Leaving the Catholic church

Tristan · 05-17-2005, 08:05 PM

A question: is it possible for a nominally catholic person to… withdraw from the Catholic church, i.e. to suspend their membership in the Church ?

One becomes catholic, and by that a member of the Catholic church by baptism. There are many people who never asked to be baptised, never went to a mass, and never felt catholic (whatever that means), but the Catholic church considers them parishioners anyway.

So, is there a procedure, a statemement, a document of some sort or whatever, which one would have to go through, write, complete or obtain, and after which he or she would no longer be considered a member of the Catholic church ?

I'm not talking about excommunication, hopefully that's clear…

Thnx.

Faithfulservant · 05-17-2005, 08:19 PM

I was under the impression that members had to go through Confirmation.. taking classes etc.. before they were actually members of the Catholic Church. Even children raised in a Catholic church have to go through this process as they reach adulthood. Do I understand this correctly?

Awaiting_the_fifth · 05-18-2005, 12:42 AM

I was raised as a catholic, baptised without my consent but then gladly accepted the sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession. When I was considered old enough I did attend classes and was confirmed but I never thought of myself as a "member" of the church as one would be a member of a club.

Last year when I was at University I met a Portugese exchange student who was a devout Christian. She tried a few local churches and eventually decided that she liked a local baptist church. After a few weeks she asked me to attend a ceremony to mark her being accepted as a member of the church. I was of course honored to be asked but the purpose of the ceremony confused me very much, I had never before come across the idea of church "membership".

I dont think that the Catholic church requires us to be members. Any catholic church will welcome anyone who wants to attend any services and the level of social involvement is largely left up to the individual. There is no centralised list of Catholics, no membership database.

When I was 15 I chose to leave the Catholic church. To do this I simply stopped attending services. I am no more a member of the catholic church now than Oliver Cromwell.

Kaldayen · 05-18-2005, 05:25 AM

I was baptised under the catholic faith and afterward, I never did any other sacraments, because my parents aren't practicing and they left me the choice. But I think that as soon as one is baptised (at least where I live) he his considered as a member of the christian faith and is on the official lists (and so, on the national statistics). Even if I don't consider myself catholic, I'm still a member for the Church.

If you want to stop being a false statistic, you have to write a letter of apostasy to your church. Then, they'll probably ask you to reconsider your choice and attend some classes..

___
Kal

Quahom1 · 06-04-2005, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaldayen

I was baptised under the catholic faith and afterward, I never did any other sacraments, because my parents aren't practicing and they left me the choice. But I think that as soon as one is baptised (at least where I live) he his considered as a member of the christian faith and is on the official lists (and so, on the national statistics). Even if I don't consider myself catholic, I'm still a member for the Church.

If you want to stop being a false statistic, you have to write a letter of apostasy to your church. Then, they'll probably ask you to reconsider your choice and attend some classes..

___
Kal

That is about the thick of it Kal. Another option would be to tell the church you are of a different denomination, or different faith. But I wouldn't say you were agnostic, or atheistic, then the church goes nuts trying to convert...

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tommy · 06-11-2005, 01:13 AM

Here, you can use my letter I sent a year ago

I know it is lacking love and natural affection looking back and you learn a lot in the course of a year. There was some stuff going on that was over working my family and much pressure applied on me as a Senior member of their Finance Couincil to continually raise money for them without any appreciation and much criticism when they didn't achieve their 25K weekly collection I was in charge of. I do regret the lack of human kindness in this letter looking back, but we dropped hours of volunteer projects that we just could not get out of and there wasn't a spiritual reward for following something we didn't feel right about. We replaced this time by reading the entire Bible and attending several Christian meetings each week. Lots of love and peace!!!! Here it is:

Dear FatherXXX:

After careful consideration, my family has decided to resign from St. XXX. Therefore, please remove Tommy, Lori and Johnny XXXX from the following:
1). Parish mailings, including offeratory envelopes. We cannot slave for 2 masters, God and wealth, and clearly the Catholic Church is a slave to wealth and financial matters. In light of the thousands of lawsuits against catholic priests who have molested young boys, the Catholic Church must need a lot of money. Clearly this acitivity is from Satan.

