Download or read book Leaving Catholicism written by Gerald Haug and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leaving Catholicism: Why Protestant and Catholic Differences Matter. Many Christians say we need to bury our differences in the name of unity. Ephesians 4:3 tells us to "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (NIV). As a result, we find Roman Catholics and Protestants working together to fight abortion, human trafficking, and other social causes. But have the rifts caused by the Reformation truly been healed? Do the differences between Catholic and Protestants matter, and if so, how? Rev. Gerald Haug, a former Catholic, explains the nuances of Roman Catholic doctrine. Walking through official Catholic texts, Rev. Haug evaluates Catholic doctrine from the perspective of history, the church fathers, and biblical teaching. Written in an accessible and engaging style, this book will reveal: The role of tradition in the early church, the church fathers, and Catholic doctrine The origin of the Papacy and whether it is a unique office How and where the Bible was compiled The history and doctrine of Catholic Sacraments and the Mass The differences between Protestant and Catholic salvation How Catholics came to venerate Mary The origin of purgatory, penance, confession, and indulgences Leaving Catholicism provides a charitable but uncompromising view of the differences and similarities between Catholics and Protestants. By examining history and doctrine, Leaving Catholicism will equip the reader to clearly understand why these differences matter, and how Catholicism strayed from biblical and early church teaching. After reading this book you will never look at Catholicism the same way again!

Download or read book Why Catholics Leave What They Miss and How They Might Return written by Bullivant, Stephen and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The results of a project in the UK that invited Catholics who no longer regularly practice their faith to share their story. Why they left and what could be done to change this are two of the questions explored.

Download or read book Lapsed written by Monica Dux and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2021-04-01 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Losing your religion is harder than it looks ... From devout ten-year-old performing the part of Jesus in a primary school play to blaspheming, undergraduate atheist, Monica Dux and her attitude to the Catholic Church changed profoundly over a decade. Eventually, she calmed down and was just 'lapsed'. Then, on a family trip to Rome, her young daughter expressed a desire to be baptised. Monica found herself re-examining her own childhood and how Catholicism had shaped her. Was it really out of her system or was it in her blood for life? In Lapsed, Monica sets out to find the answer. Her investigations lead her to test a miracle cure in Lourdes and visit the grave of a headless Saint who claimed to be married to Christ (and wore a wedding ring made of his foreskin to prove it). She speaks to canon lawyers, abuse survivors and even a nun who insists that the Virgin Mary starts her car every morning. With wry humour and razor-sharp observations, Lapsed is the story of one woman's attempt to exorcise her religious upbringing, and to answer the question, is Catholicism like a blood group and, if so, is it possible to get a total transfusion? 'Enlightening, forensic and laugh-out-loud funny' -- JANE CARO 'A frank, funny and heartfelt exorcism of our need to believe in a man in the sky' -- SHAUN MICALLEF

