Why do Catholics leave the church?

Ever since my daughter’s copy of “The Rolling Stone” magazine arrived with Pope Francis’ smiling face on the cover, Dr. Hook’s 1970s song, “Cover of the Rolling Stone”, has been playing in my head.  I keep wondering if Francis “bought five copies for his mother.” 

According to the song’s lyrics, making the cover of “The Rolling Stone” epitomizes success, beyond any amount of money or other material goods.  Therefore, in today’s world of spirtu-tainment approaches to faith, I wondered if church attendance was sky-rocketing with a Francis “bump.” 

As luck would have it, that same week the local parish bulletin published the diocese’s October, 2013 Mass count numbers.   In 2013 6 of the 10 diocesan counties experienced their all-time lowest Mass attendance since the history of Mass-counting began.  Overall diocesan Mass attendance was down year to year in 2013.  These reflect similar findings of a Pew Research study which indicated 2013 U.S. Mass attendance dropped.  Furthermore, between 2000 and 2013 my diocese’s overall geographic population grew 3% yet diocesan Mass participation dropped 28%.  At my parish we rattle around like B-Bs in a shoebox.

Evidently Francis alone cannot reverse the multi-year downward participation spiral.  Why not? 

Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) conducted a survey about Mass attendance.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell an accurate story because CARA limited respondents’ choices for reasons they miss Mass to the following:

Busy schedule or lack of time

Family responsibilities

Health problems or a disability

I don’t believe missing Mass is a sin

Conflict with work

Inconvenient Mass schedule

I’m not a very religious person

There are glaring omissions from that list.  CARA’s survey provided more insight as to their sincerity for understanding the issue than on the issue itself.

The Pew Forum conducted a more insightful study entitled, “Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.” which inquired why people changed religions and to what religion they migrated.  This 2009 study indicated that former Catholics number as one of the largest religious demographic groups with an almost even split between ex-Catholics becoming unaffiliated versus joining another denomination.   Here’s a summary of the most common reasons for leaving the Catholic Church.

 

Responses from a 2013 Vatican survey about marriage, family and sexuality are also trickling into the public domain.  Regardless of country, common themes repeatedly appear that strongly align with the Pew Forum study’s top reasons for leaving the church.  Therefore, it would seem many remaining Catholics are “at risk” for departure since their frustrations mirror those of already departed Catholics.  It would also seem urgent to address these issues.

It’s been 5 years since the insightful Pew Forum study.  How are the departure reasons being addressed?

To slow or reverse the exodus, church leaders embarked on a “New Evangelization” campaign.  This seems to consist of telling people with whom they disagree that they are wrong and/or damned but delivering the message with a perky smile, modern lingo and perhaps a “friendly” handshake or over an adult beverage.  I suspect that just more regularly and stridently, or even more “kindly” and colloquially deriding people will only lose not regain members.  The statistics seem to support my assertion.

“New Evangelization” tactics seem based on incorrect assumptions that lapsed Catholics don’t know church dogma or scripture and just need these screamed or sung at them in bars, Jesus pep rallies, and other spiritu-tainment venues until the person wakes up and says, “Hallelujah, I’m going back to church.”  However, study after study reveals Catholics do know dogma and just disagree with, if not outright reject facets of it.  Church doctrine espouses this practice as a way of fostering the organization’s continual maturation but many church leaders reject it.  Furthermore, many Catholics left the church because of familiarity with gospel teachings and belief that the hierarchy strayed too far from those teachings.  Floating amongst all this is a lot of “us vs them” mentality.

Strongly fueling the “us vs them” mindset is the hierarchy’s belief that it has cornered the markets on truth and correctly interpreting scripture.  Insistence on supreme “listening-to-God” qualities creates an impasse perhaps beyond resolution.  It is impossible to be just “us” - one integrated Body of Christ - as long as any individuals or factions believe they serve a superior versus a different function within the body.   The Spirit is violated and faith in the Holy Trinity is replaced by worship of the organization itself via making adherence to “tradition” more sacred than truth or love.

If church leaders sincerely want lapsed Catholics back, it’s time to quit before getting farther behind in the infallibility game.  It already has pinned the institutional church into what the hierarchy perceives is an inescapable and what others perceive is an intolerant extremist corner on homosexuality, birth control, treatment of women, divorce and remarriage as well as abortion – the top reasons people leave the church.  In the past 5 years there have been increased political lobbying expenditures and activities, excommunications, threats of excommunications and job terminations pertaining to all those topics.  I suspect if the Pew Forum survey were taken now, the top departure reasons would be even more pronounced.    

Continuing down the list of departure reasons, we hit the sex abuse tragedy.  The institutional church refuses to address the clergy abuse scandal in an effective way that holds bishops accountable and works towards institutional reconciliation.  Instead it continually tries to downplay the scandal’s impact and existence despite scandal after scandal unfolding and the recent publication of a scathing U.N. report.   

Right after sex abuse we hit clergy celibacy.  A simple stroke of Francis’ pen reinstates the practice of married clergy because no theological reason prevents it.  Why hasn’t this happened? 

