Every Catholic knows people who have left the Church. Fr Paddy Noonan OFM looks at why one might leave – and gives reasons why he could never drop his Catholic faith.
For reasons I shall give in a moment, I will never leave the Catholic Church. But many others have, and continue to do so. Why?
In South Africa, people are constantly moving between churches. Around one Catholic church in Boksburg, I once counted 20 “mini-churches”, many of them migrant-led communities.
Every Catholic knows people who have left the Church. The reasons are many:
• The Internet has become a “new religion,” where people believe they can find answers to life’s mysteries, especially in this age of artificial intelligence.
• Religion is often blamed for wars and violence, with extremists of every faith — Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian — twisting faith to justify atrocities.
• The myth that science and religion are incompatible. Yet the Catholic Church is profoundly pro-science, and has produced great scientists. For example, it was a priest, Fr Georges Lemaître, who first proposed the Big Bang theory.
• Disagreement with Church teaching on issues such as divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriage, contraception, or women’s ordination.
• The appeal of New Age philosophies and occult practices, including tarot cards, astrology, “energy entities”, questionable meditation techniques, and so on.
• Personal tragedy or trauma leading to confusion about God, and sometimes a loss of faith.
• A widespread distrust of institutions — government, media, and the “institutional Church” alike — often fuelled by hypocrisy among leaders. Some leave saying, “I’m spiritual, but not religious.”
• Lack of biblical formation, leaving people vulnerable to the DIY theology of Pentecostal and independent churches.
• The lure of the false “Prosperity Gospel” preached by certain pastors.
• A longing for a personal relationship with Jesus, whom they may feel they don’t encounter in their parish.
• Unwelcoming parish communities, parish politics, or personal conflicts within the congregation.
• Broken relationships between priest and people — when a priest is arrogant, indifferent or unkind.
• A lack of community life in parishes, especially where sodalities or Small Christian Communities are weak or absent.
• The perception that the liturgy is “boring,” or that it excludes certain groups from active participation.
• Poorly prepared or irrelevant homilies that leave parishioners spiritually unfed, compared with the preaching of many charismatic pastors.
• The clerical abuse scandals, too often ignored or inadequately addressed in parish settings.
• The absence of outreach to the “resting” or “lapsed” Catholics. How often have we heard: “I left the parish, and no one ever contacted me afterwards”?
This list is by no means exhaustive, and you may be able to add to it. The question for any of us — bishops, priests, religious, Church workers, parish volunteers, readers of this magazine, any of us on the altar or in the pew — is this: What are we going to do about it?
Why I won’t leave
If I were to depart from the Catholic Church, what exactly would I be leaving behind? First of all, I would be leaving behind the very Church founded by Jesus Christ himself nearly 2000 years ago.
For more than 1500 years, there was no Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, or any of the other Protestant churches. There was only the one holy, catholic and orthodox Church. In fact, the only Christian communities that can be traced directly back to the Apostles are the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, in their various rites.
For almost two millennia, there was no Shembe, ZCC, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kereke ea Sephiri, Mboro, Bushiri, Lukau, Omatozo, Hillsong, His People and so on. Many of these communities may sincerely follow Christ, but they cannot trace their origins back to Jesus and the Apostles, or claim a direct mandate from Christ (Matthew 16:18; 28:19).
Despite all the sins, mistakes, pride, corruption and failures of its members and leaders, the Catholic Church has survived for nearly two millennia because it is the broken Body of Christ — and Christ himself promised he’d never abandon it: “And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time” (Mt 28:20).
If I left the Church, I would also leave behind the Bible as it is proclaimed and explained at Mass throughout a three-year cycle. Let us not forget: the Bible itself comes from the Catholic Church!
I’d leave behind the great tradition and history of the faith, the wisdom of the early Church Fathers, and the unbroken witness of Christians from the time of Christ to the present. I would leave behind the papacy, which has safeguarded the unity of the Church since the days of St Peter — some popes better than others.
I’d leave behind the Blessed Virgin Mary, who carries our burdens and worries to her Son. I would lose the saints, whose lives of holiness offer us strength, inspiration, and guidance for every circumstance of human life.
I’d leave behind the Church’s authority to confront evil directly through authentic exorcism, to cast out demons and defend the faithful against the darkness of Satan and the occult — both of which are alive and entrenched in South African society.
I’d leave behind the Church’s teaching on the culture of life: its vision of justice, peace, and the integrity of Creation. Western traditions of human rights and justice have their roots in Catholic teaching. No other body on earth matches the Catholic Church in its care for the poor, for migrants, for indigenous peoples, or in the vast education and healthcare networks it sustains worldwide.
I’d leave behind the Church that safeguards the holy places where Jesus lived and walked. I would lose the spiritual treasures of pilgrimage, both local and international: Ngome, Nweli, Mariannhill, Rome, Jerusalem, Lourdes, Guadalupe, Kibeho, Fatima, … places that have transformed countless lives.
And above all, I would leave behind the Seven Sacraments — especially the miracle of the Eucharist, in which we encounter Jesus at every Mass.
How could I leave all that?
Published in the February 2026 issue of The Southern Cross Magazine
- Fr Paddy Noonan: Why I won’t leave the Church - July 16, 2026
- Mass Readings: 19 July – 26 July, 2026 - July 14, 2026
- Remember St Joseph’s Children’s Hospital this Mandela Day - July 14, 2026
