Lapsed Catholic

In Roman Catholicism, a lapsed Catholic is a Catholic who has ceased practicing the Catholic religion. Such a person is said to have lapsed from the faith.

According to Catholic belief, if you are baptised as a Catholic you remain a Catholic forever. A comparison with Judaism can be made, where even though a Jew may not practice their faith, they are still Jewish by birth. Baptism is said to " [seal] the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark... of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation." [cite web
url = http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.htm#VII
title = The Sacrament of Baptism (§1272) | work = Catechism of the Catholic Church]

If a Catholic leaves his faith but returns later, he is not required to "reconvert" but often go through RCIA for a refresher education in the faith.

The term "lapsed Catholic" is favored over "ex-Catholic," especially in cases where the person has merely stopped practicing the faith (such as going to mass or confession) but has not actively adopted a new religion. Such people often still nominally identify their religion as Catholic. Even repudiating the entirety of Catholic faith does not make a Catholic un-baptised, but rather an apostate. Likewise, a Catholic who rejects an essential part of the Catholic religion is a heretic, and a Catholic who refuses to submit to the Roman Pontiff is a schismatic.

Non-participation

Sometimes the person may self-identify as a "recovering Catholic". Many lapsed Catholics stop practising their faith after leaving their parental home, where they have gone through the paces of religious services to please a more devout relative, especially a parent. Some Catholics who still attend church services may still think of themselves as "lapsed" if they have not participated in Catholic sacraments or if they only attend special masses like Christmas and Easter. These are colloquially referred to by such terms as Chreasters, [cite web
url = http://www.unwords.com/unword/Chreaster.html | work = Unwords.com
title = Definition of Chreaster | publisher = Nanovox Productions] C&E Catholics, [cite web
url = http://arlinghaus.typepad.com/blog/2007/03/dont_be_too_qui.html
title = Don't be too quick to dismiss the "C&E Catholics" this Easter | work = Bearing Blog | date = 2007-03-06 ] Poinsettia & Lily Catholics, [cite web
url = http://three-part-harmony.com/heartsongs/2002/03/31/why-i-hate-easter/ | date = 2002-03-31
title = Why I hate Easter | work = Heart Songs] CEO's (Christmas and Easter Only), or A&P Catholics [cite web
url = http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Catholic%20priest
title = Search for "Catholic priest" | publisher = Everything2.com] (for Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday).

Lapsed non-Catholics

The term "lapsed" is sometimes affixed to people of other religious denominations who have stopped practicing (e.g. lapsed Hindus or lapsed Muslims [cite web
url = http://muslimmatters.org/2007/12/13/can-i-make-you-a-muslim/ | date = 2007-12-13
title = Can I Make You A Muslim? | publisher = MuslimMatters.org] ).

References

ee also

*Cultural Catholic
*Catholic guilt
*Cafeteria Christianity
*Sunday Christian
*Ex-Mormon