Download or read book Will Catholics Be Left Behind written by Carl Olson and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This powerful and timely book, written by a former Fundamentalist, is a thorough critique of the popular Fundamentalist notion of the "Rapture", the belief that Christians will be removed from earth prior to a time of Tribulation and the Second Coming. It examines the theological, historical, and Biblical basis for "premillennial dispensationalism", the belief system based around the Rapture, and popularized in the best-selling Left Behind books and taught by "Bible prophecy" writers Tim LaHaye, Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, and many others. Written for both the lay person and the serious student, this book combines an engaging, popular approach with detailed footnotes and exhaustive research. Beginning with the big picture, it focuses first on key concepts such as eschatology, the Parousia, and the relationship between the Kingdom and the Church. It then examines the Book of Revelation, providing insights into the nature and purpose of that difficult, final book of the Bible. Another chapter looks at the concept of the "millennium" and how it has been understood by various Christians over the centuries. Olson then shows how Left Behind creator LaHayeಙs many works on "Bible prophecy" are filled with attacks on Catholicism, and often rely on sensationalism, shaky scholarship, and subjective interpretations of Scripture Olson, a former dispensationalist who now edits Envoy magazine, also presents a history of apocalyptic belief and theology, beginning with the Early Church Fathers and including the Montanists, St. Augustine, Joachim of Fiore, the Protestant Reformers, and the American Puritans. He shows how John Nelson Darby, an ex-Anglican priest, developed the premillennial dispensationalist system, which hinges on the Rapture, in the 1830s and how Darby relied upon faulty assumptions about Jesus Christ, the Church, and the Bible. The second part of the book, "A Catholic Critique of Dispensationalism", focuses on three important topics: the relationship between Israel, the Church, and the Kingdom; the interpretation of Scripture; and the nature of the Rapture event. Filled with a wealth of information drawn from both Protestant and Catholic sources, this section provides a complete rebuttal to the premillennial dispensationalist system and the "left behind" theology. The book concludes with a reflection on the Catholic understanding of the end times, salvation history, and the final judgement. Glossaries of key persons and terms are also included. A strong, but fair, critique of a dangerous and popular belief, Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? provides Catholics and Protestants, lay people and clergy, and students and scholars with important answers and information about the roots and meaning of the "Rapture". "Millions of Americans believe the Lord will snatch them up any day now, leaving the rest of us to the horrors of a seven-year tribulation. The hitch is that the 'Rapture' has no pedigree. As Carl Olson shows, no Catholic or Protestant believed in it prior to the nineteenth century. It is an authentic Fundamentalist 'invention'." Karl Keating, Author, Catholicism and Fundamentalism "In this extraordinary book, Carl Olson uses a surgeonಙs scalpel to cut through the mass of confusion that dominates contemporary reflection on the Last Things. Achieving far more than a refutation of millennialist errors and other disordered apocalyptic theories, he illumines the Church's majestic vision of time and eternity and demonstrates that Jesus Christ is the Lord of History and its end." Michael O'Brien, Author, Father Elijah

Download or read book The Catholic Church written by James F. Gauss and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you a Catholic or were you a Catholic? Do you know someone who is Catholic? Then this book could save your or their spiritual life. Whether you read this book or not could mean the difference between life and death, heaven or hell. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest denomination of professed believers in Jesus Christ in the world, but do they preach the Gospel and the truth of the Bible or do they mislead parishioners with false doctrines and edicts not found in the Bible? Dr. Gauss is a former Catholic who discovered the truth of the Bible and was set free from the spiritual bondage of the Roman Catholic Church. You can also be set free by knowing the truth taught by Jesus and His Apostles.

Download or read book Left at the Altar written by Michael Sean Winters and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2009-12 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1930s, Catholics helped create Franklin Roosevelts New Deal coalition; they remained a loyal constituency of the Democratic Party for decades. In 1960, Catholics and Democrats united to elect John F. Kennedy, Americas first Catholic preside...

Download or read book Mass Exodus written by Stephen Bullivant and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1962, Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council with the prophecy that 'a new day is dawning on the Church, bathing her in radiant splendour'. Desiring 'to impart an ever increasing vigour to the Christian life of the faithful', the Council Fathers devoted particular attention to the laity, and set in motion a series of sweeping reforms. The most significant of these centred on refashioning the Church's liturgy--'the source and summit of the Christian life'--in order to make 'it pastorally efficacious to the fullest degree'. Over fifty years on, however, the statistics speak for themselves. In America, only 15% of cradle Catholics say that they attend Mass on a weekly basis; meanwhile, 35% no longer even tick the 'Catholic box' on surveys. In Britain, the signs are direr still. Of those raised Catholic, just 13% still attend Mass weekly, and 37% say they have 'no religion'. But is this all the fault of Vatican II, and its runaway reforms? Or are wider social, cultural, and moral forces primarily to blame? Catholicism is not the only Christian group to have suffered serious declines since the 1960s. If anything Catholics exhibit higher church attendance, and better retention, than most Protestant churches do. If Vatican II is not the cause of Catholicism's crisis, might it instead be the secret to its comparative success? Mass Exodus is the first serious historical and sociological study of Catholic lapsation and disaffiliation. Drawing on a wide range of theological, historical, and sociological sources, Stephen Bullivant offers a comparative study of secularization across two famously contrasting religious cultures: Britain and the USA.

