Ethnically Catholic...

Pherekydes

stmol32 wrote: »

So I'm still none the wiser why people put catholic down on the Census form? It's completely non binding, it's relatively anonymous and, other that for statistical purpose it doesn't mean anything so why in Odin's name do 90% of Irish people still say they are Catholic?????

They don't. The figure is 84.2%. Down from 86.8% in the 2006 census.

VinLieger

The problem with these cultural catholics is they are giving the church a mandate to beat their chest over issues like abortion or gay marriage. Whenever something like that comes up the church jumps up and down raising the 80% census figures saying all these people are behind us.

Cultural catholics need to take their heads out of the sand and make an actual decision on what they believe and if thats everything the church says and does? grand your a catholic BUT if you have major problems with main tenets of the church like gay marriage, abortion, women priests etc you need to say so by not blindly picking catholic everytime the census comes around. Atheism and Agnosticism(which wasnt even listed on the census) need to stop being dirty words in this country

TheNap

I think the majority of people in this country are Agnostic . Firstly because it makes the most sense , and secondly because they dont have to constantly argue like children like Athiests and Religious people do .

McTigs

VinLieger wrote: »

The problem with these cultural catholics is they are giving the church a mandate to beat their chest over issues like abortion or gay marriage. Whenever something like that comes up the church jumps up and down raising the 80% census figures saying all these people are behind us.

Cultural catholics need to take their heads out of the sand and make an actual decision on what they believe and if thats everything the church says and does? grand your a catholic BUT if you have major problems with main tenets of the church like gay marriage, abortion, women priests etc you need to say so by not blindly picking catholic everytime the census comes around. Atheism and Agnosticism(which wasnt even listed on the census) need to stop being dirty words in this country

I fully agree with this.

The catholic church is constantly rejoicing in support it doesn't really enjoy in reality.

People who tick the Roman Catholic box need to ask themselves a few questions.

Do you believe in transubstantiation?
Do you ever go to confession?
Do you believe homosexuality is a sin?
Do you pay attention to the prayers or are you just rhyming off words in a sequence with no more meaning than a song on the radio?
Are you opposed contraception and sex before marraige?
and most importantly,
Do you really, i mean really, believe in God?

If the answer to these questions is "No" then you are not really a catholic and are just going through the motions, going to mass, baptising your kids etc cos you can't be bothered to actually think for yourself or rock the boat with your family or whatever and frankly need to grow up.

on a side note, knowing what we know about the catholic church, not just in ireland but worldwide regarding abuse, enabling of abuse, baby trafficing, hypocracy regarding wealth, greed and prioritising the protection their structures. institutions and hierarchies over the welfare of the flock they are supposed to care about, i cannot understand for the life of me why anyone wants anything to do with it, be it on a census form or otherwise.

tolosenc

I'd say a fair number of people tick Catholic because not doing so would make them a "Brit" or somehow less Irish and thus challenge their identity.

I'm the only person I know (well, except siblings) who was never baptised*, but I'm about as unlikely as any of my friends to go to church.

*I know my mother got a fierce amount of "ah, would you not do it, for your mother?" when people found out. Quite indicative of religion is this country. I'm in my mid 20s, and by the time I'm in my 70s, I'd hope that the "Catholic for the sake of it" majority will have died out.

padd b1975

Henlars67 wrote: »

Their is a box which says catholic and people just ticked it.

There are numerous other religious listed on the question and a box for 'Other' and'No Religion'

Had there been a box for 'Lapsed Catholic' the chances are a high % would have ticked it, but there wasn't so they just ticked 'catholic' rather than tick 'other' and fill in 'Lapsed Catholic in the space provided

You asked everyone this? or did you just pull this theory out of your backside??

VinLieger

padd b1975 wrote: »

You asked everyone this? or did you just pull this theory out of your backside??

No but anyone with half a brain can figure it out, if the census is reporting 80% of the country is catholic and the church is reporting only an average of 40% full churches across the country then theres a discrepancy somewhere

padd b1975

VinLieger wrote: »

No but anyone with half a brain can figure it out, if the census is reporting 80% of the country is catholic and the church is reporting only an average of 40% full churches across the country then theres a discrepancy somewhere

I would go with the word of the census.

Seachmall

padd b1975 wrote: »

You asked everyone this? or did you just pull this theory out of your backside??

70% of self-identifying Catholics hold Protestant beliefs in one of the most fundamental aspects of Catholicism.


