From my German/Irish grandparents to my parents to me and my siblings, we were Catholic through and through. Grandma couldn’t drive, but if she went out of town without Grandpa, she always found a ride to church, even if she had to call a stranger to ask. Grandpa was proud of the fact that he hadn’t missed a Sunday mass for decades. I was baptized in the Church, attended CCD classes, celebrated my first communion with my extended family, and so on. Catholicism was part of my identity. Or so I believed.
But as an adult, I couldn’t reconcile dropping money into the collection plate every Sunday with many of the outdated and uninformed beliefs, actions, and inactions of the Church. I don’t have to go through them. The list is long, and you’re well aware. But my decision to leave was reinforced by yesterday’s Supreme Court decision allowing Catholic Services to discriminate against LGBTQ families who want to foster children and today’s Washington Post article about the Church’s consideration of a new policy intended to make President Biden ineligible to receive communion because of his pro-choice position.
As a former Catholic, my choice wasn’t church or no church. The Episcopal Church, for me, was Catholic-plus. (The Catholic-lite label is a misnomer.) Episcopalians still perform the Sacraments, which I love. But they don’t cling to tradition like a drowning man clinging to a log. Reason is one of the three sources of authority that serve as the foundation of this Church’s belief system (scripture and tradition are the other two), and as a result, it’s a good fit for the modern, formerly-Catholic family who still wants a place to worship on Sundays.
UPDATE: I’ve received some good comments below that have led me to believe that the last paragraph of this post might undermine the message contained in the first two. I hear you. (I think.) I’ll leave the last paragraph in place, while making the bigger point that former Catholics who want to continue to be part of a church community have lots of options.
UPDATE from the New York Times: “The Roman Catholic bishops of the United States, flouting a warning from the Vatican, have overwhelmingly voted to draft a statement on the sacrament of the Eucharist, advancing a political push by conservative bishops to deny President Biden communion because of his support of abortion rights.”