Download or read book Left Catholicism 1943 1955 written by Gerd-Rainer Horn and published by Leuven University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decisively shaped by the turbulent atmosphere of war, occupation and resistance, the years 1943-1955 gave rise to a most unusual flowering of progressive initiatives in Catholic politics, theology and apostolic missions. Though suffering severe setbacks in the deep freeze of the Cold War politics, mid-Century European Left Catholicism was not without influence in the subsequent emergence of Latin American Liberation Theology and the deliberations of the Vatican II. This volume constitutes the first attempt to analyse the phenomenon of Western European Left Catholicism from a comparative and transnational perspective.

Download or read book The Truth at the Heart of the Lie written by James Carroll and published by Random House. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Courageous and inspiring.”—Karen Armstrong, author of The Case for God “James Carroll takes us to the heart of one of the great crises of our times.”—Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve An eloquent memoir by a former priest and National Book Award–winning writer who traces the roots of the Catholic sexual abuse scandal back to the power structure of the Church itself, as he explores his own crisis of faith and journey to renewal NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY James Carroll weaves together the story of his quest to understand his personal beliefs and his relationship to the Catholic Church with the history of the Church itself. From his first awakening of faith as a boy to his gradual disillusionment as a Catholic, Carroll offers a razor-sharp examination both of himself and of how the Church became an institution that places power and dominance over people through an all-male clergy. Carroll argues that a male-supremacist clericalism is both the root cause and the ongoing enabler of the sexual abuse crisis. The power structure of clericalism poses an existential threat to the Church and compromises the ability of even a progressive pope like Pope Francis to advance change in an institution accountable only to itself. Carroll traces this dilemma back to the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages, when Scripture, Jesus Christ, and His teachings were reinterpreted as the Church became an empire. In a deeply personal re-examination of self, Carroll grapples with his own feelings of being chosen, his experiences as a priest, and the moments of doubt that made him leave the priesthood and embark on a long personal journey toward renewal—including his tenure as an op-ed columnist at The Boston Globe writing about sexual abuse in the Church. Ultimately, Carroll calls on the Church and all reform-minded Catholics to revive the culture from within by embracing anti-clerical, anti-misogynist resistance and staying grounded in the spirit of love that is the essential truth at the heart of Christian belief and Christian life.

Download or read book Sex Priests and Power written by A. W. Richard Sipe and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Sipe examines the continuing sexual crisis facing the Catholic Church today. Has the storm of publicity and controversy caused the church to acknowledge any of the accusations? Will the church accept statistical evidence or alter the way it trains its clergy? How has it come to grips with reforming or retraining abusers? Has it acknowledged the spread of AIDS among its ranks? Why does the church oppress women and react with hostility and fear towards them? Sex, Priests, and Power: Anatomy of a Crisis addresses these and other questions.

Download or read book Racial Justice and the Catholic Church written by Bryan N. Massingale and published by Orbis Books. This book was released on 2014-07-30 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the history of racism in the United States from the Civil War to the twenty-first century and discusses the teaching efforts of the Catholic Church to put a stop to racism and promote reconciliation and justice.

Download or read book Going Going Gone written by and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Unholy Christianity written by Gerald Haug and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-22 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unholy Christianity: How the Church Corrupted the Gospel Two thousand years ago, Jesus declared, "I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Yet, the fractured nature of today's church with its many sects and denominations begs the question: Are we the church Jesus built? Or have sin, egos, compromise, and ignorance ushered in an unholiness that is leading us astray from the church Christ called us to be? Unholy Christianity offers a candid depiction of Christianity, beginning with the apostles, journeying through the Medieval period and Reformation, and ending with the present. Gerald Haug examines the history of Christianity by investigating the actions, decisions, men, movements, and practices of past Christians that led to the doctrine, divisions, and sects we find today. Unholy Christianity examines Christianity from a global perspective rather than just the narrow lens of one's own culture. This insightful look into Christianity's rich history will help the reader accurately understand how both correct and incorrect actions of the past shape the church of the present. Unholy Christianity will build your faith, sharpen your knowledge, and help you make sense of church history and world events. You will be challenged to never do church the same way again!