We're a country of Catholics filled with Protestants.

ejmaztec

padd b1975 wrote: »

I would go with the word of the census.

I don't know much about this but aren't Catholics only compelled to go to church once or twice a year, and it's up to them whether they want to attend for the rest of the year?

VinLieger

padd b1975 wrote: »

I would go with the word of the census.

Why? The church itself has confirmed mass attendance has taken a staggering hit. Surely to be a practicing catholic some amount of mass attendance is neccessary?

padd b1975

VinLieger wrote: »

Why? The church itself has confirmed mass attendance has taken a staggering hit. Surely to be a practicing catholic some amount of mass attendance is neccessary?

There is a moral obligation, but you don't stop being a Catholic if you don't go to mass.

VinLieger

padd b1975 wrote: »

There is a moral obligation, but you don't stop being a Catholic if you don't go to mass.

But surely it is indicative of a large disconnection with the church?

rubadub

VinLieger wrote: »

if the census is reporting 80% of the country is catholic and the church is reporting only an average of 40% full churches across the country then theres a discrepancy somewhere

http://www.census.ie/The-Census-Form/Each-question-in-detail.109.1.aspx

Question 12 – What is your religion?

Religion is an important demographic variable and will be analysed closely along with other demographic variables in the context of diversity including nationality, ethnicity, and foreign languages. The religions listed have been chosen to cover the most frequent responses given in the 2006 census. This question does not refer to frequency of attendance at church. People should respond to this question according to how they feel now about their religious beliefs or lack thereof.

McTigs wrote: »

People who tick the Roman Catholic box need to ask themselves a few questions.

Do you believe in transubstantiation?
Do you ever go to confession?
Do you believe homosexuality is a sin?
Do you pay attention to the prayers or are you just rhyming off words in a sequence with no more meaning than a song on the radio?
Are you opposed contraception and sex before marraige?
and most importantly,
Do you really, i mean really, believe in God?

If the answer to these questions is "No" then you are not really a catholic and are just going through the motions, going to mass, baptising your kids etc cos you can't be bothered to actually think for yourself or rock the boat with your family or whatever and frankly need to grow up.

I said earlier I know of a young priest and I doubt he would answer yes to all those. What else would you include? e.g. belief that Noah managed to getting millions of species onto the ark? Do you follow commandments?

I would imagine the majority would not tick yes to all the questions you could come up with. Saying they "need to grow up", infers it is childish behaviour, if the majority of adults are doing it then by definition it is pretty normal adult behaviour.

People call themselves vegans yet might knowingly kill lifeforms, or use goods which involved usage of animal products, or know some things they eat may have insects in them.

McTigs

McTigs wrote: »

People who tick the Roman Catholic box need to ask themselves a few questions.

Do you believe in transubstantiation?
Do you ever go to confession?
Do you believe homosexuality is a sin?
Do you pay attention to the prayers or are you just rhyming off words in a sequence with no more meaning than a song on the radio?
Are you opposed contraception and sex before marraige?
and most importantly,
Do you really, i mean really, believe in God?

If the answer to these questions is "No" then you are not really a catholic and are just going through the motions, going to mass, baptising your kids etc cos you can't be bothered to actually think for yourself or rock the boat with your family or whatever and frankly need to grow up.

Absolute bull, you can be a catholic without doing every single thing exactly right, as said earlier there is no such thing as a perfect catholic, from some joe soap in Ireland to the pope himself.

Shenshen

VinLieger wrote: »

No but anyone with half a brain can figure it out, if the census is reporting 80% of the country is catholic and the church is reporting only an average of 40% full churches across the country then theres a discrepancy somewhere

Especially if you take into consideration that only 47% of the Irish population consider themselves even religious : Pdf download of Gallup survey from 2012

padd b1975

VinLieger wrote: »

But surely it is indicative of a large disconnection with the church?

Oh yeah, there is a valid argument there, but I have no desire to second guess other peoples reasons for the manner in which they practice their religion.

VinLieger

Devon High Radiator wrote: »

Absolute bull, you can be a catholic without doing every single thing exactly right, as said earlier there is no such thing as a perfect catholic, from some joe soap in Ireland to the pope himself.

No your right but the problem is the church when lobbying ascribes to all those beliefs, are you comfortable with them using your census information as a statistic to lobby on behalf of something you oppose?

Shenshen

rubadub wrote: »

I said earlier I know of a young priest and I doubt he would answer yes to all those. What else would you include? e.g. belief that Noah managed to getting millions of species onto the ark? Do you follow commandments?

