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actually, usually it starts with a “church of nice” where the mass is meaningless, the “kiss of peace” greeting is chaotic and considered more important than the Eucharist, all the statues are gone and the church resembles the waiting room at the local airport, your children learn socialism in catechism or catholic school, and you start missing mass because you are not being fed spiritually.

Then you find a spirit filled church that feeds your soul, so you start going there.

Here in the Philippines, it’s even more complicated: Pope Francis got crowds, but still he didn’t see the real problem: That the clergy are from upper class families... and the “emphasis on the poor” that he spouts essentially means the poor are there for the rich to “help”, which locally translates to “you can take bribes, skim the top of the profits or from gov’t funds, seduce your employees and take drugs, but hey, if you give to the church and/or help the poor, you go to heaven”.

In contrast, the Protestant churches teach morality, honesty, and emphasize that the personal relationship to Jesus in a charismatic way is not enough: You need to also “walk the walk”...which is why many in the middle class are becoming protestant, and many of the poor, especially in cities, are finding that following Christ in the biblical way is not only the way to heaven, but will help you be successful in your daily life, i.e. in a job and in family life.

If I remain a Catholic, it is because of the Eucharist, and because the traditional Catholic approach to God sees his glory in everything (the heavens proclaim the glory of God) and that I am old enough to remember when they taught the “little way” of doing every small deed for love of God.

not to mention that my protestant relatives are honest, but if a poor person comes to the door with a request for emergency funds, they are skin flints, with the idea that if the poor just got out and got a job, they wouldn’t have to ask for help.

I guess God need both types.