrophe, and somebody takes advantage of your emergency by forcing you to pay for a loan instead of offering outright charity, or charges unfair interst in any circumstances, that’s usury, which is and always has been morally offensive to Christians. And the Church’s regulations on usury have never changed.
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The reporter’s analogy doesn’t hold in a larger sense, either, in the broad view of how the Church formulates and maintains her teachings. It’s not generally realized in this country that the Church can’t change her rulings on birth control, nor those on usury. In fact the Church has never changed her ruling on anything pertaining to faith and morals.
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The Catholic Church is a hospital fro sinners. We fail time and time again to live up to the Catholic proposition. We are human and prone to sin.

The important thing is we try.
 
I hate to say it but this whole post is a bit fishy. A brand-spanking new member… who has been hurt by online Catholics (which doesn’t match the experience of the majority of Catholics here)… who bashes Catholicism with no real understanding of the Catholic faith?

The holiness of the Church, which Christ himself established is NOT equal to the holiness of it’s members. You will find sin and hypocrisy everywhere…

If you’re truly a Catholic, what are YOU doing to bring the dysfunction to light in your parish? What are you doing to call your brothers and sisters to a greater way of living?

The rule established regarding birth control was not established by the Church but by God and the Catholic Church is the only one left who actually sticks by it! But they cannot police it either… If I choose to use birth control, I am going to have to answer to God but I don’t expect the church to come into my home and throw it away for me or deny me from donating time or money to the church because I’m sinning in this area of my life… and why should they? That just wouldn’t make sense.

I don’t see how loving Jewish people or any other people can be viewed as negative…

Whether you are a legitimate Catholic or not, I challenge to to stop reading all the anti-Catholic propoganda that you’re reading and start learning about your faith from other faithful Catholics. What can you possibly learn from those who have no real understanding of the faith?

I have only been mistreated by one Catholic online, on another site… when I was a Protestant genuinely seeking answers. But I was also wise enough to realize that he was not representative of ALL Catholics… Many others proved that I was right.
 
Disheartened said:
Meanwhile, the Church is not even a functional Christian community.
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My children, desire to purify your hearts from envy and from anger with each other, lest death should overcome you, and you will be counted among the murderers. For whosoever hates his brother, kills a soul.
Abba Anthony the Great
 
Mom of 3, I notice you’re a relatively new poster yourself. I’m sorry you find my post fishy, but I came here to express my sadness. I was a convert to the church 13 years ago. In the past 2 years I’ve gotten more and more fed up. Yes, I’ve tried to participate and improve my parish, but there were so many petty rivalries and poor leadership that I gave up.

Mikey gave a nice answer, devoid of disdain, but some of these other answers confirm my belief that Catholics are full of cruelty for one another and the Eucharist doesn’t help people in any way to love their fellow humans.
 
Disheartened said:
Many things are tolerated in rich parishioners because they give alto of money to the Church. The church has always pandered to the rich throughout history. Anyways I need to go now, I’ll try and check in later if I can. Just look at how the Kennedy family is put up with, and Bill Gates who supports Planned Parenthood.

I think the Mennonites and Amish are the true models of Christian communities. The Catholic Church has a bunch of neurotic priests, that’s all I saw. I don’t know if it’s because they can’t get married, but I met alot of priests with emotional problems. Look at the sex scandels and homosexuality in the clergy. Something is wrong with that picture.
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And what are you going to do when the Amish let you down, because they will? Seventh Day Adventists? Taoists? Shinto? And is thast the attitude you adopt with people as well. When they let you down, time to move on. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Either you read the Catechsim and believe the tenets of our faith, or you don’t. You don’t base the validity of a religion on failed people. We are the largest Christian faith; and we are targets when we misbehave. No one cares if the Mennanites screw up.

And Satan isn’t worried about bringing down the Bhuddists. They aren’t a threat. Why do you think Catholics are attacked with problems more? Is there just a predilection for Catholics and trouble? Not at all. We attract the lures of Satan, because he knows the ONLY thing that can save this world is the Eucharist.

I wonder how many countless souls have been lost because they left for reasons as the OP. Based on anecdotal incidents rather than actual factual teaching of the faith, and the fact that it was chosen and founded by Christ Himself. It would seem THAT would outweigh any modern issues you may perceive with individuals.
 
The holiest and happiest people I have met are Catholics. Recently I met, maybe for the last time, with my spiritual advisor who is a member of the Benedictine order. He is old and dying. He has spent countless hours talking with me and helping me grow in my spirituality. He is one of many priests who have helped to bring me to a better place in my life. If you can’t see these kinds of people under the umbrella of Rome then you aren’t looking very hard. I have been a Catholic for 8 years. During that time I have met many wonderful and loving Catholics. I have also met many good and faithful priests. The person who started this thread sounds angry and hurt. That is not what I have experienced as a Catholic and that is not what the Church that Jesus Christ founded (the Catholic church) is about.
 
Disheartened said:
Mom of 3, I notice you’re a relatively new poster yourself. I’m sorry you find my post fishy, but I came here to express my sadness. I was a convert to the church 13 years ago. In the past 2 years I’ve gotten more and more fed up. Yes, I’ve tried to participate and improve my parish, but there were so many petty rivalries and poor leadership that I gave up.

Mikey gave a nice answer, devoid of disdain, but some of these other answers confirm my belief that Catholics are full of cruelty for one another and the Eucharist doesn’t help people in any way to love their fellow humans.
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How does this prove that the Eucharist isn’t the Body and Blood of Jesus? Jesus is the Bread of Life whether or not believers respond to that grace or not.

The objective reality is cannot be changed due to subjective responses.
 
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