[conservonator]

What they tell me is that the Church in this country has failed in its first task, which is instruction in the faith. If the folks in the pews don't know their religion, they can't practice it.

Amen, Amen, Amen! After 16 years of "Catholic" education I was ill prepared to understand, explain or defend the faith. This is, of course, a failure on several fronts: the Church failed to instruct, my parents failed to instruct and I failed to take the initiative to investigate a faith I claimed to hold.

How many have we lost to ignorance in exchange for those gained from adopting un, non, and even anti-Catholic practices.

Some of our shepherds are feeding the flock the Word and others are feeding the flock their word.

[Aquinasfan]

After 16 years of "Catholic" education I was ill prepared to understand, explain or defend the faith.

Me too. I spent my twenties trying to undo the damage that had been done in the previous 12 years of public schooling, CCD, and 4 years of college.

[Catholicguy]

After 16 years of "Catholic" education I was ill prepared to understand, explain or defend the faith

My Uncle was a LaSalette Priest. My Dad was at LaSalette Seminary for three years. I was brought up in a Catholic Family. I went to Catchism Classes and CCD. I knew very little despite my environment.

It was only after I left the Faith for a decade or more and decided to return that I took an interest in the Faith.

Thanks be to God. He never forgot me even when I abandoned Him.

[Prolifeconservative]

"Amen, Amen, Amen! After 16 years of "Catholic" education I was ill prepared to understand, explain or defend the faith. This is, of course, a failure on several fronts: the Church failed to instruct, my parents failed to instruct and I failed to take the initiative to investigate a faith I claimed to hold."

This is a wonderful statement and it packs truth. I'm too was guilty of being an ill-prepared Catholic for the very reasons you mention above. I have since become more proactive in my search for the TRUTH which is the Catholic Church. For a period of time in my life, I really didn't know the Catholic Church was the TRUTH even though I was born, Baptized, and educated for 8 years into it's doctrine. I fell from that precious gift my parents gave to me for a period of time in my life because of sheer and utter ignorance. I have since come back into the fold and have a much deeper love for the Church and it's TRUTH, only by the sheer and utter grace of GOD.

Was the grace of God placed in me at an early age, lay dormant, and only in later life did it blossom? I can't say. I can't explain it. I do know NOW the Catholic doctrine to be so RICH and so POWERFUL, it's very essence can be lost on children and adolescents. But how does it lose it's appeal to the very adults who were raised in the Church's glorious TRUTH from birth and then move away from it and stay away from it, some even having a disdain for it. Some of my siblings fall into the "disdainful" category and it breaks my heart to see them fall into such falsities.

I have a theological question for anyone who happens to stumble upon this thread and can answer:

Does a Catholic who turns away from the Church and runs into the open arms of Protestantism have more to answer for to God on judgement day than a person who was born into the Protestant faith?