"Lapsed Catholic" and "ex-Catholic"
According to Catholic belief, baptism "seals 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."
A "lapsed Catholic" who has stopped practising the faith (going to Mass or confession or carry out other practices of Catholicism) is not necessarily an "ex-Catholic", a term that would apply instead to someone who no longer identifies as Catholic or has adopted a new religion or no religion.
Catholics who have merely ceased to practice the Catholic religion need only return to its practice, without having to go through any special rite of "readmission" to the Church. Some may freely choose go through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) for a refresher education in the faith.
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Famous quotes containing the word catholic:
“It is time that the Protestant Church, the Church of the Son, should be one again with the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of the Father. It is time that man shall cease, first to live in the flesh, with joy, and then, unsatisfied, to renounce and to mortify the flesh.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)