Lapsed Catholic
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In Roman Catholicism, a lapsed Catholic is a Catholic who has ceased practicing the Catholic religion. Such a person is said to have lapsed from the faith.
According to Catholic belief, if you are baptised as a Catholic you remain a Catholic forever. A comparison with Judaism can be made, where even though a Jew may not practice their faith, they are still Jewish by birth. Baptism is said to "[seal] the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark... of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation."[1]
If a Catholic leaves their faith but returns later, they are not required to "reconvert" but often go through RCIA for a refresher education in the faith.
The term "lapsed Catholic" is favored over "ex-Catholic," especially in cases where the person has merely stopped practicing 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.
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[edit] Non-participation
Sometimes the person may self-identify as a "recovering Catholic". Many lapsed Catholics stop practising their faith after leaving their parental home, where they have gone through the paces of religious services to please a more devout relative, especially a parent. Some Catholics who still attend church services may still think of themselves as "lapsed" if they have not participated in Catholic sacraments or if they only attend special masses like Christmas and Easter. These are colloquially referred to by such terms as Chreasters [2], C&E Catholics [3], Poinsettia & Lily Catholics [4], or A&P Catholics ref>Everything2.com</ref> (for Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday).
[edit] Lapsed non-Catholics
The term "lapsed" is sometimes affixed to people of other religious denominations who have stopped practicing (e.g. lapsed Hindus [5] or lapsed Muslims [6]).