I would imagine the majority would not tick yes to all the questions you could come up with. Saying they "need to grow up", infers it is childish behaviour, if the majority of adults are doing it then by definition it is pretty normal adult behaviour.

People call themselves vegans yet might knowingly kill lifeforms, or use goods which involved usage of animal products, or know some things they eat may have insects in them.

I think it doesn't matter so much what they call themselves really. I can call myself Catholic, even when not sharing a single belief with any other Catholic on the planet.
I could call myself a ManUnited fan even though I've no interest in football whatsoever.

The question here isn't so much "what do people call themselves", but how do they behave and live their lives.
If the majority of people actually believed in the Catholic faith, moving in together and having sex before marriage would be a very rare thing indeed.
You wouldn't see them carting the booze out of off licenses tonight with wheelbarrows.
They would actually attend mass and confession and not simply show up in church to get married, and bitch about having to have the consultations with the priest beforehand.

In short, the majority in Ireland does not behave like Catholics would.
They still find comfort in calling themselves Catholic though, which to me is an indicator that to them, it's a cultural, traditional thing, in short and ethnic identifier.

Henlars67

Devon High Radiator wrote: »

Absolute bull, you can be a catholic without doing every single thing exactly right, as said earlier there is no such thing as a perfect catholic, from some joe soap in Ireland to the pope himself.

Sure, everyone makes mistakes, or as you lot call them 'sins'.

But the question the poster asked was about beliefs.

If you don't believe in various elements of catholic teaching, then you really aren't a catholic.

ejmaztec

Shenshen wrote: »

Especially if you take into consideration that only 47% of the Irish population consider themselves even religious : Pdf download of Gallup survey from 2012

Worldwide survey of 50,000 people spread across 57 countries?

Seems like a wasted effort.

Shenshen

padd b1975 wrote: »

Oh yeah, there is a valid argument there, but I have no desire to second guess other peoples reasons for the manner in which they practice their religion.

I think the issue here is mostly that they don't.

As I said, I can call myself a ManUnited fan even though I've no interest at all in football.
Imagine a country where half the population consisted of Manchester United fans, and half the population self-ifdentified as ManU fans as well, just because that's a label they liked.

The term would lose all meaning. It would no longer make any sense to use it at all.
Which is why people are starting to differenciate between Catholics who are religious and do follow the church's teachings (or even just try), and those Catholics who are not religious and have no interest in religion. Ethnical Catholics sounds a good term to me, it's inoffensive and describes the phenomenon rather well.

Seachmall

ejmaztec wrote: »

Worldwide survey of 50,000 people spread across 57 countries?

Seems like a wasted effort.

It's also worth noting that the Irish survey was performed online, which would lend itself to a younger sample of the population (which, in turn, lends itself to a less religious sample).

rubadub

Shenshen wrote: »

Ethnical Catholics sounds a good term to me, it's inoffensive and describes the phenomenon rather well.

"Practising catholic" is a term I have heard for decades. Just googled it to see if the opposite is non-practising, or if there are other terms.

Lapsed Catholic

A lapsed Catholic is a person baptised as a Catholic who is non-practising.[1][2] Such a person may still identify as a Catholic[1] and remains a Catholic in the eyes of the Church.[3] The term is not a formal, well-defined, definition; there is a range of degrees of separation from fully practising Catholic, to lapsed but in generally good standing, to excommunicated heretic. Lapsing is a failure to follow observances, and is unrelated to belief.

Colloquial names

Some lapsed Catholics attend Mass on special occasions like Christmas and Easter. Such lapsed Catholics are colloquially referred to by such terms as Cultural Catholics, Two-Timers, Chreasters,[8] C&E Catholics,[9] Poinsettia & Lily Catholics,[10] CEOs (Christmas and Easter Only), CAPE Catholics (Christmas, Ash [Wednesday], Palm [Sunday], Easter), PACE Catholics (Palm [Sunday], Ash [Wednesday], Christmas, Easter), CASE Catholics (Christmas and Sometimes Easter), CMEs (Christmas, Mother's Day and Easter), Christmas Bunnies, or A&P Catholics[11] (for Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday).

McTigs

Devon High Radiator wrote: »

Absolute bull, you can be a catholic without doing every single thing exactly right, as said earlier there is no such thing as a perfect catholic, from some joe soap in Ireland to the pope himself.

