Can an adult ever really "leave" the Catholic Church?

Some would say that no one can "leave the Church," anymore than one can "leave" his or her family. When the prodigal son left home to seek his own way without his father's interference, he may have left the house, but he didn't stop being a member of that family.

He may have been a remiss and ungrateful son; he may never have written or come for a visit on the holidays. But he never stopped being a son of that father or a part of that unique family. He could no more forswear this family than he could reject his DNA. As they said of James Joyce, "You can take the boy out of the Church, but you can't take the Church out of the boy." Those who have left the Church may be "non-practicing Catholics," but they're still Catholics.

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