We finally arrive at topics associated with clergy’s personal charm and Mass quality.  The cardinals did select a personally charming pope, charming enough to make the cover of The Rolling Stone.  Aside from that, there’s a reversion to the Council – not the Second Vatican Council but the 1500s Council of Trent.  Seminarians seem dipped in heavy impenetrable wax coatings of Tridentine philosophy which features weak biblical scholarship, fears the God-created world, promotes misinformation about human biology, sexuality and psychology and further fosters an “us vs them” relationship with the laity.  Significant investments were made to re-translate the Mass but this was done to adopt more Tridentine-esque language and aura despite about 90% of former Catholics saying the church’s departure from old traditions had absolutely nothing to do with their departure from the church.

Help me understand how re-entrenching on things that caused people’s departures while “fixing” things that didn’t is going to bring people back?  Is there an ounce of sincerity in lamentations about missing those who’ve left if even the simplest reforms are not made?

Please note that Francis’ laudable favorite topic of poverty is pretty far down the list of reasons people leave the church.  Perhaps laypeople and religious sisters living Catholic Social Doctrine already defined the Catholic experience enough on this topic that finally having a pope aligned with it just doesn’t move the attendance needle.

Piecing this together makes sense.  Addressing Catholics’ lesser concerns by electing a more personable, poverty-minded pope does not negate ill effects from neglecting people’s most impacting concerns. 

Where do we go from here?  How do we work as “us” when groups continue to foster “us vs them” mentalities?  Is the Body of Christ – the church - really dismembered or just in diaspora?

More on Latin translations...

I like to be helpful.  Knowing that the institutional church currently suffers from reduced donations, which in turn likely hinders expanding the hierarchy’s beloved Latin-to-English re-translation campaign, I decided to help.  Since I have studied Latin, I decided to re-translate a few important Latin hymns using literal translation techniques akin to those applied in re-translating the Mass.  

The hierarchy says the new literal Mass translation renders “more poetic” English text.  Thus, I’m confident hierarchy members will appreciate me re-translating some hymns, especially since people expect good poetry in song lyrics – perhaps even more so than they expect it in Mass prayers.  As you will see in the tables below, the literal translations of Tantum Ergo and Panis Angelicus impact their poetic quality comparably to how it impacted that of the Mass. 

I chose Panis Angelicus because it is so widely used.  Also, since taking my first Latin course, I’ve known the common English translation bears little resemblance to the ideas expressed in the original Latin.  With very little modification to the literally translated English text, the lyrics would not only fit the music, they would better align with the original Latin’s meaning. 

Perhaps if the hierarchy began by accurately re-translating this hymn it would have gained mind-share on the importance of accurate translations.  Of course the hierarchy also could have actually done an accurate re-translation of the Mass, but that notion seemed elusive as well…preferring a hack translation job instead.

I chose Tantum Ergo since it is more than just a hymn.  It is used during Holy Thursday Mass, the second most important liturgy of each year.  After the procession carrying the Blessed Sacrament from the altar to its place of repose, the congregation sings Tantum Ergo to begin Nocturnal Adoration.  

Many congregations sing the English translation of Tantum Ergo, “Down in Adoration Falling,” instead.  As they sing, they follow what sounds like instructions from the song; they fall down on their knees to begin adoration.  Even when the song is sung in Latin, many people not understanding Latin assume it says the same thing as the English text…to fall down on your knees in adoration.  Yet, the Latin actually speaks of only bowing one’s head in veneration. 

Because Tantum Ergo is part of a very important liturgy, it probably should have been re-translated with the rest of the Mass texts much like the Easter Vigil’s Exsultet was – which by the way – now gives a whole lot of credit to bees.  I’m sure the bees are extremely grateful and this probably ended decades of tension between the Catholic Church and the International Union for Drone, Worker and Queen Bees. 

I realize I digress but for your poetic enjoyment and context if you’re unfamiliar with the Exsultet’s text…and of course as appeasement to the bee community…I offer you excerpts from the Easter Vigil’s Exsultet showing the previous and new translations.

Exsultet Excerpts

Former Translation

New Translation

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night, receive our evening sacrifice of praise, your Church's solemn offering. Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

On this, your night of grace O Holy Father accept this candle, a solemn offering,  the work of bees and of your servants’ hands,  an evening sacrifice of praise,  this gift from your most holy Church.  But now we know the praises of this pillar,  which glowing fire ignites for God’s honor,  a fire into many flames divided,  yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,  for it is fed by melting wax,  drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.

Sorry about that detour; back to Tantum Ergo.  Aside from the previously mentioned poetic impact, I think there is great value in using the literal translation for this hymn.  For one thing it could simplify the manner of veneration as described above. 

Also, the Latin implies a different relationship between God, Jesus and the Spirit.  The Latin text suggests the Spirit’s gifts proceed from God and Jesus, which makes the Spirit sound subordinate to them.  In contrast, the commonly used English translation turns the hymn into a Triniterian theme by including the Spirit and having all gifts proceed from all three members of the Trinity.  This places them all on equal footing.   

