Why are pastors converting from Catholics to Christians?

Answer 1

This question makes a couple of errors that need a bit of background to explain. The final answer is in the last two paragraphs.

This question makes two errors. The first is thinking that a Catholic is not a Christian. Catholicism is the original form of Christianity from the time of the original Nicean councils. ALL other forms of modern (Protestant) Christianity derive from it. This is similar to a Baptist asking about Protestants converting to Christianity. Pastors are not converting from Catholics to Christians. Catholics are already Christians.

Second, pastors are non-Catholic ministers, so they don't convert from Catholicism.

I suspect the questioner is attempting to ask a question concerning Catholic priests converting from Catholicism to some form of Protestantism. To set the record straight, this is a very case by case situation, but most Catholic priests that convert do so to Anglicanism, Episcopalianism or more rarely, Luthern or Methodist. Few convert to any other Protestant religion.

Most of the ancient differences between Catholic Christians and Protestant Christians (which encompasses all other Christians, as they were protesting Catholic Christianity's rules during the Middle Ages) are no longer true. For instance, in the Middle Ages, Christians could give money to the Church as a sign of repentance and symbolic sacrifice in order to gain an "indulgence", which was an acknowledgement that the person repented, and therefore were eligible for redemption through the blood of Christ. Much of the venomous anti-Catholic literature is based upon Mideval Protestant writing that simply can not be applied today to either Catholic Christians or Protestant Christians. One of the prime reasons for protesting the ways of the Catholic Church was that the Church used a Latin Bible translated directly from the original Greek and Aramaic sources. The Protestant movement demanded Bibles in the native language of the country so that Christians could read for themselves what the Bible said, without having to study Latin. The King James version of the Bible was a direct translation from the Catholic Latin Bible. Martin Luther produced a translation in German, which became the basis of Lutheranism. Catholics today have Bibles in whatever language they choose.

Having gotten all of that out of the way, when a Catholic priest decides to convert to a different denomination, it almost always has to do with Church doctrine, and seldom to do with basic beliefs. That is, the basic beliefs of Jesus being the Savior remain the same in all Christian denominations. There are a few minor differences in concepts concerning the sacriments, such as whether a person can be baptized as a child, or whether both bread and wine should be presented during worship, and whether Jesus meant that the sacriments litterally became his flesh and blood, or if it was only symbolic. Most differences in denominations are in non-essential interpretations of rules and regulations, such as whether a priest should marry, or whether divorce is acceptable. Catholics do not accept either, while Baptists accept both.

This leads to the most probable cause of a Catholic priest converting to become some type of Protestant minister or pastor. The most common reason is that Catholic Christian priests are not allowed to marry, or to have any form of sex, while Protestant Christian ministers are. Likewise, Catholic Christian priests are not allowed to be gay, while many non-Catholic Christian ministers are, including some Baptist, Episcopal, and non-denominational. Finally, Catholic Christians are not supposed to have abortions, while many Protestant Christians accept it. Even when a Christian Catholic priest does not wish to marry, they may wish to support those that come to worship that are gay, that wish to divorce, or have had an abortion. This might lead some to choose another denomination.

If the questioner actually meant "Why would a person (not a priest) convert from being Catholic to become a non-Catholic pastor?", the answer may be even simpler. First, if they are married, although they could become a deacon, they could not become a priest. Second, although most ministers do study, absolutely no formal study is required to become a pastor. All they have to do is declare themselves one, and start a church. This is not true for Catholicism. In order to be a Catholic priest, a person must attend seminary and study the Bible, history, theology, psychology, and a few other subjects. Please note that to be accepted by some denominations, a person must at least attend a six month Bible School. Some denominations are stricter than others, and may even require a doctorate degree, but a simple declaration is all that was required by our frontiersmen and early protestants, and is still all that is required for non-denominational and charismatic ministers.