The hidden exodus: Catholics becoming Protestants

NCR ^ | Apr. 18, 2011 | Thomas Reese

[Gamecock]

Any other institution that lost one-third of its members would want to know why.....

The number of people who have left the Catholic church is huge.

We all have heard stories about why people leave. Parents share stories about their children. Academics talk about their students. Everyone has a friend who has left.

While personal experience can be helpful, social science research forces us to look beyond our circle of acquaintances to see what is going on in the whole church.

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life has put hard numbers on the anecdotal evidence: One out of every 10 Americans is an ex-Catholic. If they were a separate denomination, they would be the third-largest denomination in the United States, after Catholics and Baptists. One of three people who were raised Catholic no longer identifies as Catholic.

Any other institution that lost one-third of its members would want to know why. But the U.S. bishops have never devoted any time at their national meetings to discussing the exodus. Nor have they spent a dime trying to find out why it is happening.

Thankfully, although the U.S. bishops have not supported research on people who have left the church, the Pew Center has.

Pew’s data shows that those leaving the church are not homogenous. They can be divided into two major groups: those who become unaffiliated and those who become Protestant. Almost half of those leaving the church become unaffiliated and almost half become Protestant. Only about 10 percent of ex-Catholics join non-Christian religions. This article will focus on Catholics who have become Protestant. I am not saying that those who become unaffiliated are not important; I am leaving that discussion to another time.

Why do people leave the Catholic church to become Protestant? Liberal Catholics will tell you that Catholics are leaving because they disagree with the church’s teaching on birth control, women priests, divorce, the bishops’ interference in American politics, etc. Conservatives blame Vatican II, liberal priests and nuns, a permissive culture and the church’s social justice agenda.

One of the reasons there is such disagreement is that we tend to think that everyone leaves for the same reason our friends, relatives and acquaintances have left. We fail to recognize that different people leave for different reasons. People who leave to join Protestant churches do so for different reasons than those who become unaffiliated. People who become evangelicals are different from Catholics who become members of mainline churches.

Spiritual needs

The principal reasons given by people who leave the church to become Protestant are that their “spiritual needs were not being met” in the Catholic church (71 percent) and they “found a religion they like more” (70 percent). Eighty-one percent of respondents say they joined their new church because they enjoy the religious service and style of worship of their new faith.

In other words, the Catholic church has failed to deliver what people consider fundamental products of religion: spiritual sustenance and a good worship service. And before conservatives blame the new liturgy, only 11 percent of those leaving complained that Catholicism had drifted too far from traditional practices such as the Latin Mass.

Dissatisfaction with how the church deals with spiritual needs and worship services dwarfs any disagreements over specific doctrines. While half of those who became Protestants say they left because they stopped believing in Catholic teaching, specific questions get much lower responses. Only 23 percent said they left because of the church’s teaching on abortion and homosexuality; only 23 percent because of the church’s teaching on divorce; only 21 percent because of the rule that priests cannot marry; only 16 percent because of the church’s teaching on birth control; only 16 percent because of the way the church treats women; only 11 percent because they were unhappy with the teachings on poverty, war and the death penalty.

The data shows that disagreement over specific doctrines is not the main reason Catholics become Protestants. We also have lots of survey data showing that many Catholics who stay disagree with specific church teachings. Despite what theologians and bishops think, doctrine is not that important either to those who become Protestant or to those who stay Catholic.

People are not becoming Protestants because they disagree with specific Catholic teachings; people are leaving because the church does not meet their spiritual needs and they find Protestant worship service better.

Nor are the people becoming Protestants lazy or lax Christians. In fact, they attend worship services at a higher rate than those who remain Catholic. While 42 percent of Catholics who stay attend services weekly, 63 percent of Catholics who become Protestants go to church every week. That is a 21 percentage-point difference.

Catholics who became Protestant also claim to have a stronger faith now than when they were children or teenagers. Seventy-one percent say their faith is “very strong,” while only 35 percent and 22 percent reported that their faith was very strong when they were children and teenagers, respectively. On the other hand, only 46 percent of those who are still Catholic report their faith as “very strong” today as an adult.

