Catholics Come Home
There are many worrying statistics concerning the Catholic Faith in the USA. One in ten Americans consider themselves ex-Catholics. In fact, if “ex-Catholics” were counted as their own religious group, they would be the third-largest denomination, right after Catholics and Baptists. As many as 100,000 drift away from the Faith each year. These figures should give us serious pause for thought since, as Christians, we are called to evangelize the world, to witness to Jesus Christ and His Church.
Today I’d like to begin a series of posts which are based on a talk I recently gave at my parish. The talk was entitled “Catholics Come Home”.
Over the next two posts, I would like to tell a little bit my own story, of my journey away from and eventual return to the Catholic Church. I’ve told parts of this story before, but in this retelling I hope to focus on some of the things which attracted and repelled me along the way. In subsequent posts, I’ll attempt to pull these experiences together and distill them into a list of suggestions as to what can be done to draw people back to the Church.
The Early Years: A good start
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a strong Catholic parish. It was vibrant, diverse, joyful and family-friendly. There was considerable lay involvement in ministry and many parish groups. As a child, I was part of a thriving and creative Children’s Liturgy which I enjoyed very much.
After receiving my First Holy Communion, I followed the natural progression in the parish and became an altar boy. It was a pretty sweet gig! Being an server had lots of perks; every year we would have a group trip to somewhere fun and on every major feast day we would each receive a considerable amount of chocolate! 🙂
When I was ten, I started at a new school. A little while after, my family began to attend Mass at the Abbey to which my new school was attached. I continued to serve on the altar. I really enjoyed the fellowship and camaraderie among the other servers. We were put under the charge of a wonderful monk and my love for the liturgy began to deepen.
At the age of fifteen I was confirmed by the monastery’s Abbot and took the name “Peter”. Sadly, the Sacrament of Confirmation often marks the end of the Mass attendance for many Catholics. After having “got their Sacraments” a large number are rarely seen at Mass again, having been sacramentalized but not evangelized.
In contrast, I continued attending Mass. I remained for several reasons. It was expected of me, but I also quite enjoyed the liturgy. I was drawn to the architectural beauty, the chant, and the peaceful stillness I found after Communion. It certainly didn’t hurt, however, that there were a few attractive females who also attended Mass each week. Praise God for His beauty which is made present in the world in so many varied and wonderful ways! 😉
The Wonder Years: The university community
After completing school, I took a year out, getting a job to raise funds for University. Twelve months later I left home to begin my Computer Science degree.
Leaving home for the first time is another one of those moments when people can start to drift away from their faith. However, with my mother’s encouragement, I quickly became connected with the University Chaplaincy. The Catholic Chaplaincy would have Mass every Sunday evening and we would all have dinner together afterwards. It was a novel experience for me to have a community of Catholics around me of my own age. The Chaplaincy also had morning prayer during the week and this soon became part of my regular schedule.
At the beginning of my second year of University I became involved with a Catholic group called Verbum Dei (“Word of God”). The missionaries exuded a holiness which I found very attractive and desired for myself. One of them in particular was an excellent speaker and Bible teacher and she had a profound impact upon me.
I began to go to the Group’s prayer meetings and during one of these evenings there was awoken in me a very profound need for God. I eventually started going to their “School of Apostles” which basically consisted of more in-depth teaching and longer times of prayer. Our prayer was always prayer with Scripture and my love of the Bible really grew during this time. I was part of a community and my faith was growing. Things were good.
I’ll pick up the story again tomorrow…
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
The article Catholics Come Home: Part 1 first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net
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It’s hardly surprising there are so many ex-Cathlolics for a variety of reasons.
1. I find Cathlolic parishes and Catholics in general to be the least friendly of all Christian denominations. I’ve been to several non-denominational churches, Jewish Shabbat services, a Muslim prayer service and spent time with both Catholic and Protestant youth groups. Catholics are, as a whole I find, stiff and cold to one another. Hardly welcoming compared to Protestant faiths. I also find them largely boring as a group, the men being weak and the women ready to stab your eyes out if you’re single, or have a boyfriend, or…yeah, you get the point.
2. Bad press. Yes, there have been quite a few situations with the Church that are legitimately bad and that should be covered in the press, but not nearly enough time is given to all the GOOD that the Church does. Outreach to third world countries, missionary work, charity work, universities with excellent education, or the many works of lay ministry people or those who just say they are practicing Catholics and live their lives as Christ intended – by the Golden Rule.
3. Following the end of my last comment, I find a lot of Catholics are lazy in their faith in both word and action. Even in small words and actions (who hasn’t been nearly run over in the parking lot immediately after Mass or has felt like a reject in a n parish rather than a fellow Brother or Sister in Christ?)
4. Shyness/laziness in professing their faith is something I’ve also come across. Why are Protestants so willing to pray and make it known they love Jesus when Catholics try it hide it? Admittedly, some of this probably has to do with a fear of persecution (we’ve all been subjected to questions, odd looks and a variety of other experiences, but if you do what you love and follow through on your professed faith, people will be more respectful of you and accepting of how you go about things).
5. Guilt. There’s no doubt about it, Catholics like sex (ahem Catholic school girl reputation ahem). We’re told so much of what we’re not supposed to do and how bad it is that going overboard isn’t surprising. Telling someone no instantly makes them think Yes! Yes! Yes! Not only is it sex, we’re taught in a variety of ways to feel as though we aren’t good enough. It’s a general theme I’ve found in Catholics and I can’t blame people for wanting to run away from a faith and culture that does support that.
6. A lot of the meaning in what we do is not obvious…how many times has any of us been told we worship idols? Or talked with a fellow Catholic who doesn’t believe how or why or at all that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist? Also, why do we do so much sitting, standing, etc.? Why does the Church as a whole support the prolife stance, but a Catholic woman was the one who started Planned Parenthood?
Those are a lot of pieces that people run from or are the cause of their falling away, at least from conversations I’ve had with others. It’s disheartening to hear that anyone has fallen away from Christ, whether Catholic, Protestant, now atheist, etc.
I’ve often wonderd what I could do and have felt helpless when having conversations with those who have left the church and I’ve come to realize tht if you treat people well in the little ways and invite them to church with you, to pray with you, that you will pray for them or just listen and engage them it’s encouraging for them and sometimes they will actually come with you to church, or you will at least see a softening in their eyes. It’s more heartening than you might think.
Hey B,
Welcome to Restless Pilgrim and thank you for your thoughtful comment. I’m really looking forward to your contributions in the final three parts of this series where I present some suggestions as to what can be done to help turn things around.
God bless,
David.
>1. I find Cathlolic parishes and Catholics in general to be the least friendly of all Christian denominations…
I’d say that I’ve known parishes which very much buck this trend, but I think I’d agree that we’re probably one of the worst.
>Catholics are, as a whole I find, stiff and cold to one another.
I would suggest that this, in part, stems from a polarization of theology, focusing on Christ’s presence in the Eucharist almost to the detriment of Christ’s presence in our brothers and sisters. In fact, it should be the complete opposite since, by the end of Mass, each person is surrounded by a congregation of tabernacles!
>5. Guilt. There’s no doubt about it, Catholics like sex (ahem Catholic school girl reputation ahem). We’re told so much of what we’re not supposed to do and how bad it is that going overboard isn’t surprising….
I would suggest that the tide on this starting to shift thanks to Theology Of The Body, a positive presentation of Catholic sexuality.