I'm not talking about being perfect to the letter, i'm talking about pretty fundamental catholic beliefs and practices.

Like transubstantiation, i can say with a pretty good degree of confidence that a large percentage of box ticking "catholics" in this country, i'm talking 70% plus do not believe in it.

Shenshen

rubadub wrote: »

"Practising catholic" is a term I have heard for decades. Just googled it to see if the opposite is non-practising, or if there are other terms.

Lapsed Catholic

Interesting.
I would still feel that the term "ethnic" would better describe many lapsed Irish Catholics.
There seems to be strong historic emotional bond, many still seem to regard being Catholic as practically synonym with being Catholic.

omega666

The census was a massive blow for the atheists of After Hours, it was hilarious.
All the prophecies of doom turned to be complete rubbish, the catholic church is finished in Ireland, no one goes to mass anymore, the census will reveal the huge drop in support for the catholic church etc..
And then it turns out the number of Catholics in Ireland actually increased by 173,000 people

There was an option on the census there for the people if they didn’t feel they were catholic enough or they if felt strongly enough that they didn’t want to be associated being a catholic anymore.

The fact that people didn’t use this option just shows that people of Ireland either don’t care or are content with being identified as Catholic.
84% out of 100 is a huge figure.

VinLieger

omega666 wrote: »

The census was a massive blow for the atheists of After Hours, it was hilarious.
All the prophecies of doom turned to be complete rubbish, the catholic church is finished in Ireland, no one goes to mass anymore, the census will reveal the huge drop in support for the catholic church etc..
And then it turns out the number of Catholics in Ireland actually increased by 173,000 people

Actually that number has continually been dropping

omega666 wrote: »

There was an option on the census there for the people if they didn’t feel they were catholic enough or they if felt strongly enough that they didn’t want to be associated being a catholic anymore.

The fact that people didn’t use this option just shows that people of Ireland either don’t care or are content with being identified as Catholic.
84% out of 100 is a huge figure.

And this is the problem we are arguing, they should care as many of these lapsed catholics may not agree with the churches position on gay marriage or abortion yet they are perfectly happy to let the church use their census answer as a statistic to lobby with.

Also the census question was HEAVILY weighted in a pro-religion way by not having atheism or agnosticism boxes to tick

rubadub

McTigs wrote: »

I'm not talking about being perfect to the letter, i'm talking about pretty fundamental catholic beliefs and practices.

Like transubstantiation,

I expect many are ignorant of what they are supposed to believe in to pass your test, or others peoples criteria. I didn't know what that word meant, and can't ever remember the term in school.

Just like people calling themselves vegans might be ignorant of things, like up to 200 insects are allowed to be killed in the hops alone that go into a single pint of beer (which would be classed as vegan beer). Some Jews & other religions avoid eating broccoli as it is likely to kill insects. Some are fully aware of their failings in fundamental beliefs and still label themselves as being in a group.

cuilteanna

McTigs wrote: »

Like transubstantiation, i can say with a pretty good degree of confidence that a large percentage of box ticking "catholics" in this country, i'm talking 70% plus do not believe in it.

I was in my 40's before I even learned that I was supposed to believe in such a thing. Religion class was a good time to do other homework (when I bothered turning up at all).

My OH insists he's a Catholic, he doesn't bother with any religious stuff so you'd never know it, but he can call himself whatever he likes. There was a huge row though when I insisted on "no religion" for myself! How he can even think that I am a "Roman Catholic" is completely beyond me - my beliefs are pretty well opposite Catholic dogma and well he knows it. I guess I need a piece of paper and the Hotel California doesn't hand those out any more...

ejmaztec

omega666 wrote: »

The census was a massive blow for the atheists of After Hours, it was hilarious.
All the prophecies of doom turned to be complete rubbish, the catholic church is finished in Ireland, no one goes to mass anymore, the census will reveal the huge drop in support for the catholic church etc..
And then it turns out the number of Catholics in Ireland actually increased by 173,000 people

There was an option on the census there for the people if they didn’t feel they were catholic enough or they if felt strongly enough that they didn’t want to be associated being a catholic anymore.

The fact that people didn’t use this option just shows that people of Ireland either don’t care or are content with being identified as Catholic.
84% out of 100 is a huge figure.

Some of the atheists here seem to assume that if a person doesn't believe in Catholicism 100%, they've got to be atheists, and not just breakaway protestants.