Download or read book Holy Ground written by Christopher A. Castaldo and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on his Roman Catholic background, personal interviews with Catholics and Evangelicals, and years of research, Chris Castaldo takes readers on a fascinating and practical exploration of the challenges and opportunities encountered by Catholics who become Evangelicals. He examines the five major reasons why Christ’s followers often leave the Catholic Church, and shows how to emulate Jesus in practical ways when engaging Catholic friends and family. And, with humor and authenticity, he shares his own faith journey in order to help readers understand and work through their own.For those who are tired of scratching their head in confusion or frustration about how their Catholic background may influence their walk with Jesus, and why on earth their Catholic family believes they’ve gone off the deep end, Holy Ground offers vast insight and practical help. More than providing historical perspective, theological reflection, and practical lessons, it shows readers how to emulate the grace and truth of Jesus Christ in relating to the Catholic people whom they love.

Download or read book Leaving and Coming Home written by David M. Cloutier and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2010-06-04 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SINCE 2002, THE SYMPOSIUM NEW WINE, NEW WINESKINS HAS OFFERED AN OPPORTUNITY for young Catholic moral theologians to engage in shared work and conversation. Here, the fruits of these labors are gathered into one collection, which represents the wide scope of the future of Catholic sexual ethics. This volume offers the first collection of a new generation's approaches to Catholic sexual ethics. The collection displays young scholars with diverse views, yet whose work moves beyond the impasses that have beset the field. The volume offers original and engaging essays on a variety of topics, from the hook-up culture and dating violence, to cohabitation and homosexuality, to contraception and natural family planning, to the promises and pitfalls of "the theology of the body." The authors display a fresh engagement with these issues in conversation with the Christian tradition and with contemporary culture. David Cloutier provides an introduction that locates this work within the past decades of Catholic scholarship, and articulates new categories for future work. The essays also offer practical insights and models that will interest pastors and lay ministers, as well as scholars. Contributors include: Fr. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., Ph.D., S.T.L., is an assistant professor of biology and an instructor of theology at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. In theology, Fr. Austriaco teaches courses and has research interests in bioethics, sexual ethics, and fundamental moral theology. Jana Marguerite Bennett is assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton, where she teaches courses in sexual ethics and Catholic moral theology. She has written more about singleness and the relationship between singleness and marriage in her book Water is Thicker than Blood: An Augustinian Theology of Marriage and Singleness (Oxford UP, 2008). Florence Caffrey Bourg is the author of Where Two or Three Are Gathered: Christian Families as Domestic Churches (University of Notre Dame Press), as well as many articles and reviews on theology of marriage and family. Dr. Bourg taught at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati before returning home to New Orleans. She now teaches at the Academy of the Sacred Heart, and has been a visiting professor at Loyola University and Springhill College. David Cloutier is assistant professor of theology at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, MD. He is the author of Love, Reason, and God's Story: An Introduction to Catholic Sexual Ethics (Anselm Academic/Saint Mary's Press, 2008), as well as a number of essays on Catholic sexual ethics and fundamental moral theology. Jason King is currently chair of the theology department at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. His works include Save the Date: A Spirituality of Dating, Love, Dinner and the Divine (Crossroad, 2003), Dating: A Practical Catholic Guide (Knights of Columbus Supreme Council Veritas Series, 2007), and "Ecumenical Marriage as Leaven for Christian Unity" in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies. He has recently done work for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website For Your Marriage. He is married and has three children. William C. Mattison III is assistant professor of theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. His primary area of research is Thomistic moral theology and virtue ethics. He recently completed an introductory book entitled Introducing Moral Theology: True Happiness and the Virtues (Brazos, 2008). David Matzko McCarthy is the Father Forker Professor of Catholic Social Teaching at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, MD. He is the author of Sex and Love in the Home: A Theology of the Household (SCM Press, 2001, 2004 revised ed.), and The Good Life: Genuine Christianity for the Middle Class (Wipf & Stock, 2009). Maria C. Morrow is a doctoral candidate at the University of Dayton whose interests in Catholic moral theology include the interconnection of virtue and sacrament, with particular interest in penance. Christopher C. Roberts is the author of Creation & Covenant: the significance of sexual difference in the moral theology of marriage (Continuum, 2008). He is a research fellow in the ethics program at Villanova University. He graduated from Yale, Oxford and King's College London and is a former PBS television reporter. Julie Hanlon Rubio is associate professor of Christian ethics at St. Louis University. She is the author of A Christian Theology of Marriage and Family (Paulist Press, 2003) and Family Ethics: Practices for Christians (Georgetown University Press, 2010), and co-editor of Readings in Moral Theology No. 15: Marriage (Paulist Press, 2009). She lives in St. Louis with her husband and three sons. Michel Therrien is a professor of Fundamental Moral Theology and the Academic Dean at St. Vincent Seminary. He holds a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the International Theological Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Tramau, Austria, and a Doctorate in Fundamental Moral Theology from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. Kari-Shane Davis Zimmerman teaches at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University in Minnesota. She specializes in courses that deal with the intersection of family and church life, as well as issues pertaining to sex and work. She received her Ph.D. in theological ethics from Marquette University in 2007.

