Editing Lapsed Catholic (section)

==Catholic teaching on membership in the church==
According to Catholic belief, [[Baptism#Catholicism|baptism]] "seals the Christian with the [[Sacramental character|indelible spiritual mark]] of belonging to Christ. No [[Christian views on sin|sin]] can erase this mark, even if sin prevents baptism from bearing the fruits of [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]]."<ref name=cat>{{cite web
| url = http://ccc.usccb.org/flipbooks/catechism/index.html#342
| title = The Sacrament of Baptism (§1272)
| work = Catechism of the Catholic Church
| quote = Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ....Given once for all, baptism cannot be repeated.
| access-date = 2016-09-01
| archive-date = 2018-01-16
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180116113939/http://ccc.usccb.org/flipbooks/catechism/index.html#342
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

Even the form of [[Censure (Catholic canon law)|censure]] known as [[Excommunication in the Catholic Church|excommunication]] does not erase this sacramental character of baptism; but excommunicated persons are "cut off from the Church", barred from receiving the [[Eucharist (Catholic Church)|Eucharist]] and all other [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]], and from taking an active part in the [[Catholic liturgy|liturgy]] (reading, serving at the altar, etc.).<ref>"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." [https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&q=%22excommunicated%20remain%22 ''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).]</ref>