I think that it all boils down to an abject hatred of Catholicism but Protestantism is okay.

starlings

Shenshen wrote: »

Interesting.
I would still feel that the term "ethnic" would better describe many lapsed Irish Catholics.
There seems to be strong historic emotional bond, many still seem to regard being Catholic as practically synonym with being Catholic.

What you're describing is cultural rather than ethnic, I think. 'Ethnic', from the Greek 'ethnos' for 'people' can mean shared culture and heritage but usually within a tribe, race or nation. Apart from religion, or that shared emotional bond, what do Irish Catholics have in common with Peruvian RC's, Polish, Filipino etc.?

As the Jewish religion is inherited through the mother it would count more as an ethnicity than Catholicism because, let's face it, RC's will recruit anyone :-P

Seachmall

omega666 wrote: »

There was an option on the census there for the people if they didn’t feel they were catholic enough or they if felt strongly enough that they didn’t want to be associated being a catholic anymore.

No there wasn't...

VinLieger

ejmaztec wrote: »

Some of the atheists here seem to assume that if a person doesn't believe in Catholicism 100%, they've got to be atheists, and not just breakaway protestants.

I think that it all boils down to an abject hatred of Catholicism but Protestantism is okay.

Nope i just have a problem with the church being able to shout and scream about issues and claim all 80% who put down catholicism on the census agree with everything they say

Grayson

cuilteanna wrote: »

I was in my 40's before I even learned that I was supposed to believe in such a thing. Religion class was a good time to do other homework (when I bothered turning up at all).

My OH insists he's a Catholic, he doesn't bother with any religious stuff so you'd never know it, but he can call himself whatever he likes. There was a huge row though when I insisted on "no religion" for myself! How he can even think that I am a "Roman Catholic" is completely beyond me - my beliefs are pretty well opposite Catholic dogma and well he knows it. I guess I need a piece of paper and the Hotel California doesn't hand those out any more...

I explained transubstantiation to friends who didn't know it either. The same worth why Jesus had to be human and had to die. They thought it was crazy.

I don't think you have to sign up to all the dogma and doctrine to be catholic. It's a bit of a mad religion, you could study it for decades and still have more left to study.
I do think that Catholics should subscribe to the majority of the moral views of Catholicism. Things like abortion, gay marriage, sex before marriage, etc..They're can disagree with a small amount, but should still obey the rules.

VinLieger

Seachmall wrote: »

No there wasn't...

There actually was but it required you to write it in yourself, so as i said earlier alot more weighted in favour of picking one of the religions listed if you werent too sure

McTigs

cuilteanna wrote: »

I was in my 40's before I even learned that I was supposed to believe in such a thing. Religion class was a good time to do other homework (when I bothered turning up at all).

My OH insists he's a Catholic, he doesn't bother with any religious stuff so you'd never know it, but he can call himself whatever he likes. There was a huge row though when I insisted on "no religion" for myself! How he can even think that I am a "Roman Catholic" is completely beyond me - my beliefs are pretty well opposite Catholic dogma and well he knows it. I guess I need a piece of paper and the Hotel California doesn't hand those out any more...

This is what i mean and the question being pondered in the OP. Are most census box ticking "catholics" actually catholic or is it a more cultural or ethnic thing, the cosiness of belonging to a group or community.

The catholic church uses the volume of it's numbers to push it's agendas but a good deal of it's numbers either don't believe in that agenda or are not even catholic. In this country people seem to be pretty passive about that which i think is sad but personnally i don't like my self being used in that manner.

gcgirl

omega666 wrote: »

The census was a massive blow for the atheists of After Hours, it was hilarious.
All the prophecies of doom turned to be complete rubbish, the catholic church is finished in Ireland, no one goes to mass anymore, the census will reveal the huge drop in support for the catholic church etc..
And then it turns out the number of Catholics in Ireland actually increased by 173,000 people

There was an option on the census there for the people if they didn’t feel they were catholic enough or they if felt strongly enough that they didn’t want to be associated being a catholic anymore.

The fact that people didn’t use this option just shows that people of Ireland either don’t care or are content with being identified as Catholic.
84% out of 100 is a huge figure.

Now how many have sex outside marriage
banged someone who was married
used artifical contraception
had children outside marriage
believes in divorce
doesn't go to mass
believes Gay people should be equal (marriage equality)
doesn't actually believe in a god anyway!

They are not catholics

Teyla Emmagan

Henlars67 wrote: »

If you don't believe in various elements of catholic teaching, then you really aren't a catholic.