Thus, both as believers and as worshipers, Catholics who become Protestants are statistically better Christians than those who stay Catholic. We are losing the best, not the worst.

Some of the common explanations of why people leave do not pan out in the data. For example, only 21 percent of those becoming Protestant mention the sex abuse scandal as a reason for leaving. Only 3 percent say they left because they became separated or divorced.

Becoming Protestant

If you believed liberals, most Catholics who leave the church would be joining mainline churches, like the Episcopal church. In fact, almost two-thirds of former Catholics who join a Protestant church join an evangelical church. Catholics who become evangelicals and Catholics who join mainline churches are two very distinct groups. We need to take a closer look at why each leaves the church.

Fifty-four percent of both groups say that they just gradually drifted away from Catholicism. Both groups also had almost equal numbers (82 percent evangelicals, 80 percent mainline) saying they joined their new church because they enjoyed the worship service. But compared to those who became mainline Protestants, a higher percentage of those becoming evangelicals said they left because their spiritual needs were not being met (78 percent versus 57 percent) and that they had stopped believing in Catholic teaching (62 percent versus 20 percent). They also cited the church’s teaching on the Bible (55 percent versus 16 percent) more frequently as a reason for leaving. Forty-six percent of these new evangelicals felt the Catholic church did not view the Bible literally enough. Thus, for those leaving to become evangelicals, spiritual sustenance, worship services and the Bible were key. Only 11 percent were unhappy with the church’s teachings on poverty, war, and the death penalty Ñ the same percentage as said they were unhappy with the church’s treatment of women. Contrary to what conservatives say, ex-Catholics are not flocking to the evangelicals because they think the Catholic church is politically too liberal. They are leaving to get spiritual nourishment from worship services and the Bible.

Looking at the responses of those who join mainline churches also provides some surprising results. For example, few (20 percent) say they left because they stopped believing in Catholic teachings. However, when specific issues were mentioned in the questionnaire, more of those joining mainline churches agreed that these issues influenced their decision to leave the Catholic church. Thirty-one percent cited unhappiness with the church’s teaching on abortion and homosexuality, women, and divorce and remarriage, and 26 percent mentioned birth control as a reason for leaving. Although these numbers are higher than for Catholics who become evangelicals, they are still dwarfed by the number (57 percent) who said their spiritual needs were not met in the Catholic church.

Thus, those becoming evangelicals were more generically unhappy than specifically unhappy with church teaching, while those who became mainline Protestant tended to be more specifically unhappy than generically unhappy with church teaching. The unhappiness with the church’s teaching on poverty, war and the death penalty was equally low for both groups (11 percent for evangelicals; 10 percent for mainline).

What stands out in the data on Catholics who join mainline churches is that they tend to cite personal or familiar reasons for leaving more frequently than do those who become evangelicals. Forty-four percent of the Catholics who join mainline churches say that they married someone of the faith they joined, a number that trumps all doctrinal issues. Only 22 percent of those who join the evangelicals cite this reason.

Perhaps after marrying a mainline Christian and attending his or her church’s services, the Catholic found the mainline services more fulfilling than the Catholic service. And even if they were equally attractive, perhaps the exclusion of the Protestant spouse from Catholic Communion makes the more welcoming mainline church attractive to an ecumenical couple.

Those joining mainline communities also were more likely to cite dissatisfaction of the Catholic clergy (39 percent) than were those who became evangelical (23 percent). Those who join mainline churches are looking for a less clerically dominated church.

Lessons from the data

There are many lessons that we can learn from the Pew data, but I will focus on only three.

First, those who are leaving the church for Protestant churches are more interested in spiritual nourishment than doctrinal issues. Tinkering with the wording of the creed at Mass is not going to help. No one except the Vatican and the bishops cares whether Jesus is “one in being” with the Father or “consubstantial” with the Father. That the hierarchy thinks this is important shows how out of it they are.

While the hierarchy worries about literal translations of the Latin text, people are longing for liturgies that touch the heart and emotions. More creativity with the liturgy is needed, and that means more flexibility must be allowed. If you build it, they will come; if you do not, they will find it elsewhere. The changes that will go into effect this Advent will make matters worse, not better.

