here<\/a> about the curious fact that Catholics who bail out still refer to themselves as Catholics. He gives a list of what they call themselves: ex-Catholics, liberated Catholics, thinking Catholics, free Catholics etc etc. Why do they have to cling to the name Catholic I wonder? Have you ever met anyone who trumpeted the fact that he was an \u2018ex Anglican\u2019 or a \u2018Post Presbyterian\u2019 or a \u2018Liberated Lutheran\u2019? I\u2019m sometimes called an \u2018ex Anglican\u2019, but I wouldn\u2019t call myself that.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a sad thing when anyone has to define their spiritual status in terms of a denial rather than an affirmation. Every convert to Catholicism that I\u2019ve known has praised their Protestant background and affirmed it. They\u2019ve simply moved on to something bigger and fuller. It\u2019s not so much a case of rejecting what they had before, but a case of finding and embracing \u2018More Christianity\u2019. This is a positive and ultimately joyful process.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, when you listen to the \u2018ex Catholics\u2019 more often than not all you get is a stream of anger, rage, frustration and bitterness against the Catholic Church. Sometimes it is understandable. Some people have been genuinely wounded by the hypocrisy, sin and scandal of Catholic Church leaders. Others have been let down spiritually by poor catechesis, awful liturgy, bad administration and general incompetence. Some have left because they really didn\u2019t find what they needed in the Catholic Church and this is a failure of Catholicism. However, all these things don\u2019t account for all the ex Catholics. There are more who have left through their own sin, their own lack of faith, courage and perseverance. <\/p>\n
What is unfortunate is that so many of them ultimately define their spiritual status as a negative. They\u2019re defined by something they\u2019re not instead of something they are. This is the empty heart of all of Protestantism as well. Although there are so many strengths within the Protestant churches, there is still an empty place\u2013a kind of sore point or open wound, and it is their underlying anti Catholicism. Even when they are outwardly tolerant and positive towards Catholics there is still this deep antipathy, a profound knowledge that \u2018the Catholics can\u2019t possibly be right\u2019.<\/p>\n
Catholics should not have this attitude towards Protestants, and I have to say that in fifteen years as a Catholic I\u2019ve never met any Catholic who is as intrinsically anti Protestant as most Protestants are intrinsically anti Catholic. This makes sense since Protestantism was founded as a reaction to Catholicism. It is therefore the ultimate \u2018ex Catholic\u2019 institution.<\/p>\n
I can anticipate the combox now: \u201cC\u2019mon Father. You\u2019re always taking pot shots at Evangelicals and Anglicans. You\u2019re just as anti Protestant as you claim they are anti-Catholic.\u201d I reject the charge. I do criticize Anglicans and Evangelicals, but I do so for what they deny, not for what they affirm. There\u2019s a difference.<\/p>\n
Finally, what are we to make of the ex Catholics and Protestants who blame the Catholic Church for her historic failures, scandals and weaknesses? What are we to say to those who scream, \u201cWhat about the inquisition, the burnings at the stake, the witch hunts, the pedophile scandals, papal profligacy in the Middle Ages, the corruption of selling indulgences, the index of forbidden books, the clericalism and the power struggles!\u201d<\/p>\n
Two things: Are the Protestants free of sexual scandals, financial corruption, selling God\u2019s grace, censorship, persecution and power struggles? I think not. Secondly, why is anyone surprised that these things exist within the Catholic Church? The history of the Catholic Church is riddled with sin and scandal just like the Old Testament is. The people of God have always struggled with sin and scandal within their ranks. That\u2019s what life is like. It\u2019s a constant struggle with sin and scandal. Grow up.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s this idea that people think the Church is going to be perfectly free of human frailty and failure? What kind of unrealistic dream is that? Furthermore, wouldn\u2019t you be distrust any religious organization that was<\/b> totally free of human failure, flaws and weaknesses? Don\u2019t those religious cults where everyone goes around with a pasted on smile in a fake sinless perfection give you the creeps? People who are otherwise smart and grown up cry out, \u201cThe Catholic Church is a fraud! I\u2019m leaving!\u201d and they slam the door as they go. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re big babies. They haven\u2019t grown up enough to realize that in this world you\u2019re always going to have sin and scandal. They have some kind of immature, adolescent idea that the Church is going to be perfectly sinless, and usually their need to point the finger at the church is tinged with the other mark of immaturity\u2013 a terrible (and embarrassing) self righteousness and pride. They\u2019re so obsessed and outraged by the sin and scandal of \u2018the Catholic Church\u2019 that they are blind to the sin and scandal in their own lives. <\/p>\n
I think it was Abp. Fulton Sheen who once met an ex Catholic on a plane. The man was going on and on about the corruption and graft and simony and nepotism in the Catholic Church. Sheen listened and then said, \u201cWhat is it that you have stolen?\u201d The man was instantly stunned into silence for he had been guilty of serious theft. I suspect this problem is epidemic amongst ex Catholics.<\/p>\n
Listen carefully to their most grievous complaint against the Church and you may glimpse what sin is unconfessed in their own life.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Larry at Acts of the Apostasy blogs here about the curious fact that Catholics who bail out still refer to themselves as Catholics. He gives a list of what they call themselves: ex-Catholics, liberated Catholics, thinking Catholics, free Catholics etc etc. Why do they have to cling to the name Catholic I wonder? Have you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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