2) Finance Council Committee for Tommy; another aspect of the church slaving for wealth and material possessions. When Jesus died, all he owned was the garment his accusers gave him that he was wearing. It is obvious to me that small amounts of money are immaterial to St. XXXX who expects $25,000.00 per week in its gold plate! For the last several years, the entire focus of St. Bonaventure has been it's capital campaign and $$$$, not in feeding it's Congregation spiritually. We leave the Catholic church starving for spiritual guidance.

3) Johnny XXXX from CCD, 3rd grade Wed. afternoon 4 p.m. class, with Joanne. Of course, we will no longer attend summer Bible camp, either.

We have been studying the Bible for years now, and have learned so much that we know is wrong about false religion, the Catholic Church and Christendom. We are offended by the teachings of the Catholic Church, and all of the idols displayed everywhere. We should never call any man "father", only our God in heaven is father.

Matt. 23:9: "Do not call anyone on earth your father. Only One is your father, the One in Heaven."

Ex: 20:4 "You shall not carve idols for yourself in the shape of anything in the sky above, or on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth."

The King James Version of the Bible has removed God's name over 7000 times in the Bible. Ancient buildings and writings, including from the Catholic religion, have God's name "Yahweh". If you are a sister, or mother, would you only want to be called "sister" or "mother" by everyone, or wouldn't you feel better and more personal if they used your real name? We are drawn MUCH closer to God when we use his personal name.

To gain salvation, we must have faith in the ransom provided by God and his son Jesus, and we must imitate Jesus. We must have humility, love all others, and do not put faith in material possessions, along with many other commands we must obey from the Bible.

After 4o years with the Catholic church, we have finally learned the Truth from studying the Bible and association with others who do the same. We have often felt that the Catholic Church "hides" the Bible from people. There are NO Bibles for parishoners to refer to in the Church, nor are people required to bring a Bible, and this is the Word of God.

We hope that this might inspire you and your families to find the Truth about Yahwey God in the Bible.

1Tim:4:15-16: "Ponder over these things; be absorbed in them, that your advancement may be manifest to all (persons). Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you".

Quahom1 · 06-11-2005, 06:23 AM

Easy there big guy. There are Catholics here...

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InLove · 06-11-2005, 08:00 AM

Hello, God bless all here--

I have not welcomed you here to CR yet, Tommy--Anyway, welcome!

I wonder if anyone knows how hard it is for you and your family to leave after all this time? You have tried to tell it.

I am not Catholic, but I believe in the salvation offered in the Christ. I call Him Jesus, as do my brothers and sisters who call themselves Catholic. I believe in the Messiah, as do my brothers and sisters in the Jewish faith (whether or not we agree about whether He has come or will come). And if I am telling the truth, then I can tell you nothing other than what I believe.

The world, if you let it, will convince you to tear the Messiah into pieces--Eastern and Western, Protestant and Catholic, Jewish and Christian, Muslim and Jewish. The past and the present, the past and the future, blue-eyed and blonde to olive-skinned with dark hair. Very dark with dredlocks. A prophet to Muslims, an exceptional teacher to almost everyone. A representative, somehow, of God, no matter who you ask. I believe that the Roman soldiers actually did cast lots for His robe--and it is not a stretch for me to understand and believe that that robe was indeed seamless.

As much as He is torn apart--He cannot be torn apart

. Anywhere--not even within Protestant "denominations". Well, of course, some of them will keep arguing the point, but the rest of them are not there because they actually read the Word, and felt the Spirit, and see no need to argue instead of follow--no the real Church is not in a building, or an organization. It is not necessarily in any tradition. The only thing that looks toward the Christ, whether yesterday, today, or tomorrow is Love. God is Love, and He tells me so in His own Word.

I know not all people believe that Christ died on the cross and rose from the tomb as the firstborn self-sacrifice of God for men. It really doesn't matter what everyone thinks. It is important to take what people say into account, but you do not need to believe anything other than what you find believable.

I may have to someday leave the place where I help others worship. Honestly, I do not know . I will not leave unless God tells me to--my ministry involves children and old folks--I guess someone else takes care of their parents and children

. (Just kind of kidding.)

I cannot post properly tonight what I would like to. But this is only one night of my life. Your story touched me, and no family need go through all of that just to love one another--just make certain you love one another--and try not to blame God for all the crap that is done in His Name. When it is all said and done? Love will know.

Looks like a good place for me to stop now. Kind of a tough day. I know I talked more than usual. Just glad to have a place to do it.

