Why are people leaving the Church?

[Myles Domini]

Why are people leaving the Church and more importantly [b]what are we going to do about it?? [/b]Lets hear some suggestions people.

[Sojourner]

Reasons I've heard:
1) Don't agree with a church stance/stances
2) Don't feel connected with their faith/faith community
3) See what they perceive as a more active faith in other churches

I think the answer in many cases is better catechesis and community building.

[Norseman82]

[quote name='Sojourner' date='Nov 14 2005, 01:16 PM']1) Don't agree with a church stance/stances

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And I think that a significant subset of this reason is "Church interferes with immoral lifestyles".

On this one there is nothing we can do except to pray for a change in peoples' hearts.

[Era Might]

Actually, I believe the Church has had record breaking numbers of conversions the past few decades or so. I saw some statistics on a website a while ago detailing how many people were entering the Church.

I agree with Sojourner though that, more often than not, people leave the Church because of ignorance.

Edited November 14, 2005 by Era Might

[rkwright]

I think its important to keep it context of the area, I've heard that Catholicism is having great sucess in Africa. I really don't know what the deal is in Europe; I've heard its for tax reasons, apperently in some countries you put down your religion and pay taxes that directly go to that Church (so to declare no religion saves you money), I was also told that Catholics are a violent group... not true but its a stereotype that drives people away from the Church.

In the US I think it has more to do with out culture, a real individualistic approach; I'm just as right as he is, or who do they think they are telling me what to do. Also I think a somewhat protestant influence of it doesn't matter what denomination or what church you are, as long as your close to Christ you're ok. At its most basic sense its about taking the teachings of the Church out of the picture, that some how we have it figured out better than 2000 year old doctrines.

I think the best way to stop this trend is really education, and charitable education at that. For us americans there is a fear of stepping on others toes to tell them something is wrong. We have to be able to explain, in a loving way!!, the faith, why its important, and why through the faith it leads us closer to Christ. Prayer helps too.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Norseman82' date='Nov 14 2005, 01:23 PM']And I think that a significant subset of this reason is "Church interferes with immoral lifestyles".

On this one there is nothing we can do except to pray for a change in peoples' hearts.
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That is definitely true in the specific cases I had in mind.

[Myles Domini]

[quote]I think its important to keep it context of the area, I've heard that Catholicism is having great sucess in Africa. I really don't know what the deal is in Europe; I've heard its for tax reasons, apperently in some countries you put down your religion and pay taxes that directly go to that Church (so to declare no religion saves you money), I was also told that Catholics are a violent group... not true but its a stereotype that drives people away from the Church.
[/quote]

I've never heard Catholics called a violent group but maybe thats because I live in England. Here, I dont think you'd find more than a handful of people actually prepared to get physical over issues of faith. As for having to support the Church in certain countries thats true but its not the full truth. The fact of the matter is in Europe the faith [b]is[/b] dying of that there can be absolutely no doubt whatsoever and I say that because its my daily experience of Catholicism. Not to say that the people I have encountered in the Church are bad on the contrary many of them are very good and I'm blessed to know them. But in perspective Christianity is a dying religion in Europe. What you put down on the census often doesnt reflect belief and practice. On the census there are 50 million Anglicans in Britain but about 800,000 of them go to church weekly according to the last figures I saw. The Catholic no's are higher but the demographics show rapid decrease and its getting worse.

[Guest Rick777]

I think a big ol' chunk of people are leaving the church because they dont reallly know whats goin on. They dont feel a part of the church, they feel like outrsiders just watching. Protestant churches and others usually focus a huge amount of time on ministering to thier people, through groups, bible study, and other activities. They also focus a lot on thier youth. I think that a lot of parishes should consider what other churchs are doing in the extracurricular activities.

[philothea]

I don't get out much, so I have limited experience.

My one formerly-Catholic friend left the Church because mass was boring and all the Catholics she knew were lukewarm, ignorant, and only superficially religious. She joined some protestant megachurch.

My husband and I were probably the first knowledgabe, serious Catholics she'd met. After a couple years of being friends, she's reverted.

I think being visibly knowledgable, cool, happy, and CATHOLIC is pretty persuasive.

[Paladin D]

[quote name='Rick777' date='Nov 14 2005, 02:57 PM']I think a big ol' chunk of people are leaving the church because they dont reallly know whats goin on. They dont feel a part of the church, they feel like outrsiders just watching. Protestant churches and others usually focus a huge amount of time on ministering to thier people, through groups, bible study, and other activities. They also focus a lot on thier youth. I think that a lot of parishes should consider what other churchs are doing in the extracurricular activities.
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This is very much the case in many parishes, unfortunately.

[Dreamweaver]

I've always thought that many people left the church due to misunderstanding with Her teachings. Many people growing up were only told "The Church prohibits X and Y", without being told why the Church has a particular stance on X and Y. One of my priests was telling us when growing up during Vatican II, that the sisters didn't really know what to teach the children in religous education. The only thing he can remember is having fondue parties nearly every week.

[God Conquers]

The biggest reason:

Comfort.

People are comfortable with their lives. They have stuff. They think they don't need God.

There are too many Catholics who just believe in Jesus. Nice guy, did miracles, said stuff.

We need to communicate that Jesus is our SAVIOR.

He saved us on the cross. Good Friday is GOOD for a reason, because it marks the death of death, the conquering of sin and the reconciliation of mankind to God.

There is a huge disconnect in most Catholics. All they care about are the things of the world.

Church is an interest, not the centre of their lives.

He must be the centre!

I think Pope Benedict recognizes this same problem. An encyclical is written at a particular time of need to clarify a teaching. His first is about the centrality of Jesus CHrist to the life and mission of the Church. This is huge.

[Guest Rick777]

God conquers couldnt agree more

[filiusMariae]

The best thing we can do for them is pray, the next is to evangelize them with love. Charity will be bring them back and speek the truth, do not be wishy-washy, they may have left because of that. Do not act as if you are holier than thou.

[Socrates]

People leave the Church for many reasons, but what the Church needs to do is live and proclaim the Faith boldly and courageously.

Some will willfully reject the truth of the Church, but until they have a change of heart, it is better that such people remain outside the Church than remain in it to work their mischief.

Catholics should never water down the Faith to make it more "comfortable" for worldly people. Have charity but never compromise truth.