Catholics Becoming Protestant

[redleghunter]

Anecdotal experience is that RCs joining TEC are doing so due to things they are unhappy about, not related to whom they married.

What are those things they are unhappy about?

 

[seeking.IAM]

What are those things they are unhappy about?

I really don't know enough to answer that.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I really don't know enough to answer that.

And they seldom actually provide an exit interview when they leave. You would be in a far better place to know on the receiving end.

 

[Albion]

The article says otherwise.

"In fact, almost two-thirds of former Catholics who join a Protestant church join an evangelical church."

We'd have to know what the author meant by "evangelical church" in order to get a handle on that. And even if it is as you suspect, there are so many of them that it wouldn't make any of them the main denomination of choice for ex-Catholics.

Also, more ex-Catholics who join a mainline church do so because they have married someone who belongs to one. Ex-Catholics who join an evangelical church are more likely to do so from conviction.

That fact actually is immaterial if we're deciding where they go.

 

[DominicBaptiste]

"One out of every 10 Americans is an ex-Catholic. If they were a separate denomination, they would be the third-largest denomination in the United States, after Catholics and Baptists. One of three people who were raised Catholic no longer identifies as Catholic."

At least half of those leaving the Roman Catholic Church become Protestant. Why?

" ... the Catholic church has failed to deliver what people consider fundamental products of religion: spiritual sustenance and a good worship service."

So that's it! The Protestants have a better worship service. I'm not the only person who gets tired of the mumbo jumbo.

Are those who leave mere lukewarm Catholics?

"We are losing the best, not the worst." After all: "They are leaving to get spiritual nourishment from worship services and the Bible."

Here's part of the problem:
"Few Catholics read the Bible."

That helps to explain why Catholics leave the RCC, to join a church where people do read the Bible.

These quotes are from Father Thomas Reese, SJ, former editor of America, the Jesuit magazine.

Link:
The hidden exodus: Catholics becoming Protestants

I'm not Roman Catholic, but I attend mass sometimes, I pray Roman Catholic prayers - Liturgy of the Hours, The Rosary, and I follow the liturical calendar to some degree in keeping up with what holidays are going on. Protestant denominations are much more "innovative" when it comes to worship in the same way that rock concerts are innovative, so I agree with you on that. There is actually a lot of the Bible that is read over a three year cycle because the Bible is divided up and read in what's called the lectionary, so if you go to Mass every Sunday for three years, you get most of the Bible. The same is true in a protestant church that follows the lectionary. I think people leave the RCC because of scandal and because protestant denominations are so prevalant in the US and because as I said before they are very innovative. However, the RCC is still the largest church in the world, and I don't imagine it's going anywhere any time soon, despite its detractors. My family is historically baptist, and I also have a membership in the Methodist Church.

 

[Radagast]

We'd have to know what the author meant by "evangelical church" in order to get a handle on that.

The data was from Pew, they have a specific categorisation of denominations. This chart summarises the data (possibly it's from an older survey). Notice that both evangelical and mainline groups were holding roughly steady in size, but Catholics were shrinking (mostly because few people become Catholic).

 

[GingerBeer]

So that's it! The Protestants have a better worship service.

You really think so? A hymn or two then a very long (and often very boring) sermon and then another hymn or a few and finally a doxology followed by coffee and cookies! That's terrible. Pentecostals have lots of choruses then a long sermon with requests for generous giving then an altar call with lots more choruses followed by coffee and whatever else you want from the in-church food store. That's even worse!

 

[Albion]

It's colorful, Rad, that's for sure. I like it. However, I'm not sure what to take from it. For one thing, the churches aren't identified, unless that's elsewhere in the report.

It does look like approximately the same number of Catholics leave to become mainline Protestant as join evangelical churches and that "none" beats each of them.

 

[Radagast]

For one thing, the churches aren't identified, unless that's elsewhere in the report.

There should be a detailed list of churches at the end of the report (follow the link & click on full pdf report). SBC, PCA, and LCMS are "evangelical," for example, and PCUSA and ELCA are "mainline." Anglicans are "mainline," unless they self-identify as "born again."

It does look like approximately the same number of Catholics leave to become mainline Protestant as join evangelical churches and that "none" beats each of them.

Looking at the green lines, among ex-Catholics "none" is the biggest group, then "evangelical," then "mainline" (with a substantial difference between those last two).

 

[Radagast]

And I'm sorry, that chart was from an old survey. Here is the most recent. Mainline groups are shrinking a little, and the Catholic Church is in collapse (no wonder the bishops are worried):

 

[Radagast]

What are those things they are unhappy about?

Worldwide, iirc, the biggest reasons Catholics give for becoming Protestant is "a more personal relationship with God."

 

[Dale]

You really think so? A hymn or two then a very long (and often very boring) sermon and then another hymn or a few and finally a doxology followed by coffee and cookies! That's terrible. Pentecostals have lots of choruses then a long sermon with requests for generous giving then an altar call with lots more choruses followed by coffee and whatever else you want from the in-church food store. That's even worse!

