Why Catholics Become Inactive or Leave the Church?

Mark S. Roberti, Director of Stewardship

Heartland Parishes of Ellis County

In January of 2001, Bishop Michael Saltarelli wrote an article in Origins, a publication of the United States Catholic Conference, giving nine reasons why Catholics leave the Church.  At that time, he pointed out that 17 millions Catholics no longer practice their faith.  In the United States, the second largest body of Christians is comprised of Catholics who no longer practice their faith.  Some of these are your relatives and friends; some are very dear to you.  So let’s review the reasons and ramifications, then look at how we can help to turn the tide.

Reason 1: Some did not experience the power or presence of God in Catholicism or in the Catholic community of which they were a part.

Reason 2: Some did not experience warm, personal, caring relationships in their encounters with Catholics.  To them the people seemed cold, the services boring.

Reason 3: Others did experience the complex religious system that seems to lack relatedness to their lives….” 

Reason 4: Some were hurt in some way by Catholics – clergy or laity – and have not been reconciled.

Reason 5:  Some are in conflict with the teaching of the Church on…matters of faith and morality.

Reason 6:  Others never knew their faith well or were ignorant of the basics.  They were easily misled in their lack of understand, exploited by those who attack Catholic beliefs and practices for their own purposes.

Reason 7: Some have been kept from full communion with the Church because of a marriage outside the Church.

Reason 8: A significant number of the inactive simply got lazy and stopped going.  They may have gotten busy with their jobs and families, and through their own fault they did not find the time.  In a [then] recent survey of young-adult Catholics, published in America magazine, 35 percent of the inactive simply got too busy and were lazy and didn’t find the time to be involved.

Reason 9: Others moved to new locations and never got around to finding a church in their new city or neighborhood.  The America survey noted that 19% of inactive young adults fell into this category.

As a stewardship director, what also concerns me -- almost as much -- is that there are probably an equal number of Catholics who do come to church but could, one day, also fall prey to one or more of the same categories.

Those of us who truly are passionate about the Catholic faith need to do something.  It’s our watch!  God put us right here, right now.  He has given us the grace, the very passion we have, because He knows we can change it.   This decision, this call, this walk, is our responsibility.  It is also our privilege to serve God in this manner!  This is, so to speak, where we earn our wings.

I can’t give you a blueprint for your role.  Heck, I don’t even know mine.  But what I do know is that everyone of us reading this article has a role.  We have to push, and push, and push some more, until something happens.  We have to be selfless in giving of our time, talent, and treasure in cooperating with Jesus in making His Kingdom come “on earth as it is in heaven.”

The nine reasons above are huge obstacles.  It’s crazy to think any one of us could overcome them alone.  But we are not called to overcome them alone; we journey as a faith community.  We each have to do our part.  And, sometimes, that means we have to carry others until they are strong enough in their Catholic walk to join in the battle. 

I’ll tell you honestly, others carried this Church for a long time before I became passionate enough about my faith to help. In my role as a stewardship director, I now have the joy of seeing Catholics mature in their faith all the time.   Catholic stewardship and its witness to others is a powerful means of evangelization and spirituality.  

Ready or not, each of us is called to be a Catholic steward.