Posted on 01/21/2025 11:03:08 AM PST by ebb tide
Many Catholics casually say the following line to ex-Catholics in order to get them back into a Church building: “Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.” It sounds welcoming, but it’s theologically wrong.
This is because the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and the Church Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Popes all taught: A bad Catholic never ceases to be a Catholic, provided his failure be not faith-based but morality-based (and also provided those moral failures be not excommunicable.) On the other hand, a baptized person who has purposely rejected even one tenet of the traditional Catholic faith is a heretic who is no longer Catholic. Furthermore, a baptized person who has purposely rejected Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world is now an apostate and even farther outside the Church.
A heretic maintains the character of baptism, but not the grace of baptism. This is the key distinction.
Of course, this is not to say ex-Catholics are pre-destined to hell. Rather, you should pray and fast and share the faith with them in order to help them chart out a return to the Catholic Church. They can indeed regain the grace of baptism by a single confession. At that point, the character of baptism is immediately joined to the grace of baptism, and they are in the Catholic Church again.
However, the rules of the Church before Vatican II held that public heretics or apostates had to publicly renounce their errors in addition to a good confession in order to return to the Church. Even if you don’t believe this anymore, you should agree that a statement of return to at least one’s friends and family is a good idea, especially if the initial heresy or apostasy caused scandal. Their statement of return to the Catholic Church should probably precede their confession, unless it’s an emergency.
If a Catholic leaves the Church for a Protestant community (or worships a Pachamama statue) that person is no longer a Catholic. That is the teaching of the Apostles, the Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas and all the old school Popes. Because a heretic or an apostate relinquishes (by his own free-will) his membership in the Catholic Church, he obviously relinquishes any hierarchical role he had up to that point, too. This is true for anyone who espouses manifest, obstinate heresy, but not occult heresy.
What is the difference? Occult heresy means you privately doubt a tenet of the faith but don’t broadcast it. In this case, doubt may be a sin, but it doesn’t leave you outside the Church. Also, keep in mind that Cardinal Newman wrote: “A thousand difficulties does not equal one doubt.”
In other words, what feels like doubt in these dark times may not be you doubting Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith with full consent, but simply a temptation. If such is the case, don’t beat yourself up. Many great saints like St. Therese of Lisieux and Padre Pio constantly had to make acts of faith to stave off the great darkness of their time (which is an even greater darkness in our time.) If you’re doing your best to be a traditional Catholic, I guarantee you are neither a heretic nor apostate. Even if you have an accidental secret heresy (occult heresy) rest assured: You are still in the Catholic Church.
You see, if you’re not purposely teaching against the traditional faith, you are probably not committing any sin of doubt, heresy or apostasy. This is true, even if your feelings or temptations feel out of control at one time or another during the week or month or whatever. Just make acts of faith if you feel temptations against faith. Temptations are not consent. And no consent means no sin.
But today there are real enemies of the Church from within our own Church buildings (key word here being buildings, not Church) who are denying the Catholic faith left and right nearly every week. St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Francis De Sales and St. Robert Bellarmine all teach that a heretic ceases completely to be a member of the hierarchy and a member of the Catholic Church. This includes you-know-who, because homeboy ain’t Catholic.
At this point, many people in in Trad Inc will say “Ahh, yes, Fr. Nix, that is true that heretics remove themselves from the Catholic Church. But you and your band of odd extremists who read your website don’t have the authority to declare someone a heretic without a formal canonical trial.”
They are wrong in this according to many saints. While it’s true we can’t physically remove someone from an important seat of teaching, an orthodox Catholic most certainly can recognize a manifest and obstinate heretic has already removed himself from the Catholic Church. Even more so for a pachamama-worshipping apostate, regardless of the position he claims to have.
I proved this by quoting many old-school saints in probably the most under-read of all my articles on this titled He Is To Be Accused By His Subjects. I admittedly took a huge part of that article from Fr. Paul Kramer who brilliantly shows from the saints that any blue-collar Catholic can recognize a heretic or apostate has officially left the Church even without an official decree from a group of men in red. That article shows you can indeed recognize a heretic or apostate who has already removed himself by his own actions.
So while many folks in the “New Evangelization” will explain (with many of them maintaining a heart in a very good place, by the way) to once-baptized Catholics (who may claim to be a Goth or Mormon or Atheist now) that he or she is “still Catholic because you were baptized Catholic…” well, they are very wrong according to the classic teaching of the Catholic Church. In fact, you don’t even have to know your theology to know this. The simple fact God respects free-will should lead you to see that an “ex-Catholic” is just that by his very own volition: An ex-Catholic.
In short, if someone says by his words or even his doctrine, “I’m not Catholic anymore,” God believes him. And so do I.
Of course, we don’t condemn those people who left the Catholic Church. We should evangelize and sacrifice for them with all our hearts. Jesus Christ wants all those Goths, Mormons, Atheists, heretics and apostates back into His Catholic Church. This is because God truly wills all to be saved. But sometimes helping people see the truth that they have indeed already left the Catholic Church is exactly the fire they need under their tail to make their way back to the True Catholic Church.
Ping
I was born and raised Catholic. This goes back generations, to Germany. Even went to a Parochial school for several years.
After a friend of my brother was molested by one of the locals priests, I will have nothing to do with the organization - it is utterly corrupt from the top down.
That “church” organization holds zero ‘moral authority’ and locally, seems to be a nexus for outright socialism.
A pox on that house and the rot that goes with...
Worship there if you wish, we all have Free WIll - but for me and mine, they are a dead path.
