The term lapsed Catholic describes a person raised as a Catholic who no longer practices the religion. Often, such a person becomes "lapsed" by marrying a Protestant, Jew, or other non-Catholic. Many Catholics become lapsed after leaving home, where they may have gone through the paces of religious services to please a more devout relative, especially a parent. After moving away, they have no inclination to keep going to church. Some Catholics who still attend church services may still think of themselves as "lapsed" if they do not have any real interest in the religion or if they only attend special masses, like Christmas and Easter.

The term "lapsed" is sometimes affixed to people of other religious backgrounds who have stopped actively practicing. For example, one may talk of lapsed Hindus or lapsed Muslims. One rarely refers to non-practicing Jews as "lapsed", since "Jewishness" is also ethnic in nature and does not necessarily require active worship, or even belief. By the same token, one rarely hears of lapsed Protestants, perhaps because Protestantism is decentralized and less ritual-driven, making it difficult to tell when an adherent has "lapsed".