To most of the faithful, this might seem an insignificant point but the relationship between members of the Trinity is in fact a major reason for divide between Roman and Orthodox Catholics.  If the Roman and Orthodox hierarchies would agree that these poetic differences are trivial, we could be much closer to healing a great divide in the church.

I think the most significant difference in the literal translation is this concept, “And the ancient rules yield a newer rite.”  This was inaccurately translated into “Over ancient forms of worship, newer rites will soon prevail.”  I actually think the current English translation is more poetic than the literal one, but I think the subtle change in meaning is significant. 

Maybe it’s just the way the words resonate with me.  But, to me, the commonly used translation sounds like we have arrived triumphantly at the new set of static traditions.  However, the literal translation implies to me a continual renewal process without hiding behind the hierarchy’s favorite slogan of, “Tradition” to resist change. 

By the way, In formal logic, reliance upon tradition as justification for something is called argumentum ad antiquitatem or “the argument to antiquity/tradition” and is considered flawed logic.  What would the church be like if the hierarchy would loosen grasp on the flawed logic of “tradition” and allow long-held traditions to yield to newer ways?

If I may digress a second time, if you’re interested in reading about other logic errors committed by the hierarchy, one of my earliest blog articles examined this.   This article was published in December, 2010 just two months after I began this blog.  Subscribers have grown exponentially since then so some newer subscribers might not be aware of that post’s existence.

Anyway, this idea of yielding to newer ways is called “innovation” by the hierarchy.  Whereas innovation in society is often welcomed, the hierarchy fears and condemns it within the church.  No wonder the inaccurate translation stands.  Imagine the hierarchy encouraging innovation by having the faithful sing about it every Holy Thursday!

I encourage people to study Latin.  Beyond its value as the foundation for all romance languages, it is handy to keep priests and bishops on their toes.  Of late, it’s been the source of fun-filled entertainment for me re-translating the Mass to see the numerous translation errors wrought by the official new English translation. 

You can also send your favorite hierarchs greetings of “beata natali” (happy birthday), “exsultans Pascha” (Happy Easter), “felix dies festus” (happy feast day), or even just a simple “beatus martis” (happy Tuesday).  This likely will swell their hearts with joy because of their love for Latin.  It might also send them scurrying to find a Latin-English dictionary because many love Latin for the mystique of uttering words in a language they do not understand.  Your use of Latin could encourage them to improve their language skills.  Either way, it’s a win.

On a serious note, what are you doing to yield newer ways from ancient traditions and to encourage this from your local hierarchy members?  Which new ways are worth having and which ancient rules are worth keeping?  How does a community discern this?

I will offer some guidance answering that last question.  When I was in Loyola’s theology program, the program facilitator kept emphasizing the importance of exercising the “primary option.”  Our primary option is to do the loving thing.  So perhaps the better question to ask is “How does a community determine what the most loving thing is?” 

TANTUM ERGO

Latin	Literal Translation	Current commonly used translation
Verse One Tantum ergo Sacramentum Veneremur cernui: Et antiquum documentum Novo cedat ritui: Praestet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui.	Verse One Only thus the Sacrament venerate with heads bowed: And the ancient rules yield a newer rite: Faith supplies reinforcement for defective senses	Verse One Down in adoration falling This great sacrament we hail Over ancient forms of worship Newer rites will soon prevail Faith will tell us Christ is present When our human senses fail
Verse Two Genitori, Genitoque Laus et jubilatio, Salus, honor, virtus quoque Sit et benedictio: Procedenti ab utroque Compar sit laudatio.	Verse Two To the begetter and begotten praise and jubilation, salvation, honor, virtue also and is blessing: to the one that proceeds from both comparable is one praise	Verse Two To the everlasting Father, And the Son who made us free And the Spirit, God proceeding From them each eternally Be salvation, honor, blessing Might and endless majesty

PANIS ANGELICUS 

Latin	Literal Translation	Current commonly used translation
Verse One Panis angelicus fit panis hominum; Dat panis coelicus figuris terminum: O res mirabilis! Manducat Dominum Pauper, servus et humilis.	Verse One Bread of angels Becomes the bread of humans; Gives bread of heaven The end figure: What wonder! Eat of the Lord The poor and humble servant.	Verse One Jesus our living bread Great gift from heaven sent Fulfill the signs of old And be our nourishment We humble people come To eat your sacred food In peace, joy, love and gratitude.
Verse Two Te trina Deitas unaque poscimus: Sic nos tu visita, sicut te colimus; Per tuas semitas duc nos quo tendimus, Ad lucem quam inhabitas.	Verse Two You threefold God We ask of together: So visit us As we serve you Through your paths Lead us where we strive To the light in which you dwell	Verse Two O blessed Trinity We praise and worship you; Strengthen our unity Our faith and trust renew Lord lead us all our day To heav’nly peace and light Grant us rest, there, before your sight