Now all the OP needs to do is find out what “that” was, and start doing it.
That’s not true. If anything, it was the reverse. The Conversos in Spain were in danger from the Spanish Inquisition just because the Spanish Inquisition considered them Catholics. The Inquisition legally had no authority under non-Catholics. What made the Conversos vulnerable was that they had been baptized Catholics (in many cases, by force or threat), which made them Catholic and therefore subject to the Inqusition.
Under?
I agree – parishes have always taken my word for it! I would have thought they would just be asking to see what you might need. When my Pop tried out as a lector, they did have him read a sample up at the ambo to see how he sounded but that was it.
Yes, I agree registration isn’t required at our parish either – unless you want your kids to go to religious ed here.
Most parishes in the US don’t require registration unless you want something that involves either recordkeeping or scheduling. Want your kid baptized, to attend religious ed, to get married? You’ll probably have to register. Want to read at your sibling’s wedding? No need to register. Want to be a regular lector/Eucharistic minister? In my experience lectors, ushers and Eucharistic ministers have schedules and the parish has contact info which almost certainly means you will be registered at that point if you weren’t already.
And I’m sure that there are more questions about certificates and such in the US than in more Catholic countries like Italy and Spain. But I’m also sure that some of the whoppers I’ve heard in the US wouldn’t happen there. For example, my son was a Cub Scout in a troop sponsored by a Catholic parish. There were some Lutheran boys in the troop. When it came time to work on religious awards, I noticed there were no materials for the Lutheran award, only the Catholic one. When I asked about it, the response I got was ( from a Catholic) was “Lutherans are a type of Catholic”
They must live down in the basement where no one ever sees them, if you have trouble believing in them.
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I just wanted to say thank you, that was nicely done.
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Wow.
Yeah, there are roughly 95 reasons to question that sentiment.
The weird thing is that if you’re in the same kind of Presbyterian church I grew up in they were actually paying to keep you on the rolls! Presbytery tax!
this is the Cub Scout Lutheran Religious award
Sounds like a huge waste of time, you don’t have better stuff to do? I am an atheist that was raised Catholic and such a thought never even entered my mind. Hey if it really concerns you, more power to you, just seems so pointless to me!:rolleyes:
Under, over, they’re both prepositions! It was early, I was on my way out the door and not underly coherent.
Officially, if you do not go to Easter Mass you are declaring yourself no longer a Catholic. You may still be kept on the rolls, but theologically you have left the faith.
If this is a duplicate I’m sorry, I just got tired of reading the other comments.
Where’s your official source for that?
Could it be a conflagration of the requirement to attend Mass every Sunday, and to receive Communion at least once a year, at Easter? Either way, failing to do so doesn’t make you officially non-Catholic.
Years ago when I decided to part ways with the RCC I looked into this.
IIRC there are a few websites that have a form letter of the sort you need to send to the local Archdiocese to request your name be removed from the baptismal role but it’s completely up to the church as to whether they do it.
One reason I remember reading for doing this was that, when the church is lobbying politicians they tend to use the number of baptised members on their books when they talk about how much support they have rather than, say, the number of people who describe themselves as practising Catholics on the census or actually got to mass from week to week.
From memory** the other main ways to get automatically excommunicated (if you’re going for a burn-the-bridges approach) are:
[ol]
[li]assassinate or attempt to assassinate the pope (not recommended) :p[/li][li]join another religion[/li][/ol]
**which could be completely wrong now
The translation of the precept that failing to attend Easter Mass is separating yourself from the Church (barring illness or other reasonable excuse) was something I picked up in one of my “How to Be A Catholic” type books.
Although according to Wikipedia it appears I’m wrong.