Lapsed Catholic

Last updated

A lapsed Catholic is a Catholic who is non-practicing. [1] [2] Such a person may still identify as a Catholic, [3] and remains one according to Catholic canon law. [4]

Contents

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]

Richard John Neuhaus distinguished between Catholic and Protestant ideas of what it means to be "lapsed" by quoting 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 censure known as excommunication does not erase this sacramental character of their baptism; but excommunicated persons are "cut off from the Church", barred from receiving the 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 Latin Catholic who lapses to the extent of becoming an apostate, a heretic or a schismatic is automatically excommunicated; [20] and, until the excommunication is lifted, is forbidden to have any ministerial part in the celebration of Mass or other worship ceremonies, to celebrate or receive the sacraments or to exercise any Church functions. [20] This is an obligation that binds the excommunicated person. Unless the excommunication has been publicly declared by the Church and not merely incurred automatically, the excommunicated person cannot on that ground alone be publicly refused the sacraments, even by a priest who knows of it. However, to assist at the marriage of someone who has "notoriously" (i.e. widely known to have done so) rejected the Catholic faith, a priest needs the permission of the ordinary and the same promises required by spouses in mixed marriages are also required. [21]

The 1983 Code of Canon Law lays down no particular penalty for a lapse in one's religious duties as a Catholic that consist in failure to attend Sunday Mass [20] and failure to receive Communion during Eastertide other than a recommendation toward penance and reconciliation. [22]

Colloquial names

Some lapsed Catholics attend Mass on special occasions like Christmas and Easter. Such lapsed Catholics are colloquially and sometimes derogatorily called Cultural Catholics or A&P Catholics (for Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday). [23]

"Cultural Catholic" is also used to refer to a non-religious member of a historically Catholic ethnic group: Hungarian, [24] [ verification needed ] Polish. [25] [ verification needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

Canon law is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law, or operational policy, governing the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the individual national churches within the Anglican Communion. The way that such church law is legislated, interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these four bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule adopted by a church council; these canons formed the foundation of canon law.

In Christianity, an episcopus vagans is a person consecrated, in a "clandestine or irregular way", as a bishop outside the structures and canon law of the established churches; a person regularly consecrated but later excommunicated, and not in communion with any generally recognized diocese; or a person who has in communion with them small groups that appear to exist solely for the bishop's sake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Excommunication</span> Censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community

Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the congregation, and of receiving the sacraments.

Some Christian denominations believe that a sacramental character, an indelible spiritual mark, is imprinted by any of three of the seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, and holy orders.

Many Wikipedia articles on religious topics are not yet listed on this page. If you cannot find the topic you are interested in on this page, it still may already exist; you can try to find it using the "Search" box. If you find that it exists, you can edit this page to add a link to it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confirmation</span> Christian religious practice

In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on of hands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marriage in the Catholic Church</span> Sacrament and social institution within the Catholic Church

Marriage in the Catholic Church, also known as holy matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring", and which "has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptized". Catholic matrimonial law, based on Roman law regarding its focus on marriage as a free mutual agreement or contract, became the basis for the marriage law of all European countries, at least up to the Reformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church</span> Major Christian church based in Rome

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.378 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2021. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies located around the world. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The Diocese of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small independent city-state enclave within the Italian capital city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.

Validity and liceity are concepts in the Catholic Church. Validity designates an action which produces the effects intended; an action which does not produce the effects intended is considered "invalid". Liceity designates an action which has been performed legitimately; an action which has not been performed legitimately is considered "illicit". Some actions can be illicit, but still be valid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confirmation in the Catholic Church</span> Sacrament in the Catholic Church

Confirmation in the Catholic Church is one of the seven sacraments. It is also one of the three sacraments of initiation into the Catholic Church, the other two being Baptism and Holy Communion.

The Sacrament of Penance is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, in which the faithful are absolved from sins committed after baptism and reconciled with the Christian community. During reconciliation mortal sins must be confessed and venial sins may be confessed for devotional reasons. According to the dogma and unchanging practice of the church, only those ordained as priests may grant absolution.