Second, thanks to Pope Pius XII, Catholic scripture scholars have had decades to produce the best thinking on scripture in the world. That Catholics are leaving to join evangelical churches because of the church teaching on the Bible is a disgrace. Too few homilists explain the scriptures to their people. Few Catholics read the Bible.

The church needs a massive Bible education program. The church needs to acknowledge that understanding the Bible is more important than memorizing the catechism. If we could get Catholics to read the Sunday scripture readings each week before they come to Mass, it would be revolutionary. If you do not read and pray the scriptures, you are not an adult Christian. Catholics who become evangelicals understand this.

Finally, the Pew data shows that two-thirds of Catholics who become Protestants do so before they reach the age of 24. The church must make a preferential option for teenagers and young adults or it will continue to bleed. Programs and liturgies that cater to their needs must take precedence over the complaints of fuddy-duddies and rubrical purists.

Current religious education programs and teen groups appear to have little effect on keeping these folks Catholic, according to the Pew data, although those who attend a Catholic high school do appear to stay at a higher rate. More research is needed to find out what works and what does not.

The Catholic church is hemorrhaging members. It needs to acknowledge this and do more to understand why. Only if we acknowledge the exodus and understand it will we be in a position to do something about it.

[SirKit]

Lord Jesus,

You said, “I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Touch the hearts of all Christians—and everyone that the Father draws unto Himself—that we may always and everywhere love one another. And in love, humbly seek to fulfill Your prayer to the Father, “That they all may be one.”

Amen.

[HarleyD]

God the Holy Spirit put on my heart, do not return.

How do you KNOW God the Holy Spirit put in on your heart not to return? Isn't this an interpretation?

The problem is you have no authority to interpret Scripture.

I see this statement a lot from Catholics. No where in scripture are we told that we are to "interpret". The scriptures tells us that ALL scripture is inspired by God for correction, teaching, and reproof so that we might be equip. It also tells us very plainly that we are not to look to anything other than scripture. And this was confirmed by the early church fathers when they deliberately set apart scripture from all other Church teaching as special or inspired.

You will certainly not find anything about venerating before images or the perfection of Mary in scripture. In fact just the opposite. It's very clear.

Read a Catholic Bible...it will be help

I have. You will find the Catholic Bible to be a poor interpretation of the original language. Beside, the early fathers tossed out the Apocrypha as not to the level of inspiration as the rest of the scriptures.

[lupie]

Amen!

[metmom]

There’s no integrity in misquoting someone by adding words to what they say and presenting it as their own words.

But I don’t expect any less from Catholics.

[metmom]

Well, I’m sorry that they’re bitter over it, but as Christians, there is the need to deal with that. Holding on to bitterness is not an option for a believer. It’ll eat them alive.

We need to remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood.

[metmom]

So how do YOU get around the Scriptural prohibition against eating blood?

God has been very clear about it, even to the point of reiterating it in Acts 15 at the council of Jerusalem.

[metmom]

Could you perhaps give us the reason why it’s so important to believe that it becomes the literal flesh and blood of Jesus?

[SkyPilot]

Amen to boatbums and metmom's comments.

For my own part, I'll share that is was a very strange and wonderful thing to realize (really realize) that Christ had entered into my life and literally saved me from Hell itself.

I had done everything the Catholic church had asked me to do. I had been Confirmed. I had gone to CCD classes for years. I was an altar boy. I prayed the rosary. I had gone on retreats. I had stacks of prayer cards. I wore Catholic medals of saints around my neck. I lit candles. I went to Confession. I went to Mass 2-3 times per week. Among my family, I was considered the "most Catholic" among them.

I will say this in all honesty, shame, and nakedness: I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I was going to Hell. I only came to this firm realization after 2 months of closely examining and studying scripture. The ugly truth was as plain to me as the black and white print at which I was starring.

Let me tell you, THAT terrifying truth was hard to bear. I knew I had not accepted Christ. My Catholic faith had no answers. I went to a priest, and asked him, straight out, if there was some way I could be sure I was not going to Hell. I was fearful....I didn't want to go to Hell, but I knew I was definitely going there! I wanted to know who I could enter into heaven and be with God forever.

