List of Former Roman Catholics

List Of Former Roman Catholics

This page lists individuals in history who were at least nominally raised in the Roman Catholic faith and later rejected it or converted to other faiths. One study estimates that 10.1% of people in the United States describe themselves as former Catholics in some sense. Although a small majority converted to another religion a substantial minority of them are counted as currently unaffiliated. According to Catholic canon law, only a formal act of defection (or an excommunication) renders a person an "ex-Catholic". Some individuals on this list, and in that study, are therefore still Catholics in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Most, however, of those who appear below (and are currently registered and in the records of their respective new churches or religious organizations ), are considered former Catholics or "ex-Catholics".

Note: The title is a shorthand, the list actually refers to those who leave the Roman Catholic Church or any Eastern Catholic Church in communion with it. Individuals like Eddie Doherty who were allowed to transfer from the Latin Catholic Church to an Eastern Catholic Church are therefore not counted as "ex-Roman Catholics" for the purpose of this list, while Eastern Catholics who convert to a religion not in communion with Rome do.

Read more about List Of Former Roman Catholics:  Atheism, Agnosticism, or Non-religious

Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, roman and/or catholics:

    My list of things I never pictured myself saying when I pictured myself as a parent has grown over the years.
    Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)

    Weigh what loss your honor may sustain
    If with too credent ear you list his songs,
    Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
    To his unmastered importunity.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
    The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
    Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)

    Communism, my friend, is more than Marxism, just as Catholicism ... is more than the Roman Curia. There is a mystique as well as a politique.... Catholics and Communists have committed great crimes, but at least they have not stood aside, like an established society, and been indifferent. I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate.
    Graham Greene (1904–1991)