Lapsed Catholic

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A lapsed Catholic is a

Catholic canon law.[4]

Interpretations

The

Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of "lapsed" in relation to "lapsed Catholic" is "no longer believing or following the teachings of a religion".[5] The Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus associates the term "lapsed Catholic" as one who is backsliding.[6] Lapsing is thus not necessarily connected with a lack of belief.[7] However, author Daniel Ford links being a lapsed Catholic with rejection of Catholic teaching, either totally or by being an "à la carte Catholic".[8]

Other sources associate the term with abandonment of practice of the Catholic religion rather than with rejection of its doctrine. Thus the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines "lapsed", again in relation to "lapsed Catholic", as "no longer involved in an activity or organization",[9] and the Oxford Dictionary speaks only of "no longer following the rules and practices of a religion or doctrine".[10]

G.K. Chesterton, who remarked that a Protestant typically says he is a good Protestant, while a Catholic typically says he is a bad Catholic. For many, being a lapsed Catholic is just another way of being a Catholic.[11]

Catholic teaching on membership in the Church

According to Catholic belief, baptism "seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark of belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation."[12]

Even the form of

Eucharist and all other sacraments, and from taking an active part in the liturgy (reading, serving at the altar, etc.).[13]

History

In the time of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, many Christians, including clergy and even some bishops, were referred to as the lapsi (those who had slipped and fell) as opposed to the stantes (those who stood firm).[14][15] Different attitudes developed within the Church towards the lapsed: some held they should never be readmitted to the Church before death, others were for demanding serious penance of them before readmitting them, while others again were still more lenient.[16] The First Council of Nicaea insisted that any clergy who had lapsed were not to be readmitted to clerical rank.[17]

From 1983, a formal act of defection from the Catholic Church was recognised in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, making defectors ineligible for the privileges of membership of the Church, such as marrying in church.[18] This form of defection was removed from the Code in 2009.

In the religion question on the Republic of Ireland census, "lapsed (Roman) Catholic" (a write-in option rather than a pre-printed checkbox option) was collated separately for the first time in 2011, when 1,268 were recorded (0.033% of the "Roman Catholic" total); the 2016 census recorded 8,094 (0.21%).[19]

Present canon law

Today, a

ordinary and the same promises required by spouses in mixed marriages are also required.[21]

The

reconciliation.[22]

Colloquial names

Some lapsed Catholics attend

Cultural Catholics or A&P Catholics (for Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday).[23]

"

ethnic group: Hungarian,[24][verification needed] Polish.[25][verification needed
]

See also

References

  1. ^ Simoneau, Alan G. (5 January 1998). Metaphorically Speaking: Ethnic Analogies And The Construction of Gay Identify. Carleton University. p. 80. Roman Catholicism provides another illustration: many Catholics who no longer actively express their religious affiliation will not hesitate to identify themselves as Catholic—some do feel the need to add qualifiers such as "lapsed Catholic".
  2. ISBN 9780595624027
    . Retrieved 14 June 2012. In the old days (1950s) these people would be called backsliders, apostates, lapsed Christians, and now this label has emerged: FARC, ie fallen away Roman Catholic.
  3. ISBN 9780809134410
    . Retrieved 14 June 2012. 'I'm Catholic' is also the statement frequently used by some other people — those whom others might have named 'inactive' Catholics, 'fallen-away' or 'lapsed' Catholics. For many of them, the statement remains, 'I'm Catholic'.
  4. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church - Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church, THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM Section 1272 "Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, baptism cannot be repeated." - Archived 21 April 2011, accessed online 19 February 2016
  5. ^ "Definition of LAPSED". Merriam-Webster.
  6. ISBN 9780199829927
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-85244342-2
    ), p. 378
  8. W.H. Auden did: 'All proofs or disproofs that we tender are returned Unopened to the sender.' The actor Martin Sheen
    has described himself as 'one of those cliff-hanging Catholics. I don't believe in God, but I do believe that Mary was his mother.'"
  9. ^ "LAPSED | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary".
  10. ^ "LAPSED | Meaning & Definition for UK English | Lexico.com". Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021.
  11. ISBN 9780465049363
    ), p. 10
  12. ^ "The Sacrament of Baptism (§1272)". Catechism of the Catholic Church. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ....Given once for all, baptism cannot be repeated.
  13. ^ "Even those who have joined another religion, have become atheists or agnostics, or have been excommunicated remain Catholics. Excommunicates lose rights, such as the right to the sacraments, but they are still bound to the obligations of the law; their rights are restored when they are reconciled through the remission of the penalty." New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, ed. by John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, Paulist Press, 2000, p. 63 (commentary on canon 11).
  14. ISBN 978-1-58617079-0
    ), p. 248
  15. ISBN 978-0-52181239-9
    ), p. 389
  16. ISBN 978-0-89900371-9
    ), pp. 62-63
  17. ISBN 9781610250757
    – via Google Books.
  18. ^ "Statement on Formal Defections". Archived from the original on 21 February 2012.
  19. ^ "EY038: Population Usually Resident and Present in the State 2011 to 2016 by Nationality, Sex, Religion and Census Year". StatBank. Central Statistics Office. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  20. ^ a b c "Code of Canon Law: Table of Contents". www.vatican.va.
  21. ISBN 978-0-80914066-4
    ), p. 1269
  22. ^ "Code of Canon Law - IntraText".
  23. ^ Beck, Edward L. C. (22 September 2010). "Will A&P Catholics Still Flock to Church?". ABC News.
  24. ^ "Magyarország Alaptörvénye" (PDF). Parlament.hu. Hungarian Parliament. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  25. ISBN 978-83-7027-521-1
    Retrieved 27 December 2014.

External links
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