His answer left me crestfallen:

"Errr....well.....that's a Great Mystery."

I asked another priest, who gave me almost exactly the same answer. I asked more Catholics and more priests. I got collections of everything from "good works" to "sacraments" to "be a good person" to "go to Mass every day for a year" to New Age philosophy.

One day at work I heard a man and a women who I both admired very much discussing scripture. The were talking about this verse:

"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." 1 John 5:13

They were both happy. Joyful. Relieved. At peace. And they spoke about what it felt like to know you were saved. Saved from what? I knew. Saved from damnation in Hell. Because, I knew that was where I was going.

It took many more weeks of reading, listening to sermons on the radio, and talking to Christians before I finally relinquished and surrendered to Christ.

Now, let me tell you, DESPITE knowing I was Hell-bound I was STILL reluctant because I a part of myself wanted to somehow hold onto my own destiny, my own pride, my own lusts, my own desired, my own sins.

I didn't want to change. I didn't want to transform. I was a coward. But, Christ would not let go of His pursuit of me.

When I finally knew that I was saved, it was the most profound thing I have ever experienced. I cannot express to you the joy and relief. I LOVED this guy (Christ!). I loved Him. I read the Gospels and re-read them. I watched a movie about Him over and over again. I loved my fellow Christians. Looking back, I could not believe how stupid and foolish I had been.

I had wanted to earn my way into Heaven and out of Hell. When someone first told me about the concept of Grace, I about fell out of my chair.

Praise be to Him.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“Could you perhaps give us the reason why it’s so important to believe that it becomes the literal flesh and blood of Jesus?”

Please do not put words in my mouth (or fingers). I did not say it’s important to believe that it becomes...what I said is what Jesus said...’This is...’. The operative word is ‘is’. It is neither transsubstantation nor transliteration. It is...’is’...because Jesus said ‘this is...’

It is important that we take what the Word says and accept it without trying to twist it with theological doctrines to suit whatever point our particular man-made religiousity deeps the point we want to make.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“So how do YOU get around the Scriptural prohibition against eating blood?”

Oh, please ‘Mom’, get a life...Feed on Him...Let Him be in you...sometimes it is necessary to ‘Let go and let God’...this is one of those times for you. You seem to be so steeped in your own transliterated theology that you have lost sight of who God is...and why you and I and the rest of us are here.

I believe we were created to give God companionship...koinania...

God walked with Adam in the Garden...
Enoch walked with God...
Noah walked with God...
God wants us to walk with him. Adam never understood that. Enoch and Noah did understand that. God wants us to understand that. And when we are seen walking with God, we never have to use words to share Jesus...our life here, walking with Him, does that.

We begin to get there when we Feed on Him, as He requested we do...it includes partaking of His Body and of His Blood.

Blessings to you on this, the Lord’s Day...

[Al Hitan]

There’s no integrity in misquoting someone by adding words to what they say and presenting it as their own words.

It's interesting that you are talking about integrity when I've seldom, if ever, seen you correctly present Catholic doctrine. But I don't expect any less from hypocrites.

But I don’t expect any less from Catholics.

As said by failed, bitter Catholics.

[metmom]

The disciples broke bread.

If we are to eat the literal flesh and blood of Jesus, it’d better not look or taste like bread and wine unless you hold to it changing at some point later, like after you’re swallowed it.

Otherwise, could you tell us just where you get the literal flesh and blood of Jesus to eat and drink?

[metmom]

Projecting much?

I'm not bitter. Lots of churches lie to people about hos to be saved. No one is responsible for my relationship with Christ but me. I could have accepted Christ at any time during the years of being Catholic but I didn't.

And as far as being a failed Catholic, what's the big deal when Catholicism can't guarantee the salvation that they claim only comes through them if you jump through the right hoops.

I'm saved now and I know if and if that's being *a failed Catholic* so be it. I'll wear that as a badge of honor.

I may have failed as a Catholic in the opinion of any Catholic I meet but I am not failed as far as God is concerned.

