Why Catholics leave & sometimes return to church

Among lapsed Catholics are some who wish to return to full communion with the church. These men and women often find myriad approaches to welcome and assist them. Outreaches range from dedicated ministries at some local parishes and on-line resources such as CatholicsComeHome.org to a smattering of religious education classes, Scripture studies and instruction by priests, religious educators and volunteers.

WHY THEY LEAVE

The challenge of welcoming disaffected Catholics is an immense and growing concern within the church. Equally worrying is why they left in the first place. According to Marguerite Culhane of St. Andrew Church in Eagle River, who has mentored several people who have returned to their Catholic roots, “the reasons are as varied as the individuals themselves.”

For some it is inertia, she observed.

“It’s easier not to go to Mass every week,” Culhane said.

For others, marriage outside the church — especially in the case of remarriages after divorce — leaves them feeling excluded from the sacraments, she added. Culhane’s experience with lapsed Catholics mirrors a national trend.

According to the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life, many leave their childhood faith because they stopped believing in its teachings. They most often cite objections to religious and moral teachings on abortion, homosexuality, birth control and views of women. Some see church goers as hypocritical, judgmental and focused on rules. Religious leaders are sometimes seen as concerned with power or money.

The number one reason, people give for leaving Catholicism for Protestantism; however, is that their spiritual needs were not being met, the Pew Forum reports.

WHY THEY RETURN

If failing to be spiritually fed is the top excuse for leaving, it is literally being fed with the Eucharist that is the top reason people return to the Catholic Church, according to Lorene Hanley Duquin.

Duquin is a Catholic author and national lecturer who has worked in parishes and on a diocesan level. She is currently the coordinator of Come and See, an evangelization outreach in the Diocese of Buffalo. She has been active in ministry to alienated Catholics since 1992.

Writing for Our Sunday Visitor, Duquin lists 10 reasons people return to faith. She notes that a need for healing of past mistakes and deep spiritual wounds lead some to re-open the door to faith they once closed. Others desire to raise children in the faith, to be part of a community and to help people in ways that recognize the spiritual dimension of service in the church.

Duquin describes a deep hunger that may surface when lapsed Catholics attend a wedding, funeral or baptism. Childhood memories sometimes trigger a desire to return to the simplicity of a childlike faith.

The effort to re-ignite the faith of lapsed Catholics may seem a daunting task but Pope Francis has called upon the faithful to be evangelizers and many Catholics have returned after being inspired by the pope who emphasizes the need to meet fallen away Catholics where they are.

Those returning cite the pope’s embrace of the poor and his emphasis on works of mercy as being particularly attractive. A recent study in Italy’s Centre for the Study of New Religions showed that more than half of 250 priests surveyed reported a “significant rise” in attendance at their churches since the pope was elected.

Many parishes have formalized ways to reach out to those who seek reconciliation with the church, via personal visits and access to classes for those who fill out the forms or pick up a church bulletin.

Culhane emphasized the importance of priests in helping alienated Catholics return to the fold. “Without the support of priests, it doesn’t happen,” she said.

But she noted that lapsed Catholics are often invisible and parishioners have an important role in inviting them back home.

“We don’t know them because we don’t ask,” she said. “You have to invite them back and do it many, many times, 10 or 15 times.”