Does a former Catholic necessarily have the credibility to talk about Catholicism when he/she left not knowing?

Does a former Catholic necessarily have the credibility to talk about Catholicism when he/she left not knowing what Catholicism really teaches?|||You have to put "former" or "left" into a time-frame. Of time do you speak? The doctrine has changed since Vatican 2. What was heresy once, became '"not heresy" in the Novus Ordo Church. No one is excommunicated anymore, anyway.





Guess which Nuncio visited the United States to oversee the Catholic elementary %26amp; secondary school teaching of religion? He concluded that the "catholic nose was weak." Guess his name and what year it was. Catholicism was already being riddled through with scholastic disbelievers who did not leave, but published what they believed. Locally, people knew "who" was silently heretic, but not provable in the open forum. Seldom did silent dissenters" publicly "take it to the max" and revile the doctrine of Trent from knowledgeable positioning. It was always a personal angst.





You don't know either what a person's "credibility" as to Catholic Doctrine is, unless YOU know the doctrine first. Let's hear it. What do you profess? Something against a perpetual de fide dogma? Uh-oh That is heresy. Open forum denial, whether in speech or writing, professes heresy (say, maybe contradicting the Tridentine Mass or the Trent Doctrine--such as in an encyclical))--that would constitute excommunicable heresy in the open forum.





Thousands of "Modernized" (read heretical) dissertations were being written through the first half of the 20th Century--all "re-inventing" the doctrine. That is heresy in the open forum. Fr. Joseph Clifford Fenton, President of Catholic University was rejecting candidates by the dozens for this kind of heresy. The candidates did not leave the Church, however. They stayed to foment their odd doctrines. They never left. They became Cardinals prior to Vatican 2.





Salvation, is what you actually mean, really does depend on what one believes, here and in the next world. Whether one holds true doctrine or not, who here would "Know a Heresy if He Met One?"





Does the Questioner know? or does he who "left not knowing" know?





Traditional Catholics of Trent at traditionalmass.org/


Would You Know A Heresy If You Met One? Fr.Chas.Coughlin,1939


Answer to question: Pacelli in 1939.|||Most folks I have met know very little about the faith they claim to practice, let alone a faith they do not practice.



It is unfortunate that anyone feels that a part of their religion requires them to criticize other peoples' religions.



After looking through questions on this site that deal with other faiths I notice that there aren't any posts from Catholics criticizing or mocking Protestant faiths, and yet there seems to be an inordinate amount of people who do not practice the catholic faith who have huge misconceptions and misinformation of the Catholic Church, but feel the need to attack the church publicly as if they knew what they were talking about.



Your friend in just one of many such people. I would not worry about her credibility. I would be more concerned for him (or her) that they carry no much unhappiness and hate for a church and a people who have done him or her no harm, that kind of burden is hard on a soul.|||I've seen some former Catholics give the correct answer to questions, even when they do not agree with it. But in general, more often than not, they do not know Catholicism and their answers do more harm.





By adding the supposed weight of being a "former Catholic" their misrepresentation of Catholic belief and practice, can really lead people astray.





When I was young, and a Methodist, I had Catholics friends who did not know their faith. As a Catholic now, I realize that what my friends told me about Catholicism long ago, was wrong...but they not been taught properly.|||Absolutely not! Show me that you left only AFTER serious study of the Faith, and then we can talk. Otherwise, that person has an incomplete understanding of the Church (at best!), and debate will be pointless.



@Jabber: Someone can certainly be classified as "former Catholic" even without real knowledge of the faith. Often people grow up Catholic, attend Mass only on Christmas and Easter (or maybe even just on Sundays), but are not fully catechized, and what I would call a "cultural Catholic." If all you do is go to Mass, but never have any real religious education (on Church history, Catechism of the Catholic Church, etc.) then you do not have a complete understanding of Catholicism.|||If they don't know what Catholicism teaches, in what way could they possibly be classified as a "former Catholic"?



"Hey, I'm a former Zorosatrian, but I've no idea what it's about and I can't even spell it..."



Hence anyone who actually IS a former Catholic should indeed have the credibility to talk about it.|||You haven't ALL forgotten about the Great Apostasy of Vatican 2, have you? This caused many Catholics out, simply because of the love of the Doctrine and the True Mass. The Question calls for explanation of "which" is True, who has authority, and what is in the PATRISTIC RECORD. There are two versions of "credibility" since Vatican 2 and TWO CHURCHES, both which are in violation of each other's doctrine! One is Patristic. One is Modernism. Pope St. Pius X condemned Modernism and the modernizing of doctrine unpatristically grounded.



Let's hear your status first. and then let's decide what is credible. Catholic Doctrine does not and CAN NOT CHANGE, for that would take Christ out of His OWN DOGMA, His Word.



It is everyone's responsibility to know what it means to claim "catholicity".|||Obviously not. They would be Catholic is name only with little or no education in Catholicism, so essentially they don't know what they are talking about. If you run across such a person, a little research can quickly verify if what they said was true or not.





God bless.|||No. Why? Because most people who leave the church are either ignorant of Church teaching ( if they knew it in the first place, they wouldn't see a problem with the Church and never would have left ) or they're idiots ( Martin Luther for example. He was ignorant of what the Church taught about indulgences)


Furthermore, any one who leaves the church is not a representative of us, and what we believe, and are considered Heretics. Susanna the SDA and Preacher's niece for example, are supposedly Ex Catholics and lie about our Church all the time. They are ignorant of Church teachings.|||Wow.....good answers from many, especially Tasha, Skipper5 and Robert C..





But lbfr hit it on the nose when he said, 'any one who leaves the church is not a representative of us, and what we believe, and are considered Heretics. Susanna the SDA and Preacher's niece for example, are supposedly Ex Catholics and lie about our Church all the time. They are ignorant of Church teachings.'





I was raised Protestant. And I find nothing to condemn what I learned as a child. My Grandma %26amp; great Aunt were Sunday School teachers, and it might have been all I knew, but my upbringing was that Jesus loved me. Being a Navy brat %26amp; traveling around, we had to search for a church. Some my sister %26amp; I went to probably freaked us out by them yelling "Amen" and "Hallalujah" and banging tamborines..........but our faith in God stayed with us. My parents would eventually find a "calmer" church and got us back on track.





So do I have any credibility to talk about Protestantism? Yes, but I now have come to the Catholic Church and know its fullness.





"What separates us as believers in Christ is much less than what unites us."


- Pope John XXIII -|||He or she has credibility when speaking of their personal experiences. So when they speak about that religion, you might want to ask what beliefs or doctrines are associated with these personal experiences. That way you can determine if they really had any serious knowledge about the faith.|||It's not possible to speak with authority when you don't know what you're talking about.|||they can , but if they do not know the answer then be honest, say," let me find out," and don't try and bluff|||If they have been believing in it for years,yes.|||We only have your opinion that that is the case.|||Most that leave Catholicism leave because they DO KNOW what it teaches.