Download or read book Sexual Authenticity written by Melinda Selmys and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This book was released on 2009-04-06 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Real glimpses into the hearts and lives of other people are rare... Columnist and author Melinda Selmys gives readers an unusual opportunity to explore the topic of homosexuality and the Catholic Faith from a fresh, sincere perspective. Her intensely personal reflections help clarify the misconceptions that have hindered meaningful dialogue between Catholics and homosexuals. Transcending stereotypes and avoiding pat sentiments, she speaks directly to every Christian who has experienced same-sex attraction or knows someone who has. In addition to her personal story of exchanging secular lesbianism for Catholicism and resolving her own inner conflicts, the author presents an enlightening analysis of history, social theory, and media influence on the subject of homosexuality. She refutes much of the clumsy theorizing and "junk science" common to both sides of the debate, effectively bridging gaps between perception and reality. Selmys addresses the complexities surrounding sexual identity with pronounced compassion, adding a practical discussion of the Theology of the Body to complete the circle from a Catholic perspective. This groundbreaking book expertly walks the fine line between divisiveness and platitudes -- a must-read for everyone who has ever felt ambiguous about the Church's stance on homosexuality.

Download or read book The View from the Border written by John Kotre and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unique psychological study, John Kotre provides some startling answers to the questions Catholics are now asking about those who abandon the church, those who remain in it, and those who attempt to create a new church within the church. A detailed examination of the borderline between membership and ex-membership in the Catholic Church, as perceived by young adults reared within the Catholic educational system, the book provides an impressive substantive contribution to understanding not only of the modern church, but of organizational change in general. Kotre, himself a product of the Catholic educational system, positions himself amid the tension and ambiguity between those who consider themselves "in" and those who consider themselves "out" of the Catholic Church. He designed a systematic questionnaire covering four hundred variables about each subject's beliefs, values, perceptions of parents, and reasons for being an insider or an outsider. Using this questionnaire he individually interviewed one hundred graduates of Catholic colleges. The surprising results of this important research show that, in spite of sixteen years of formal Catholic education, the attitudes of both the "ins" and the "outs" are not influenced by their Catholic upbringing so much as by their primary group relationships. Recent research has shown that adult Americans are leaving their childhood faiths at ever increasing rates and that the Catholic Church is suffering the greatest losses. Kotre's book offers an insightful psychological perspective on this dramatic movement. It is a must-read for professional psychologists and sociologists, theologians, and people interested in the psychology and sociology of religion.