You have very limited experience of what goes on in Protestant churches.

In the church I grew up in, Southern Baptist, as we filed in the organist would be playing a Bach fugue. Baptist hymns can be quite rousing. Some have words taken from Bible. A member of the choir might do a solo. Sometimes the service would be devoted to a musical cantata, such as Handel's Messiah around Christmas and Easter. At evening services in particular, the service was sometimes devoted to a play. One play was based on the Book of Esther. Another was about Roger Williams, the founder of the Baptist movement in the US. Choirs often perform religious music of the past.

Our pastor once did a sermon where he used four bells to illustrate four types of church members. On a couple of occasions I have gone to church and found much of the service devoted to a missionary telling of their efforts in foreign lands. On another occasion, the speaker was an expert in missions. At a nondenominational church, part of one service was given over to a dramatist, who took several roles of witnesses to Biblical events, such as the crucifixion.

In Protestant churches, baptisms are performed in a church service. I have, for instance, gone to a Baptist church and seen a husband and wife both baptized in the service.

I have been a member of a church which prayed for the sick and other needs as a regular part of the Sunday service. Anyone in the congregation could speak up and put in a request for prayer.

I'm sure that there are other examples of how Protestant services can be quite varied.

 

[Dale]

You really think so? A hymn or two then a very long (and often very boring) sermon and then another hymn or a few and finally a doxology followed by coffee and cookies! That's terrible. Pentecostals have lots of choruses then a long sermon with requests for generous giving then an altar call with lots more choruses followed by coffee and whatever else you want from the in-church food store. That's even worse!

Answer #2

I once had a co-worker, Frank, who was a Roman Catholic, invite me to go to church with him and his wife. At the beginning of the service, someone announced that it was the eighth week of Ordinary Time, which apparently means that it isn't one of the special times of the year on the Liturgical calendar. The priest gave his sermon like a tape recorder on fast forward. Afterwards, Frank told me, "That was the most disorganized service I've ever seen."

They did have coffee.

 

[GingerBeer]

You have very limited experience of what goes on in Protestant churches.

One is thankful for that mercy from God. To have few experiences of the crazy world of 'services' is a blessing.

 

[GingerBeer]

Answer #2

I once had a co-worker, Frank, who was a Roman Catholic, invite me to go to church with him and his wife. At the beginning of the service, someone announced that it was the eighth week of Ordinary Time, which apparently means that it isn't one of the special times of the year on the Liturgical calendar. The priest gave his sermon like a tape recorder on fast forward. Afterwards, Frank told me, "That was the most disorganized service I've ever seen."

They did have coffee.

Interesting. I do not go to Catholic churches so I'll take your word for that experience.

 

[GingerBeer]

The data was from Pew, they have a specific categorisation of denominations. This chart summarises the data (possibly it's from an older survey). Notice that both evangelical and mainline groups were holding roughly steady in size, but Catholics were shrinking (mostly because few people become Catholic).

You know it doesn't look the way you said. It looks like "other" held its own and "evangelical", "Catholic", and "main line" shank while "None" and "black protestant" expanded.

 

[Radagast]

You know it doesn't look the way you said. It looks like "other" held its own and "evangelical", "Catholic", and "main line" shank while "None" and "black protestant" expanded.

For the most recent study (second chart), it's:

Evangelical Protestant 23.9% -> 25.4% (a slight increase of 6% in relative terms)

Mainline Protestant 19.0% -> 14.7% (a substantial decrease of 23% in relative terms)

Historically black Protestant 7.3% -> 6.5% (a slight decrease of 11% in relative terms)

Catholic 31.7% -> 20.8% (a large decrease of 34% in relative terms)

Unaffiliated 9.2% -> 22.8% (a massive increase of 148% in relative terms)

 

[RadiantGrace]

The topic is rather silly. If you are Catholic and stop believing in God, you become an atheist. If you are a Catholic, but still believe Jesus is the Son of God, you are a 'protestant.' That is just a way of describing someone and does not necessarily indicate a conversion experience. You can't leave the protestant church and you can't join it. One is a protestant on the basis of not being Catholic or Orthodox. One does not choose to become protestant, you just choose not to be Catholic or Orthodox.

The reality is that people are losing interest in religion and practicing it in general. When they stop considering themselves Catholic, but not agnostics or atheists, they just default as protestants.

 

[RadiantGrace]

Evangelicals are more into nourishing the soul and less into confronting politicians.

Evangelicals are highly political. Maybe they are so convinced in the rightness of the Republican party that they don't realize the politicians they worship and the economic conservatism they treat like God's truth is not an actual part of Christianity?

 

[Radagast]

When they stop considering themselves Catholic, but not agnostics or atheists, they just default as protestants.

Not quite; they tend to specifically become evangelical, rather than mainline, Protestants. And they give consistent reasons for doing so.