The Convergence Movement, also known as the Ancient-Future Faith, whose foundation is primarily attributed to Robert E. Webber in 1985, is an ecumenical movement. Developed as an effort among evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal, and liturgical Christians and denominations blending their forms of worship, the movement has been defined for its predominant use of the Anglican tradition's Book of Common Prayer; use from additional liturgical sources common to Lutheranism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Catholicism have also been employed.

Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic Church. This article serves as an introduction to various topics in Catholic theology, with links to where fuller coverage is found.

Vitandus and toleratus are former categories of excommunicates from the Catholic Church.

Canon 1397 §2 is a paragraph of the canon 1397 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church; the paragraph states: "A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication".

This is a glossary of terms used within the Catholic Church. Some terms used in everyday English have a different meaning in the context of the Catholic faith, including brother, confession, confirmation, exemption, faithful, father, ordinary, religious, sister, venerable, and vow.

In the canon law of the Catholic Church, excommunication is a form of censure. In the formal sense of the term, excommunication includes being barred not only from the sacraments but also from the fellowship of Christian baptism. The principal and severest censure, excommunication presupposes guilt; and being the most serious penalty that the Catholic Church can inflict, it supposes a grave offense. The excommunicated person is considered by Catholic ecclesiastical authority as an exile from the Church, for a time at least.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacraments of the Catholic Church</span> Catholic visible rites

There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus Christ and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition.

In the canon law of the Catholic Church, a person is a subject of certain legal rights and obligations. Persons may be distinguished between physical and juridic persons. Juridic persons may be distinguished as collegial or non-collegial, and public or private juridical persons. The Holy See and the Catholic Church as such are not juridic persons since juridic persons are created by ecclesiastical law. Rather, they are moral persons by divine law.

In the Catholic Church, communicatio in sacris, also called communicatio in divinis or communicatio in ritibus, designates the regulations for the partaking of a Catholic person to a non-Catholic sacrament or liturgical celebration, or for the partaking of a non-Catholic person to a Catholic sacrament or liturgical celebration. The expression is also used to refer to said acts of partaking themselves.

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. ↑ R. John Kinkel (29 September 2008). The Story of Early Christianity. 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. ↑ Patricia Barbernitz (1993). Parish Ministry for Returning Catholics . Paulist Press. p.  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. ↑ Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 513. ISBN   9780199829927.
  7. ↑ Leslie John Francis, William K. Kay, William S. Campbell (editors), Research in Religious Education (Gracewing Publishing 1996 ISBN   978-0-85244342-2), p. 378
  8. ↑ Quotes from Daniel F. Ford, The Lapsed Catholic Catechism: "Lapsees are à la carte Catholics who pick and choose what suits them, if anything does, from the long menu of past teachings from Rome and/or other religious traditions. Some even continue to participate in orthodox Catholic rituals – e.g., getting married in church and attending the church funeral rites intended to honor the departed and comfort the family and friends left behind. Some Lapsed Catholics are out and out atheists or agnostics. They look at arguments about God's existence as 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. ↑ Neuhaus, Richard John. Catholic Matters (Basic Books 2007 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. ↑ Carl Sommer, We Look for a Kingdom (Ignatius Press 2007 ISBN   978-1-58617079-0), p. 248
  15. ↑ Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 1, Origins to Constantine Frances Margaret Young, Margaret Mary Mitchell, K. Scott Bowie (editors), The Cambridge History of Christianity] (Cambridge University Press 2006 ISBN   978-0-52181239-9), p. 389
  16. ↑ James B. North, Don Umphrey, A History of the Church (College Press 1991 ISBN   978-0-89900371-9), pp. 62-63
  17. ↑ NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils. CCEL. 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. 1 2 3 "Code of Canon Law: Table of Contents". www.vatican.va.
  21. ↑ John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, Thomas Joseph Green, New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (Paulist Press 2002 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. ↑ GUS, Narodowy Spis Powszechny Ludnosci 2011: 4.4. Przynależność wyznaniowa (National Survey 2011: 4.4 Membership in faith communities) p. 99/337 (PDF file, direct download 3.3 MB). ISBN   978-83-7027-521-1 Retrieved 27 December 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.