What do you do if you are a Catholic and no longer want to be a Catholic?

Answer 1

How you leave the Catholic Church depends on where you live. In some places you must register with the government so you cease paying a church fee. In the United States, you simply stop going. Unlike Protestant Churches, The Catholic Church does not keep a membership roll. If the priest comes by to ask what happened to you, you simply tell him that you left the church. (You leave a Jewish Synagogue by not paying your annual fee.)

Answer 2

To stop being on the official register of Catholics, you must write a formal letter to the Bishop of the area where you were baptised explaining things like the following;

You should be able to cite memberships in freethought and humanist groups. You should be able to cite actions you have taken, such as, letters written, demonstrations attended, meetings attended, magazine subscriptions, etc. As well as negative actions, like not attending church, not giving them any money, time or thought for years. You must be PERSISTENT. This must take place over a long period of time. If at first you don't succeed...Cite long commitment, and keep trying and keep writing. You must be CONTUMACIOUS. As in: I am firm, you are contumacious, he is pig-headed. Do not waver or indicate any hesitation. It is not necessary to be impolite, but do not be unclear in your condemnation of Catholicism in order to avoid offence. You must be AWARE that this involves excommunication. For them, ignorance of canon law is an excuse. State in your letter that you are aware of this, that you know what the consequences are and that this is what you wish to happen. You have to BE A ROMAN CATHOLIC. Obviously. In your letter, make them aware of this by telling them the parish where you were baptised and the date. Many people, hoping for some kind of heresy cachet, have inquired about getting excommunciated, even though they are not currently memebers of a church. No, you can't.

Another Answer:

One cannot stop being Catholic. When one is baptized one is made a member of the Church. One can take themselves out of the Catholic Church, but one cannot take the Catholic out of them. It is analogous to being part of a family. The family you are born into will forever be your family. You cannot take yourself out of that family. You can stop talking with members of that family, you can not be on speaking terms with your parents---but that does not make you no longer part of that family. It is the same with the Catholic Church.

However one may if they wish stop practicing the Catholic Faith, and may if they wish remove themselves from their official parish registry. All that is necessary to have one removed from their official parish registry is to send a letter to the pastor and state that you would like yourself taken off the registry. I am unaware of some "Official Catholic Directory" cited by the author. Given privacy laws I do not see how such a list could exist. For the purposes of Canon Law however the parish registry is useful only inso far as it helps the pastor keep track of his parishoners---that is to say who is comming to his Church. Canonically if the parish is a Territorial all Catholics (practicing or not, registered or not, attending non-catholic church or not) who live in the territory of the parish are considered members of the parish and therefore can approach the parish with their spiritual needs such as Weddings, funerals, prayers, etc. If the parish is set up as a "Personal Parish" such as for a specific ethnicity then the people of that ethnicity who are Baptized Catholic would be entrusted to that parish for their spiritual needs and or to the parish in their territory.

Taking these actions however does not make one "not Catholic" it simply makes one a "Non-practicing Catholic" or a "Fallen Away Catholic." Catholics in this state should not approach Holy Communion when if they have occasion to attend Mass unless they have gone to Confession and reconciled with the Catholic Church. Though the act of attending another Church while it does not make one "not-Catholic" it does cause one to break communion with the Faith of the Catholic Church. Though the previous author does not state the reason, I can only guess this is what the person had in mind when the issue of "excommunication" was raised.) However a Fallen Away Catholic who attends another Church would not receive a "Formal Excommunication" as those are only reserved for very serious things, usually involving some kind of public act and scandal.

As for writing some kind of forceful letter to the bishop in order to fulfil what the author thinks are Canonical Requirements--to the best of my knowledge that does not impact anything Canonically. I admit I am no Canon Lawyer however. Those who no longer wish to be Catholic are certainly welcome to write a letter to the bishop of their Diocese and the Diocese where they were baptized, but I don't think this has any Canonical impact. Of course I am open to correction on this point.

Answer 3

You write a letter to your parish priest or to the parish priest where you were last registered and say that you wish to no longer be Catholic. Until you do this, the Cathilic church will consider you to be a Catholic. If you want to "just leave" and you don't care that the church still considers you to be a Catholic, then you could just do that.

The church will respond, asking you to confirm your request and inviting you to a meeting to discuss your decision. Even if you do not wish to attend that meeting (which is probably intended to pressure you into changing your mind) you must reply to the letter. The Church will then remove your name as a registered Catholic and no longer regard you as baptised in the Catholic Church.

Think of it this way: you're like a citizen of the Catholic church until you tell them you "resign" or withdraw.

Roman Catholic AnswerOnce you are baptized as a Catholic, you are ontologically a child of God, and there is nothing any human being can do about that. If you want to be released from the laws of the Catholic Church, then read the statement from the Vatican which details how to go about that. I would, however, make an appointment with your priest and discuss this in detail with him first as this is a really huge decision with eternal consequences.

Answer 4

There is no way to stop being Catholic. When our Blessed Lord founded the Catholic Church, He made baptism the official entry into it. Baptism permanently and indelibly changes the soul making one a Christian for all eternity and there is no way to efface that.

One could stop going to Mass and confession, but then one just becomes a non-practicing Catholic. If one joins another Church, synagogue, or mosque or such, one becomes an apostate Catholic, but remains a Catholic.

Answer 5

You will have to give a letter stating that you want to unregister yourself from the catholic church.