Quote:
Originally Posted by PJM
Why do and are catholics leaving the Church and possibily their salvation. Heb. 6:4-8
Continued Blessings,
Pat
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I left the Church as a young adult and was gone for over 15 years
and spent most of those years identifying as “spiritual but not
religious”.
I did not have a strong religious upbringing. I was baptized because it
was expected. We went to Mass occasionally, Christmas & Easter
mostly, and sometimes with my grandparents. I learned the Our Father,
Hail Mary, Glory Be & the Sign of the Cross from my Italian
great-grandmother, in both Italian & English. I also prayed the
Rosary with her, but that was really the extent of my catechesis until I
was about 10 when I was enrolled in “CCD” and spent 2 hours every
Saturday reading cheesy “textbooks” and doing crafts.
I received First Communion, First Penance & Confirmation (yes, in that order
)
all by the time I was 14 and then I ‘graduated’ and was know an ‘adult
member of the Church’ yet there was nothing to help me grow in my faith.
To complicate matters, my father was Episcopalian. My grandfather’s
family had strong ties to the Episcopal Church and although he himself
was basically “non-practicing” and my grandmother had never been
baptized, my father & his siblings were baptized/confirmed so we
attended church functions with my aunts, uncles & cousins at their
church often. I even witnessed my grandmother's baptism on her 60th
birthday!
We received communion and were told it was “OK”, because it was
basically the same thing as Catholic, Episcopalian’s just didn’t believe
in the Pope, and he’s just a man, not God, so what difference did it
make…”
I also had some run-ins with some rather unpleasant, very un-pastoral
and unprofessional clergy and laity who worked for the Church, as well
as many run-ins with some of the “more Catholic than the Pope” crowd,
which to be honest, just left a “bad taste in my mouth”. If this is
what it means to be “religious”, I’ll pass, thank you very much, was
pretty much my attitude.
Now, how & why I came back are not important for this discussion,
but I should mention, that when I came back, I was still most definitely
a “cafeteria Catholic” who leaned very far into heterodoxy/borderline
heresy.
By the grace of God, a couple wonderful spiritual directors/confessors
and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, as well as my studies for
my Master’s degree in Sacramental & Pastoral Ministry, I have
experienced a metanoia, and have started to embrace a more orthodox
spirituality, using St. Ignatius’ wisdom as a guide for discernment.
The question I always try to ask myself is
“Am I doing/saying this for my glory or for HIS?” I don’t always choose the “better part” but with His grace, I am getting better.
To wrap up, you quote Hebrews, and in verse 4, I believe you answer your own question-
Quote:
| For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been
enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the holy Spirit.
|
I truly believe that those who leave are, for the most part like
me, raised “culturally Catholic”, with no real catechesis, so therefore
they have never been “enlightened”.
ETA: for a time-frame reference, I am the same age as the Missal of Paul VI!
Re: Here is the real truth
Nooo!! I didn't mean it!
PJM 
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