Galatians 2: 20-21 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

[Al Hitan]

Projecting much?

No, not really. But thanks for asking.

I'm not bitter.

So you say. You should read some of your posts about Catholicism.

No one is responsible for my relationship with Christ but me. I could have accepted Christ at any time during the years of being Catholic but I didn't.

For most people who claim to be Christian, God has something to do with the relationship. It would be interesting to see you explain your premise to a Calvinist.

And as far as being a failed Catholic, what's the big deal when Catholicism can't guarantee the salvation that they claim only comes through them if you jump through the right hoops.

This post is a fine exhibit of ignorance regarding what the Church actually believes and teaches.

I'm saved now and I know if

You're still here aren't you?

Matthew 24:13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

but I am not failed as far as God is concerned.

I'm always concerned for people who think they speak for God.

[Natural Law]

"It is...IT IS...it does not become, nor does it represent...it is My Body...it is My Blood..."

The Eucharist begins as the work of human hands the substance of bread and wine do indeed become the Body and Blood of Christ at the Epiclesis, or the moment of transubstantiation, in the Anaphora, or Eucharistic invocation.

Peace be with you.

[Natural Law]

"If we are to eat the literal flesh and blood of Jesus, it’d better not look or taste like bread and wine unless you hold to it changing at some point later, like after you’re swallowed it."

Before you make your conclusions I would encourage you to gain an understanding of the philosophical concept of "substance" in which in any objecthood substance is distinct and different from it properties. Please don't continue to shortchange yourself. In your critique of the Eucharist you continue to focus on the properties of the bread and wine and ignore the substance which is the Real Presence of Jesus.

Peace be with you.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“Otherwise, could you tell us just where you get the literal flesh and blood of Jesus to eat and drink?”

I did that, several times. Read the Word.

[SuziQ]

Amen, and Amen!!

[SuziQ]

When someone first told me about the concept of Grace, I about fell out of my chair.

I learned about Grace from studying the Baltimore Catechism, back in the early 60s.

[SkyPilot]

The concept of "Grace" taught by the Roman Catholic church in Catechism is 180 degrees out of phase in what a Bible believing Christian bases their entire salvation.

___________________________________

Right at the centre of the division which occurred between Catholicism and the first Protestant reformers right back in the sixteenth century was the question concerning the nature and means of Justification.......So the Reformers of the sixteenth century defined justification as the act of reconciliation flowing from the grace of God through the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the sinner, and received by faith - irrespective of any progress in sanctification at that point. Catholicism. however, regards justification as equivalent to the whole process of salvation, not just it's inception, as flowing from the grace of God and as taking effect through the infusion of the very righteousness of God into the human soul. One could summarize this by saying that the Protestant view was - and is - that justification equals justification by faith, while the Roman Catholic position is that justification equals justification by faith, and works, including due acceptance and appropriation of the role of the sacraments.

These are entirely two different view of Grace (Catholic vs. Protestant).

Catholic "Grace" is not the the same concept at all of Grace that a Bible believing Christian knows has saved them from Hell.

From the link:

" . Once the repentant believer comes under divine grace, he or she will not fall away and be lost, there is no concept of law still standing over the believer, who is now declared righteous in the very court of Heaven. (John 10:27-29; Romans 8: the entire chapter; Ephesians 1:11-14; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; 2 Corinthians 5:5). Even such recipients of God's grace as David and Samson were never rejected despite their considerable failings. 2. The grace of God covers all sins as long as one lives in a continual attitude of humility and repentance. (1 John 1:6-10; 2:1-2; Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). If one is arrogant and refuses to acknowledge, or repent of sins, this would simply confirm that such a person was never under God's grace. We may also see, then, that the Catholic has a much 'lower' view of grace than the Protestant, and a far higher view of what men and women can accomplish under their own steam! Catholicism also teaches a very high view of their own church laws and requirements, this is because they passionately believe that the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven were given to them alone (Matthew 16:19). From this authority they believe that their own traditions stand equal in importance to Scripture. But in contrast to Catholicism's numerous requirements, Paul writes, 23. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. 26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27. for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.(Galatians 3:23-29).

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God."

Ephesians 2:8