InPeace,
InLove

JonMarc · 06-11-2005, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InLove

...
I am not Catholic, but I believe in the salvation offered in the Christ. I call Him Jesus, as do my brothers and sisters who call themselves Catholic. I believe in the Messiah, as do my brothers and sisters in the Jewish faith (whether or not we agree about whether He has come or will come). And if I am telling the truth, then I can tell you nothing other than what I believe.
...
As much as He is torn apart--He cannot be torn apart
...
...--no the real Church is not in a building, or an organization. It is not necessarily in any tradition. The only thing that looks toward the Christ, whether yesterday, today, or tomorrow is Love. God is Love, and He tells me so in His own Word.
...

Come unto Me. - Mathew chapter 11 verse 28

tommy · 06-11-2005, 05:35 PM

Good morning gang! Lots going on today, Bible Study, playing with my eight year old, labs give me their come play with me bark. Thanks for saying hi In Love at Peace (what a powerful name). I have eight Catholic brothers and Sisters and parents and lay pretty low, mostly observe and see things lots differently. I am not convinved all the "members" of Catholicism are wrong. Catholics make up the big group (I call the Big Boat, which I jumped ship learning something about a road that is cramped and narrow in Matthew). But all my friends and family are Catholics and I love them dearly and respect the whole traditions even though I don't believe in Doctrines, councils, pope (a Man). I do respect Catholics and love them dearly as I am still sort of one after 40 years and have gone thru some transition obviously. I have a pretty interesting write up I put together on Babylon, but I think I won'tl put it up. It is not fair to go on the attack on someones beliefs and I like to stay on the peace and love topic and would prefer putting more up on love rather then all this negative stuff we see on forums. If you really want me to post on what I have learned about the final days and His name and how important this is, let me know and I will put it together in a few days if we can keep the theme positive. I don't want to take up too much room here either as the new kid. Have a great day, tommy

Quahom1 · 06-12-2005, 03:17 AM

I think I'd put it in the "Revelations, are you ready" thread. That way we can compare it to what another member has posted about the Great Babylon.

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tommy · 06-12-2005, 03:42 AM

OK Quahom1, I have read your stuff and find your posts very interesting. But I want to ask first that if I point out a few all exclusive points about the mass of what I see as false religion my thoughts on what Babylon is, will I affend any if I get into what I think Babylon great and the whole mass (not one religion) is referring to? If so perhaps I should keep my opinion to myself? I have got to spend some family time the rest of the weekend, so it woulnot be till Monday. Let me know, I am the new guy, so I will trust your judgement as the more senior person, take care and blessings to you and your family. tommy

Quahom1 · 06-12-2005, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommy

OK Quahom1, I have read your stuff and find your posts very interesting. But I want to ask first that if I point out a few all exclusive points about the mass of what I see as false religion my thoughts on what Babylon is, will I affend any if I get into what I think Babylon great and the whole mass (not one religion) is referring to? If so perhaps I should keep my opinion to myself? I have got to spend some family time the rest of the weekend, so it woulnot be till Monday. Let me know, I am the new guy, so I will trust your judgement as the more senior person, take care and blessings to you and your family. tommy

I am of the opinion that I statements, like "I think this", I found that, and I believe such and such, do not cause others to take offense, so no I don't see a problem with you discussing what you have discovered, or believe.

As for me, I have a pretty thick skin...

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p.s. I might have questions though...

SOGFPP · 06-23-2005, 06:34 PM

Tristan,

Tommy did it the right way.... once you have excommunicated yourself from the Catholic Church, the best thing to do is write a letter like that and "make it official".

Peace be with you in your decision,
Scott

Quahom1 · 06-23-2005, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SOGFPP

Tristan,

Tommy did it the right way.... once you have excommunicated yourself from the Catholic Church, the best thing to do is write a letter like that and "make it official".

Peace be with you in your decision,
Scott

Telling people off, is not always the "right" decision. All it causes is heartache indignity, and anger. We who have been around on this board for awhile can testify to that "fact". Even Tommy implies he went a bit overboard, and noted that his may not be the best path to take.

Not agreeing with someone, does not give license to be rude, especially an unsolicited response.

The local priest could have shot back..."thank you for your patronage", confirming that Tommy's implication that he and his family were merely a meal ticket...thus causing more grief. But that did not happen.

Even Tommy alluded to his choice of breaking with the church, could have been handled in a better manner.

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