I wrote a letter to Archbishop Martin recently about defecting from the church.

[EoinMag]

This might interest some of you, I am putting it here as an information piece for the many atheists and also as a discussion piece as with every other article.

In any case most of you will probably know that the church was facilitating defections from the church but have now decided to stop this practise.

On the foot of a recent article by Dermot Martin where he asked lapsed to have the courage of their convictions and leave the church.
Archbishop urges lapsed Catholics to leave the faith - National News - Independent.ie

As an atheist I thought well I'll write to him now to find out how.

So I wrote to the archdiocese Paul Callan to be exact:

Subject: Wanting to leave the church, but unable due to changes to canon law.



Dear Mr Callan,



I read with interest the article in the Irish times where Diarmiud

Martin asks lapsed catholics to have the maturity to leave the church.

I long ago came to this point in my maturity and indeed was looking to

exploit the ability to leave the church and annul my baptism, which

was done without my consent, my parents knew no better so I don't hold

it against them. I don't attend church, I was married in civil

ceremony, my child is unbaptised, I have no truck with the church or

its many superstitions.

I do not believe in the trinity, I do not believe in the virgin birth,

in fact to be honest I don't even believe that Jesus was a real man.



In light of this and the recent changes to canon law, how can I get

off the register of baptised catholics and get rid of this cultural

blot on my character?



Yours Sincerely,

EoinMag


I recently got a response from what I presume is someone in the secretariat Reverend Fintan Gavin, Assistant Chancellor:


Dear Eoin,



Thank you for your e-mail requesting for information with regard to defecting from the Catholic Church.



As you mentioned in your e-mail, the Canon Law of the Catholic Church was recently changed on this matter and it is now no longer possible, as it was for some years, to make a formal act of defection from the Church. Given that your baptism is an historic event it is not possible to deny the fact the baptism took place and the historic record of this event is recorded in the register of baptism.



The law concerning defection, introduced in 1983, was designed especially to address the right to marry. The intention was to facilitate the exercise of the right to marry by those Catholics who due to their estrangement from the Church were unlikely to wish a Church ceremony. The measure was thus to ensure that any marriage entered into after formal defection would be valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church.



In the last few years a considerable number of Catholics have wished to make an act of formally defecting from the Church. They have done so for a variety of reasons such as: a form of protest against or rejection of what the Church teaches; a response to the reprehensible events surrounding and including the sexual abuse of children by priests and religious.



Many in the past have left the Church without following a formal process. While those de facto defections do not have a legal effect, the Church would obviously hope that the desire of those who wish to leave the Church would be respected. The Archdiocese of Dublin now maintains a register for those who wish their de facto defection from the Church to be recorded. It does that for those who are living or domiciled in the Archdiocese.



It may be of interest for you to note that the Archdiocese does not make use of the baptismal registers for calculating the Catholic population of the Archdiocese of Dublin. It relies solely on the data of the Central Statistics Office, obtained through the census, by which citizens themselves choose to record, or not, their religious affiliation.



If you would like to have your de facto defection recorded you can put your request in writing to me and post it to:







Yours sincerely





Fintan Gavin

Fintan Gavin contact details



I think this might interest some of you, it was definitely news to me, so there you have it, if you are in Dublin and you want your de facto defection to be recorded then write to the above person outlining your intent, it will be recorded.
It's not as weighty as striking from the baptismal register but it gives them numbers in any case.

Is this indicative of a directive of Rome or is it Martin wanting to act to make recompense locally?

The place to mail to is:
The Chancellery

Archbishop’s House

Drumcondra

Dublin 9

[LamportsEdge]

The interesting bit that caught my eye in that response was "Many in the past have left the Church without following a formal process. While those de facto defections do not have a legal effect, the Church would obviously hope that the desire of those who wish to leave the Church would be respected."

It seems the chaps in dresses are still mixing up their golf club rules with the law.

[Des Quirell]

The interesting bit that caught my eye in that response was "Many in the past have left the Church without following a formal process. While those de facto defections do not have a legal effect, the Church would obviously hope that the desire of those who wish to leave the Church would be respected."

It seems the chaps in dresses are still mixing up their golf club rules with the law.

He is most likely referring to Canon Law which is a significant legal system in itself.

[stakerwallace]

My understanding was that if you entered a civil cermony of marriage, you automatically defected from the Church. Now I'm definitely pre Vat 2 in my years and that's when I last heard anything of it.

[mr_anderson]

Once a catholic ....

[DaveM]

You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave…

[Cruimh]

Once a catholic ....

Even if you didn't know it .....

[Des Quirell]

My understanding was that if you entered a civil cermony of marriage, you automatically defected from the Church. Now I'm definitely pre Vat 2 in my years and that's when I last heard anything of it.

I'm not sure. You may have self-excommunicated through Latae sententiae. You didn't leave the RCC (according to Canon Law) and you could reclaim all of the privileges of membership (including the new squash courts) by speaking to your local bishop. That's what I was told a short few years ago in any event.

[EvotingMachine0197]

He is most likely referring to Canon Law which is a significant legal system in itself.

But with about as much jurisdiction over citizens as the rules of Travel Scrabble.

[Bill]

But with about as much jurisdiction over citizens as the rules of Travel Scrabble.

you may mock the reach of the travel scrabblers, but you do so at your own peril