Always Quote by Andrew Greeley

Many times when people leave churches we think it's a doctrinal issue, but most of the time it's a leadership issue.

— John C. Maxwell

I left the Church of England because there was a huge bundle of straw. The ordination of women was the last straw, but it…

— Ann Widdecombe

[On women as priests:] It has always seemed very odd to me that this particular sphere of activity should remain a male closed shop,…

— Mary Stocks, Baroness Stocks

I completely understand why people would find the Church intolerable. I'm not the least bit surprised when people seek to leave it, though I…

— Richard Coles

I am deeply Catholic and always will be, but I'm no longer a member of the church. I left in 2003 because of the…

— Julianna Baggott

You know how the church has been hit so hard by the sexual misconduct by clergy, and what's that's done to Catholics, especially here…

— William P. Leahy

The truly longstanding tradition in the church is that some are called to celibacy. Some feel called to it. But the church has never…

— Gene Robinson

The church belongs to its hierarchy, which is men in power. Those outside the hierarchy, and especially women, are at best only renters and…

— Sonia Johnson

Again, as I had often met it in my own church, I was confronted with the Impurity of Women doctrine that seemed to preoccupy…

— Harper Lee

I'm trying to make the case that the church can indeed, from within its own resources, move out of a false, and often a…

— James Alison

When one is required to preside over the Church, and be entrusted with the care of so many souls, the whole female sex must…

— Anonymous

“Behind every downward trend in society lies the church’s permission in one form or another.”

— Klaus Bockmuehl