| rdfs:comment | - In Roman Catholicism, a lapsed Catholic is a Catholic who has ceased practicing the Catholic faith. Such a person is said to have lapsed from the faith. According to the Catholic belief, one who is baptised as a Catholic remains a Catholic forever. (This is similar, although not identical, to nonobservance in Judaism in which the nonobservant Jew is still a Jew.) Baptism is said to "[seal] the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark of belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation." If a Catholic leaves the faith but returns later, they are not required to "reconvert," but may go through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) for a refresher education in the faith.
|
| abstract | - In Roman Catholicism, a lapsed Catholic is a Catholic who has ceased practicing the Catholic faith. Such a person is said to have lapsed from the faith. According to the Catholic belief, one who is baptised as a Catholic remains a Catholic forever. (This is similar, although not identical, to nonobservance in Judaism in which the nonobservant Jew is still a Jew.) Baptism is said to "[seal] the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark of belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation." If a Catholic leaves the faith but returns later, they are not required to "reconvert," but may go through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) for a refresher education in the faith. Church terminology prefers "lapsed Catholic" over "ex-Catholic," especially in cases where the person has merely stopped practising the faith (such as going to Mass or confession) but has not actively adopted a new religion. Such people often still nominally identify their religion as Catholic. Even repudiating the entirety of Catholic faith does not make a Catholic un-baptised, but rather an apostate. Likewise, a Catholic who rejects an essential part of the Catholic religion is a heretic, and a Catholic who refuses to submit to the Roman Pontiff is a schismatic.
|
