Editing Lapsed Catholic

{{Short description|Catholic person who is non-practicing}}
A '''lapsed Catholic''' is a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] who is non-practicing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simoneau |first1=Alan G. |title=Metaphorically Speaking: Ethnic Analogies And The Construction of Gay Identify |date=5 January 1998 |publisher=[[Carleton University]] |page=80 |language=en |quote=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".}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Story of Early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7wtAmMsI608C&pg=PP12|author=R. John Kinkel|date=29 September 2008| publisher=iUniverse |access-date=14 June 2012|quote=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.|isbn = 9780595624027}}</ref> Such a person may still identify as a Catholic,<ref name=Identification>{{cite book|publisher=[[Paulist Press]]|author=Patricia Barbernitz|title=Parish Ministry for Returning Catholics|url=https://archive.org/details/parishministryfo0000barb|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/parishministryfo0000barb/page/3 3]|year=1993|access-date=14 June 2012|quote='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'.|isbn=9780809134410}}</ref> and remains one according to [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Catholic canon law]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110421154356/http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.shtml 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</ref>

== Interpretations ==

The ''[[Merriam-Webster Dictionary]]'' definition of "lapsed" in relation to "lapsed Catholic" is "no longer believing or following the teachings of a religion".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lapsed|title=Definition of LAPSED|date=23 August 2024|publisher=Merriam-Webster|access-date=12 August 2014|archive-date=25 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825232517/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lapsed|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus'' associates "lapsed Catholic" as one who is [[backsliding]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=9780199829927|page=513}}</ref> Lapsing is thus not necessarily connected with a lack of belief.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=n4Pmb9ik3GgC&pg=PA378 Leslie John Francis, William K. Kay, William S. Campbell (editors), ''Research in Religious Education''] (Gracewing Publishing 1996 {{ISBN|978-0-85244342-2}}), p. 378.</ref> However, author Daniel Ford links being a lapsed Catholic with rejection of Catholic teaching, either totally or by being an "[[Cafeteria Catholicism|à la carte Catholic]]".<ref>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.'"</ref>

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",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/lapsed|title=LAPSED &#124; meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary}}</ref> and the ''Oxford Dictionary'' speaks only of "no longer following the rules and practices of a religion or doctrine".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/lapsed|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507000335/https://www.lexico.com/definition/lapsed|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2021|title=LAPSED &#124; Meaning & Definition for UK English &#124; Lexico.com|website=Lexico Dictionaries &#124; English}}</ref>

[[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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dizLhNmwiBUC&q=Richard+John+Neuhaus+Catholic+Matters Neuhaus, Richard John. ''Catholic Matters''] (Basic Books 2007 {{ISBN|9780465049363}}), p. 10</ref>

==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>

== 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 (Christianity)|lapsi]]'' (those who had slipped and fallen) as opposed to the ''stantes'' (those who stood firm).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EZc5Hj0fPPYC&pg=PA248 Carl Sommer, ''We Look for a Kingdom''] (Ignatius Press 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-58617079-0}}), p. 248</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6UTfmw_zStsC&pg=PA389 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</ref> 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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3kVSstTNv4EC&pg=PA62 James B. North, Don Umphrey, ''A History of the Church''] (College Press 1991 {{ISBN|978-0-89900371-9}}), pp. 62-63</ref> The [[First Council of Nicaea]] insisted that any clergy who had lapsed were not to be readmitted to clerical rank.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=af-TVfQPbSgC&q=%22lapsed+are+to+be+deposed%22&pg=RA1-PR10|title=NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils|publisher=CCEL|via=Google Books|isbn=9781610250757}}</ref>

From 1983, a [[formal act of defection from the Catholic Church]] was recognised in the [[1983 Code of Canon Law|1983 ''Code of Canon Law'']], making defectors ineligible for the privileges of membership of the church, such as marrying in church.<ref name=Dublin>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dublindiocese.ie/content/121010-statement-formal-defections|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221004222/http://www.dublindiocese.ie/content/121010-statement-formal-defections|url-status=dead|title=Statement on Formal Defections|archivedate=21 February 2012}}</ref> 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%).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/Define.asp?maintable=EY038&PLanguage=0|title=EY038: Population Usually Resident and Present in the State 2011 to 2016 by Nationality, Sex, Religion and Census Year|work=StatBank|publisher=[[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)|Central Statistics Office]]|access-date=18 August 2017|archive-date=16 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616035553/http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/Define.asp?maintable=EY038&PLanguage=0|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Present canon law ==

