I am curious. I know the Catholic Church and several Protestant Churches often try to get new members by having them convert to that particular denomination of religion. However I have to wonder if there has ever been a study that shows exactly how many of these converts actually REMAIN in that particular church or do they themselves lapse and fall away too as so many of said churches original members often do, and if so WHY do they lapse or leave? After all, cradle Catholics and Protestants didn’t really choose their churches; most of them attended because their parents took them. Converts however actively CHOOSE to join certain churches so it would appear that they actually wanted to BELONG to said church; hence why do they eventually become lax in in or leave altogether? Any thoughts? I will ask the same question on another thread about Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Actually, Catholics aren’t big on going out and trying to convert others.
Evangelization may not be big among Roman Catholics, but the Catholic Church itself DOES want to continue to acquire new members just the same.
Not as heartily as it used to be, some kinds of proselitizing (such as to other Christians) are very much frowned upon, and nowadays the idea is more to “do what you ought’a, and if people ask then answer” than to “go and preach from a street corner” much less “go and beat God into those heathens”, but proselitizing is still supposed to be a duty. We’re just not supposed to be a pain about it.
I have no idea what kind of distinction are you making there between RC and CC. Roman is just one of the rites of the Catholic Church, but in English most people mean the CC when they say “Roman Catholic”.
As a Jew and English-speaker, my ignorance needs to be fought. Please tell me some of the denominations which are “Catholic” other than “Roman Catholic”. I suspect you are referring to ones which I thought are called “Orthodox”.
Not going to Wiki this, so just off the top of my head:
The Roman Catholic Church is comprised of a number of different rites, using different liturgical prayers, different liturgical languages, vestments, etc., even to different titles (Archeparchy instead of Archdiocese, for example.) The largest rite, and the one that most people think of when they hear “Catholic”, is the Latin Rite, of which the Bishop of Rome (aka the Pope) is the Patriarch. Most of the other rites have an analogous Orthodox church, but are differentiated from the Orthodox in that their hierarchy is in communion with Rome, and shares theology and discipline with all other Catholics. Many (if not all) Eastern Catholic churches allow married clergy as well. Examples of these Eastern rites are Maronite (Lebanon), Greek Byzantine and Ukrainian Greek.
What he means is that individual Catholics may not be big on wanting to evangelize, but the church as an institution would like evangelization to go on and to attract new converts.
Ahhh… Eastern Catholic! That’s the phrase I was looking for. Thanks JohnM!
There are all kinds of reasons that a convert to Catholicism (or any other religion) might eventually leave. Some of these reasons are unique to converts, while others are the same reasons a cradle Catholic might leave the Church
To give one concrete instance… Rod Dreher, a conservative writer and blogger I used to read regularly, was raised a wishy-washy Methodist in Louisiana. He converted to Catholicism as an adult, and was a very outspoken Catholic apologist. He dropped out of the Church largely due to the pedophilia scandals, and is now a member of an Eastern Orthodix sect.
Now, for a more general answer… people who join a new religion are often people who’ve been seeking for some kind of deep meaning i ntheir lives or some kind of important spiritual truths. When such people embrace a new creed, they are often extremely idealistic about it. That’s both good and bad. Good because converts can bring a great new energy, enthusiasm and vitality to their new congregations. Bad because…
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People who over-idealize a new church (or anything else in life) are often very quick to become bitter and disillusioned when they inevitably find out that it’s NOT as perfect as they once imagined.
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Sometimes, seekers become addicted to seeking, and are always on the lookout for something new, which means they can’t stay committed to any one faith. Some people are just spiritual dilettantes. TODAY, they may embrace what they sincerely believe are the eternal truths of Catholicism, but tomorrow, they may start dabbling in the Kabbalah or in Zen Buddhism.
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Sometimes, people just change, and things that seemed to make sense or to offer comfort before just don’t do so any longer.
There are Eastern Catholic churches that are in full communion with Rome, but are not Roman Catholic. I’m trying to think of the most basic way to describe it that skips all the crazy church history that you probably don’t care about. They accept the ultimate authority of the pope, but organizationally do their own thing. Some of them use different liturgical rites, specific to their geography and history.
Examples would be the Armenian Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the Coptic Catholic Church, and the Syriac Catholic Church.
A lot of these also have an Orthodox branch, adding to the confusion.
I know a woman who calls herself Greek Catholic. She is actually Lebanese. The Greek Catholics recognize Rome and vice versa and they are considered Catholic. But their priests marry (I am not sure about bishops). As far as I know, that is the only substantial difference. Then there are the Maronites. When they emigrate, they generally join the local RC church. But there are enough of them in Montreal that there is a formal Maronite church. But I am not sure they recognize the Pope in the way the Greek Catholics do. I gather that even in Greece, it is a fairly small operation.
Thank you for elaborating correctly on that point for me, Puddleglum; I appreciate it.
Well, I guess when most people talk about evangelizing they think of people passing out tracts and talking about, “have you considered turning your soul over to Jesus”, etc. Most of the time Catholicism is more about evangelism by example – setting up missions and providing charitable works.
Oh, and I’m a she.