That's not for you to decide. Religion is subjective, if I believe I'm a Catholic, then I'm a Catholic, regardless of what you happen to think about the matter. And regardless of what questions I may have about my faith.

starlings

gcgirl wrote: »

Now how many have sex outside marriage
banged someone who was married
used artifical contraception
had children outside marriage
believes in divorce
doesn't go to mass
believes Gay people should be equal (marriage equality)
doesn't actually believe in a god anyway!

They are not catholics

confession = get out of jail card. Doesn't matter if you never play it, it's there till your deathbed, when you'll be too weak to argue.

gcgirl

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

That's not for you to decide. Religion is subjective, if I believe I'm a Catholic, then I'm a Catholic, regardless of what you happen to think about the matter. And regardless of what questions I may have about my faith.

Rules are Rules

Teyla Emmagan

gcgirl wrote: »

Rules are Rules

Bullsh(t. God'll still have me even if I'm struggling with my faith. And cursing.

Seachmall

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

That's not for you to decide. Religion is subjective, if I believe I'm a Catholic, then I'm a Catholic, regardless of what you happen to think about the matter. And regardless of what questions I may have about my faith.

No necessarily so.

There are clear distinctions between different religions in terms of belief. If you don't adhere to those beliefs it is futile to argue you are still a member of that Church.

If I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, believe he is the Son of God and our Saviour then I am Christian. You would be well within reason to dismiss my claims of being Muslim.

The distinction between Catholicism and Protestantism may be more subtle but it still exists.

The only requirement for being Christian is belief in Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Saviour, being Catholic has other requirements.

Don't confuse the two.

twinQuins

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

That's not for you to decide. Religion is subjective, if I believe I'm a Catholic, then I'm a Catholic, regardless of what you happen to think about the matter. And regardless of what questions I may have about my faith.

I believe I am a rock. I am now a rock, according to you.

krudler

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

That's not for you to decide. Religion is subjective, if I believe I'm a Catholic, then I'm a Catholic, regardless of what you happen to think about the matter. And regardless of what questions I may have about my faith.

Catholicism does have rules to follow, why do so many Catholics know nothing about their own religion?

Teyla Emmagan

twinQuins wrote: »

I believe I am a rock. I am now a rock, according to you.

Good for you, and let me say you type very well for a rock.

Pherekydes

omega666 wrote: »

The census was a massive blow for the atheists of After Hours, it was hilarious.
All the prophecies of doom turned to be complete rubbish, the catholic church is finished in Ireland, no one goes to mass anymore, the census will reveal the huge drop in support for the catholic church etc..
And then it turns out the number of Catholics in Ireland actually increased by 173,000 people

There was an option on the census there for the people if they didn’t feel they were catholic enough or they if felt strongly enough that they didn’t want to be associated being a catholic anymore.

The fact that people didn’t use this option just shows that people of Ireland either don’t care or are content with being identified as Catholic.
84% out of 100 is a huge figure.

The percentage figure declined from 86.8% in the 2006 census. And while the number increased by 173000, how many children were born and baptised in the same period?

Amusingly, some people ticked "Other religion" and put atheist in the box, while a much greater number ticked "No religion", up something like 44% from 2006. Another confounding factor was the 70-odd thousand who refused to answer the question at all.

Teyla Emmagan

krudler wrote: »

Catholicism does have rules to follow, why do so many Catholics know nothing about their own religion?

It may have rules, but it's pretty difficult to get kicked out for not following them.

krudler

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

It may have rules, but it's pretty difficult to get kicked out for not following them.

More's the pity, fcukers won't let me leave.

Grayson

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

It may have rules, but it's pretty difficult to get kicked out for not following them.

If it's just about being a member, you can actually declare yourself an athiest and reject all the catholic teachings and the feckers still won't kick you out.
But I think what the OP was at is that people like that are still on the roll call, but they're not really catholic. They're not practising any of the beliefs that a catholic should and they really shouldn't be considered a catholic.

Think of it like being a mormon. There's a chance you're one. They believe that anyone can be baptised. You don't even have to be there, or be alive. They managed to get a list of all the jews killed in the holocaust and baptised them all. They did it to anne frank and adolf hitler.

Catholic churches have been instructed to keep mormons out to prevent them from nicking birth registries. If they managed to get a phone book with your name, you might have even been baptised. Does that make you a mormon? You never practice any of their faith. But your name is still down as a member.