lapsed Catholics
Strayed from Rome
Lapsed Catholics are people baptized or raised Catholic who no longer practice the faith—they've stopped attending Mass, receiving sacraments, or following Church teachings.
The term implies the person hasn't formally left or converted but has drifted away: Her parents were lapsed Catholics who only went to church for weddings and funerals.
Unlike "former Catholic," lapsed suggests the possibility of return.
- apostasyRenunciation of former beliefs
- fallen awayAbandoned former beliefs
- fallen from graceLost former high standing
- guiltMoral self-reproach
- mortal sinGrace-destroying spiritual offense
confession · Mass · going through the motions · communion · dormant · Church · pews · rosary · baptized · confirmation · Easter · Christmas · doubt · secular · agnostic · parish · priests · sacraments
- churchgoerschurchgoer, churchgoers, parishioner, parishioners, congregant
- nonbelieversatheist, atheists, agnostic, agnostics, nonbeliever
lapsed, Catholics, lapse, Catholic, Catholicism, lapses, lapsing, relapse, relapsed