Former Catholics:...did you leave the Church of your own accord or do some-one else make you see the light?

Hi Orita, I love your questions!

I was raised in a very Catholic family with Catholic school for everyone including both of my parents who to this day are Catholic. Your question is such a deep one for me. I will try to be brief if I can! I questioned the rituals at 10; I was a lectur at 12 (the youngest one in the US at that time) 1983. I believed God existed while I was in the church and like many decided to stop going when I was around 16. I guess I have to say I never felt close to God in the Catholic church. I know there are people who do; my mother especially is one of them. Personally I felt there was too much distraction for me; I call it smells and bells (for fun) but in all reality it was just too much. I left and became atheist for 11 years. Throughout that time, now in retrospect I "ran into" certain people that witnessed to me in different ways. I was never offended, even though I didnt have faith, I was always interested in other religions/beliefs and also why people chose those paths. I became a Christian while debating the validity of the bible with a fallen away Jehovah's Witness. For months we would debate and discuss this book that I believed was hogwash. What it did was got me reading the bible on my own time; something never encouraged in my house on a daily basis nor something I had never really done. So, after a couple months the Lord spoke to me through those pages and I consider myself born again, 11 years now!

I believe that had I delved into the bible while still a Catholic I might have had the same experience. I suppose I needed some encouragement or reason to read it. I am satisfied with my church and the fact I have left the Catholic faith. I have many discussions with my mother (whom I believe to be a real Catholic) about doctrine and some such. I still deal with the occasional biterness about it though I am quick to remember a few important things.

1. Child molesters are not confined to the RCC and I have on many occasions corrected people on that (sometimes my own Brethren)

2. Without the RCC, I know our communities globally and locally would suffer with all of the charities they run and the help they provide to others.

3. Even though I may disagee with alot of the RCC doctrine, I believe there to be those within the Catholic faith that are saved by the blood of Jesus.

My biggest regret is that the church doesnt always encourage youth to get involved and to live out their faith. None of my brothers, myself or any cousins maintained their Catholic faith; in fact I am the only one out of most of my family that even attends church more than the obligatory 2 times per year :-)

My mom has told me that this is slowly changing and they are experiencing a boom in their youth converts. So that is good.

I apologize this is soo long! I hope it sheds some light on one who once was Catholic and now is not. Gods peace to you :-)

EDIT: I have someone who is trolling my past qas, so I got rid of the fan option for right now...Ill find ya again when I allow fans back...Im layin low for now! Ok, so Im dying to know which QA frustrated you lol!

I was born/raised Catholic. Was a very devout young person, virgin , wanted to serve the church, etc.

Then I was brainwashed into becoming a Born Again "Christian". The things they said about Catholics are disgusting actually, but at the time, I was young and vulnerable and I feel for it all. I even cried for my Catholic relatives and tried to get them to "see the light" and "be saved" I prayed and cried and cried and prayed.

Thank God they were praying for me too because I finally got out of that Born Again Cult and now I don't follow any organized religion.

Even though I'm not Catholic though, I feel it's still a part of me and where my real Spirituality originated and was nurtured.

In the Born Again world they didn't give a crap about being spiritual, all they wanted to do was preach and judge and convert and condemn.

i was a devout catholic until i was thirteen. sufficiently devout that when i was preparing for my confirmation i made a special study of several topics suggested in a list i had found in one of my grandmother's missals.

i realised i had a problem with the mystery of the immaculate conception. quite a big problem in fact - the dogma offended every natural notion of truth and goodness i had.

i took my problems to a spiritual mentor - a parish priest. i told him i was having real trouble with that mystery.

he asked me was it because i had been having impure thoughts.

for the next two hours i tried to talk about the mystery of the immaculate conception, while my parish priest tried to persuade me to tell him about the dirty ideas i was having about the girls in my class. i began to wonder why a man of god was so obviously trying to get his rocks off while i wanted to discuss a hard point in religion.

over the next few years i realised that most catholics either don't believe what they preach, or more often don't take it seriously. they have the same obsessions and prejudices as other people. it is just that they have a set of rituals to mask this from people (including themselves).

when i left the catholic church i left christianity definitively. the catholic church has several beliefs which i could never accept as graceful - or even sensible. but i was never attracted by the downright superstition of any of the protestant cults.

I left on my own accord. When I was a Catholic, I was a devout Catholic who did believe in the Eucharist as the actual Body and blood of the Lord. I attended Mass several times a week and was active in campus ministry at my Catholic college.

Now, I don't believe that. I became a non-denominational Christian.

orita, may I answer?

I've never left the Church, but I actually thought of it. I don't want to be in any non-Catholic christian denomination though, because I know Catholicism IS Christianity, if I leave Catholicism, I will leave Christianity for good, because I never believe in settling for less. I have had questions, but I searched for the answers within the Church. apparently, the Church has answered all my questions, and continuously doing so, that none of the non-Catholic christian denomination could.

anyway, I have always been attracted to Buddhsim, but after years of reading and studying Buddhism, I have found out the beauty of Catholicism.

peace!

I left of my own accord when I found it was impossible to live by. I don't mean "too hard" to live by, I mean impossible to satisfy the various teachings and requirements at once, and it also was distorting who I am.

Sorry, it's a little hard to explain without getting into detail, which I won't. But anyway, no one else persuaded me out of it, or into anything else.

I did believe the Eucharist was the actual body and blood, yes.

I just kinda fell away.

I do believe the Holy Eucharist is the Real Presence.

I always felt like an outsider in church. It is beautiful and everything but I never really felt a part of it. It kind of made me sad how all those people were united in their beliefs and I just didn't get it.

I left the Catholic Church of my own free will and conviction. No force. No coercion.

I'm LDS. I haven't left the church and I never plan to. Generally those who leave fall into one of a couple of categories. -They were offended -They didn't agree with a particular doctrine or council -They weren't able to abide by the standards of the church In most cases they leave for one reason and then they tell the world that they left for other reason. One individual I know was sleeping around a lot. He was called to a church court and he had no intentions of changing his lifestyle. Before the court, he withdrew his membership and claimed that he thought that there were many "true churches" out there and it didn't matter which one you belonged to, etc. He's into the new age religions. When the LDS church declared that black individuals could hold the priesthood, there were white members of the church who left and never came back. The bottom line is that it is either true or it isn't. If it is true, it doesn't matter why they left. If you lived 2000 years ago, would you talk to Judas about why you shouldn't follow Christ?