Leaving Church

When someone belongs to a church it can be a way that they feel a sense of belonging and attachments.  “This is my church,” or “This is my parish,” they might say.  They identify as “Catholic” in my circles.  But what happens when they leave that church over bad behavior by officials?  They lose a sense of attachment.  Their institution of church was a place for them.  They have lost place and it is not re-placed.  When someone says, “I don’t believe anymore” it is less about doctrine or creed and more about the loss of attachment, the sense of belonging.  The grief in moving on or away from, is the sense of no longing belonging.  Unless we can find something else, something communal to belong to, loneliness and stunted growth can easily set in.  Drugs, drink, sex, gyms, geographic moves, job, will not fill the hole.  I like to hang around the periphery of things and places.  It is where I might run into such searchers, even if they are not aware of their search.  I have been a “detached one.”  It is a daily effort to stay connected.