Roman Catholics who are outraged by their LGBT and leftist-supporting Pope and clergy and become Orthodox Christians in no way lose their salvation!
I dont need to commie moron standing between me and my God, thank you very much.
I receive communion every Sunday and attend mass, as disordered as it often is, knowing that the Eucharist is consecrated regardless of the state of grace of the priest
I don’t let them rule my spirituality
I was baptized a Catholic at infancy because hundreds of years ago Charlemagne told my my ancestors, “Get baptized or die” (Baptism by Fire). From that point on the religion was passed on until the present day. When I turned 18 or so I made my own decision and left the Catholic Church forever.
I don't think it's supposed to be a welcoming message; rather, it means, once you become a Catholic, you are considered a Catholic forever, and you have a responsibility to live in accordance with the Catholic faith. If you stop attending Mass, then you are a 'lapsed Catholic.'
If someone is baptised as an adult into the Catholic Church, this opinion piece might have a point.
However, infants baptised have no say or decision in the baptism, having none of the Free Will that God Himself gave to us, to use once we are old enough to understand. As an infant, there is no conscience acceptance of joining the church. Any church.
I don’t see that as binding in any way, shape or form.
Yes I was christened as a 2 month old. And attended Sunday services until I was about 7.
Hit and miss, mostly miss, after that, until I discovered the Lord God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ exist outside of the Catholic Church, and every argument I had against Catholic practices and customs was verified.
So, no, the infant me did not accept the Pope and his church, and the adult never will.
I am not a Catholic.
Cheers!
Obviously, the Catholic Church contains sinners including clergy.
The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ (God) to provide the graces for our salvation. We need to have Faith in God, Love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Yes many Catholics are sinners and do bad and horrible things to others. There is corruption and sinfulness in the leadership.
There are also many saints that have followed Christ and have led the Catholic Church and its members to be holy and helped many to eternal life with God.
Just because someone is evil, or that there is corruption in the leadership, Catholics still need to follow God and His Catholic Church with the Mass and the Sacraments for our salvation.
Without judging, it sounds like you have rejected God and His Church as a heretic and may be losing your salvation.
As a Baptized Catholic you still have available the Sacrament of Confession. Read Matthew 7:13 and find the narrow gate, it is difficult path and few find it.
I will pray for you and your family.
The most popular version of “Once a Catholic Always a Catholic” is that having once been imbued with its doctrines, it’s difficult to change into something else.
As acclaimed director Martin Scorsese put it: “I’m a lapsed Catholic. But I am Roman Catholic; there’s no way out of it.”
In 2016, Scorsese identified himself as once again being a Catholic, saying, “my way has been, and is, Catholicism. After many years of thinking about other things, dabbling here and there, I am most comfortable as a Catholic. I believe in the tenets of Catholicism.”
From top to bottom, despite well-known and amply demonstrated findings in psychology, clergy minimize family dysfunction.
Child predators seek out children from dysfunctional families because they're easy prey and thry’re far less likely to tell their parents what's going on.
In other words, although more from negligence than active intent, clergy are assuring a supply of Catholic children for the predators. Even though qualified lay people try to tell clergy and seminaries what's going on, they persist in their denial.
This goes on despite frequent and seemingly, SEEMINGLY, heartfelt apologies from various officials ... which seem to come mostly after secular authorities have presented an undeniable account of abuse and its concealment.
If I give to support my parish, knowing that the diocese has a “tax” on donations, an argument could be made that I am proximately complicit in this abusive system.
Where does my duty lie here?
Seems to me that this claim is simply a power grab to control people.
Just like a cult, they don’t want to let anyone go so try to make up some kind of claim that their baptism leaves an indelible mark on the soul (as told me by FRoman Catholic FReeers).
That just smacks of a last ditch effort to try to control someone by laying some kind of claim of ownership on a person.
When I accepted Christ, HE made all things new and I belong to HIM as a matter of CHOICE. That includes erasing any alleged claim of *indelible* marks on my soul.
was raised Catholic but not anymore, not since ‘76.
Our conservative Lutheran (WELS) church has many ex RCC members. A guy named Martin started it.
I was born in a Roman Catholic family. We went to church every Sunday. However, we never read the Bible. It was not really encouraged very much. We moved to a suburb of Dallas and could not find a Catholic Church in the 1970s that didn’t have Latin Mass. My mother was going through a tough time and decided to try a Baptist Church on the corner. This is where we first were encouraged to read the Bible. We also learned about Jesus as Savior, and what it means to be born again! We never looked back.
I was raised Catholic and attended a Catholic high school. Absolutely LOVED it! Loved the pomp and circumstance, the incense, the art, the music, many of the nuns (human beings being individuals). I left the church at 17 and always retained a great fondness for it and for Pope Pius XII and for the fine education I received. I have always considered myself a “cultural catholic” regardless of my opinions on their theological positions. Mother called herself a Catholic with a small “c”, so I buried her from the local church, as she would have wanted.
It breaks my heart to see the church gone woke, regardless of no longer being part of it. It still exists in my memories and there I’ll continue to respect it.
Aquinas Dominican HS 1962 - 50th Reunion - Christmas Auld Lang Syne - Helen Reddy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRUo6FwId3k
It seems every ex-Catholic has to give their own little “excuse” for their apostasy.
I haven’t seen a valid one yet. And none of them can now claim a defense of “invincible ignorance”.
Usually it’s an excuse for some sin they see in the church, while ignoring their own sin and the fact that the church is made up of sinners like them.
I notice you are about the only one who has mentioned following/accepting Christ.
Denominational membership doesn't cut it does it?
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