Today, a [[Latin Catholic]] who lapses to the extent of becoming an [[apostate]], a [[Heresy in the Catholic Church|heretic]] or a [[Schism (religion)|schismatic]] is [[Latae sententiae and ferendae sententiae|automatically]] excommunicated;<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/cic_index_en.html|title=Code of Canon Law: Table of Contents|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=2022-04-14|archive-date=2007-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224152526/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4W.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref> and, until the excommunication is lifted, is forbidden to have any ministerial part in the celebration of [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]] or other worship ceremonies, to celebrate or receive the sacraments or to exercise any church functions.<ref name="auto"/> 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 (Catholic Church)|ordinary]] and the same promises required by spouses in mixed marriages are also required.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&pg=PA1269 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</ref>

The [[1983 Code of Canon Law|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<ref name="auto" /> and failure to receive [[Eucharist in the Catholic Church|Communion]] during [[Eastertide]] other than a recommendation toward [[penance]] and [[Reconciliation (Catholic Church)|reconciliation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P39.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law - IntraText|access-date=2020-03-15|archive-date=2011-06-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628182123/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P39.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref>

None of this prevents an individual who was baptised a Catholic from completely ignoring the Catholic Church's laws or ideas and not disclosing their personal views or beliefs. As a consequence, the lapsing of a person to become an apostate is neither obvious nor can it follow that they are automatically excommunicated. In a sense it highlights the dichotomy of religious law which may be completely disregarded without effective penalty (whether that would be justified or not).

==Colloquial names==
Some lapsed Catholics attend [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] on special occasions like [[Christmas]] and [[Easter]]. Such lapsed Catholics are colloquially and sometimes derogatorily called ''[[Cultural Catholic]]s'', ''CEO Catholics'' ("Christmas and Easter Only") or ''A&P Catholics'' (for [[Ash Wednesday]] and [[Palm Sunday]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Spirituality/ap-catholics-flock-church-palm-sunday-sex-abuse/story?id=10213845|title=Will A&P Catholics Still Flock to Church?|first=Edward L. C.|last=Beck|date=22 September 2010|publisher=ABC News|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803040354/https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Spirituality/ap-catholics-flock-church-palm-sunday-sex-abuse/story?id=10213845|url-status=live}}</ref>

"Cultural Catholic" is also used to refer to a non-religious member of a historically Catholic [[ethnic group]]: [[Hungarians|Hungarian]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Magyarország Alaptörvénye|url=http://www.parlament.hu/irom39/02627/02627.pdf|website=Parlament.hu|publisher=Hungarian Parliament|access-date=2 August 2014|archive-date=22 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722011134/http://www.parlament.hu/irom39/02627/02627.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Verification needed|date=January 2023}} [[Polish people|Polish]].<ref name="GUS99">GUS, ''[http://stat.gov.pl/download/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/LUD_ludnosc_stan_str_dem_spo_NSP2011.pdf Narodowy Spis Powszechny Ludnosci 2011: 4.4. Przynależność wyznaniowa (National Survey 2011: 4.4 Membership in faith communities)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010210701/http://stat.gov.pl/download/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/LUD_ludnosc_stan_str_dem_spo_NSP2011.pdf |date=2017-10-10 }}'' p. 99/337 (PDF file, direct download 3.3 MB). {{ISBN|978-83-7027-521-1}} {{nobreak|Retrieved 27 December 2014.}}</ref>{{Verification needed|date=January 2023}}

==See also==
*[[Apostasy in Christianity]]
*[[Catholic agnosticism]]
*[[Catholic Atheism]]
*[[Catholic guilt]]
*[[Spiritual but not religious]]
*[[Lapsi (Christianity)]]
*[[List of former Roman Catholics]]
*[[Recovering Catholic]]
*[[Sunday Christian]]
*[[Moralistic therapeutic deism]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Wikiquote-inline}}

[[Category:Catholic theology and doctrine]]
[[Category:Catholic culture]]
[[Category:Christian secularism]]
[[Category:Disengagement from religion]]