Is it possible to convert away from the Catholic church?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes obviously.

I find it incredibly stupid and never understand why some people like oakvale say you can't. I know plenty in my family who have and no one in has this supposed unbreakable cultural connection to the church. I actually find statements like that as well as the phrase "lapsed Catholic" pretty close to offensive really...

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

It's possible to convert away to something specific but it's very difficult culturally to lapse into nonreligiosity without maintaining some mark of Catholic identity, sort of like with Judaism.

[All Along The Watchtower]

It's possible to convert away to something specific but it's very difficult culturally to lapse into nonreligiosity without maintaining some mark of Catholic identity, sort of like with Judaism.

As a cultural Protestant, I agree.

[Stranger in a strange land]

I always thought "lapsed Catholic" meant someone who was nominally Catholic but rarely went to church, wasn't particularly religious, and wasn't in agreement with (or just didn't care about) the Church's theology, as distinct from someone who had actually left the Church or converted to another religion.

[patrick1]

Your obsessions with these things is rather unhealthy.  How many threads are we going to have over this or some other disagreement?  I went to Catholic schools for 16 years and didn't talk about the RCC as you much as you have in these last years on the forum.  You are wasting your time and misdirecting energy that could be spent on more fruitful endeavors. If you love God, go ladle some soup for the homeless and not focus on this or some other sectarian squabble.

[7,052,770]

Of course you can if you want to.  In my experience, though, most Catholics who don't really go to church very often any more prefer to still identify as Catholic, while most Baptists who don't really go to church very often any more are very adamant that they don't consider themselves Baptist.

I've never really found laid-back Catholics to be adamant about much of anything, honestly.

[patrick1]

FWIW, I've found the preferred term among the many ex-Catholics I know to be "recovering Catholic".   Ive come across this more from the middle aged who used to get beat up by the frustrated old penguins. My experience; and for the most part my generation's experience, with nuns and Catholic education was markedly more positive.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

This is a very Catholic thread.

I don't think anyone ever said that you can't stop believing in God, stop going to mass and etc. But that doesn't mean you aren't a catholic.

(Basically if you want a serious answer: It is what Patrick1 and Nathan have said.)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

There is an old joke to the effect of a person who has not received any of the sacraments for some time and no longer believes in God going into a confessional as a last resort during a personal crisis, being asked whether or not he or she has ever willingly and with delectation consumed meat during Lent, and saying 'I became an atheist, not a Protestant'.

One old teacher of mine is a Buddhist monk who served as a hospital chaplain in a working-class part of Buffalo, and when administering last rites to an elderly Catholic woman asked her for his forgiveness if he got it wrong since he is clergy in a non-Christian religion. Her response was pretty similar: 'Oh, thank God, I was worried you might be a Protestant'.

My mother has not been to Mass for forty years except funerals of family members, goes to mainly Unitarian Universalist or Buddhist services when she goes to religious services at all, and still insists that she's Catholic.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

See, I just don't see anyone on the Catholic side of my family with that type of attitude. I guess just personal experience. Of course my late grandmother on that side of the family was raised Baptist and none of them went to a Catholic school or anything like that so to them it's just a quaint relic of childhood, not a defining part of cultural identity.

[King]

The nice thing about being Catholic is that once baptised you're Catholic for life.  I'm already in at least purgatory and so now I'm free to explore other things for the rest of my life. It's a Cayman Islands sized loophole few seem to utilize.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

There is an old joke to the effect of a person who has not received any of the sacraments for some time and no longer believes in God going into a confessional as a last resort during a personal crisis, being asked whether or not he or she has ever willingly and with delectation consumed meat during Lent, and saying 'I became an atheist, not a Protestant'.

One old teacher of mine is a Buddhist monk who served as a hospital chaplain in a working-class part of Buffalo, and when administering last rites to an elderly Catholic woman asked her for his forgiveness if he got it wrong since he is clergy in a non-Christian religion. Her response was pretty similar: 'Oh, thank God, I was worried you might be a Protestant'.

LOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL.

Does it really need to said that that woman was Irish?

[RI]

The nice thing about being Catholic is that once baptised you're Catholic for life.  I'm already in at least purgatory and so now I'm free to explore other things for the rest of my life. It's a Cayman Islands sized loophole few seem to utilize.

Being Catholic does not mean an automatic ticket to heaven or even purgatory. We're not Protestants.

[Dr. Cynic]

The nice thing about being Catholic is that once baptised you're Catholic for life.  I'm already in at least purgatory and so now I'm free to explore other things for the rest of my life. It's a Cayman Islands sized loophole few seem to utilize.

Being Catholic does not mean an automatic ticket to heaven or even purgatory. We're not Protestants.

Being a Protestant shouldn't either.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The nice thing about being Catholic is that once baptised you're Catholic for life.  I'm already in at least purgatory and so now I'm free to explore other things for the rest of my life. It's a Cayman Islands sized loophole few seem to utilize.

Being Catholic does not mean an automatic ticket to heaven or even purgatory. We're not Protestants.

Being a Protestant shouldn't either.

It doesn't. realisticidealist is misunderstanding Protestant doctrine as much as King is misunderstanding Catholic doctrine.

[TJ in Oregon]

The nice thing about being Catholic is that once baptised you're Catholic for life.  I'm already in at least purgatory and so now I'm free to explore other things for the rest of my life. It's a Cayman Islands sized loophole few seem to utilize.

Being Catholic does not mean an automatic ticket to heaven or even purgatory. We're not Protestants.

Being a Protestant shouldn't either.

It doesn't. realisticidealist is misunderstanding Protestant doctrine as much as King is misunderstanding Catholic doctrine.

I've had plenty of Protestants tell me pretty much exactly what realisticidealist posted. Not most, but enough anyway. And what is "Protestant doctrine"? Aren't there like 32,000 different versions of "Protestant doctrine"?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I don't know of any Protestant denomination that teaches that being baptized is an instant "get into heaven free" ticket.

[ZuWo]

The nice thing about being Catholic is that once baptised you're Catholic for life.  I'm already in at least purgatory and so now I'm free to explore other things for the rest of my life. It's a Cayman Islands sized loophole few seem to utilize.

Being Catholic does not mean an automatic ticket to heaven or even purgatory. We're not Protestants.

Being a Protestant shouldn't either.

It doesn't. realisticidealist is misunderstanding Protestant doctrine as much as King is misunderstanding Catholic doctrine.

I've had plenty of Protestants tell me pretty much exactly what realisticidealist posted. Not most, but enough anyway. And what is "Protestant doctrine"? Aren't there like 32,000 different versions of "Protestant doctrine"?

In a nutshell, I would say "Protestant Doctrine" can be broken down to five Latin statements (we protestants can write Latin, too! ):

- sola scriptura
- sola fide
- sola gratia
- solo christo
- soli deo gloria

Even though some denominations that claim to be Protestant may reject the content of one or numerous of these phrases, I think this is basically the core of Protestantism.

[The Mikado]

- sola fide

This is what realisticidealist was taking issue with.