"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Over the past few days we have been looking at suggestions as to what can be done to draw people back to the Catholic Church.
Today is the final post in this series. These suggestions focus on the conversations which you will have with those who have drifted away from the faith:
Today I continue the “Catholics Come Home” series which began a few days ago. Today the evangelization suggestions focus around parish life…
10. Your parish
It’s important to support and build up your parish home. It is to your parish that you will be inviting people. Just as you would prepare your home if you had people coming over to visit, you should help make your parish a vibrant and welcoming place.
“As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another“ – John 13:34-35
Serve your parish in whatever way you think appropriate. I’d invite you to get creative! Think about what you love and then consider how this could this be used for the glory of God and for drawing people to Jesus and His Church. For example, do you love board games? Organize a board game night!
Yesterday I began giving my suggestions as to what can be done to encourage those who have left the Catholic Church to return home. Today I would like to pick this back up again…
5. Don’t be a Ninja Catholic
The ninjas of Japan were known for their stealth, their ability to go unnoticed. In fact, there were many legends circulated that they could even make themselves invisible. Don’t imitate ninjas in this regard!
What do I mean by this? Don’t be ashamed to be identified as Catholic. It may be as simple as praying before meals, wearing a cross or talking with your friends about parish life.
“Let your light so shine before men…” – Matthew 5:16
How will someone ask you about your faith if they don’t even know you’re a Christian?!
Over the last two days I have briefly shared a portion of my faith journey. During this retelling I have particularly focussed upon my ecclesiastical wanderings, mentioning some of the things which pushed me away from some congregations and drew me towards others.
As I mentioned in the initial post, this blog series was originally a talk I gave at my parish called “Catholics Come Home”. As part of my preparation I spent quite some time on the Internet reading the stories of those who had left the Catholic Church. It was a heartbreaking experience. A large number of the stories I read echoed my own. Many of the sentiments expressed were also very similar. It became clear that, more often than not, the reason someone leaves the Catholic Church is because of lack of pastoral care, rather than doctrine.
In the accounts I read, there were many complaints about the welcome experienced when attending a Catholic parish (or rather, the distinct absence thereof). Many stories were told of abysmal music and of incoherent, boring preaching. There were laments concerning the lack of community and the lack of ongoing Christian formation. There were also unfortunately quite a few incidents described where people felt poorly treated by priests, catechists and other parish staff. Careless words can cut extremely deep and have serious consequences..
Yesterday I began of my “Catholics Come Home” blog series. I spoke about my faith journey from childhood through to my university years. Today I’d like to pick up the story again…
The story ended yesterday with my final months at university. I was part of a strong community and I was growing in my faith. Things were good.
However, after university, things did not go so well. I moved to a new town for work and, although I did not move far away, I had virtually no contact with anyone from either the Chaplaincy or from Verbum Dei. In fact, during the months which followed, only one person took the time to reach out to me from my university years. I felt rather abandoned. It felt like I was out of sight, and therefore out of mind. Those months were particularly trying for me since, soon after moving to this new town, my employer went bankrupt, leaving me unemployed.
I did not fare any better in parish life. After experiencing the welcoming communities of Verbum Dei and my University Chaplaincy, I was reintroduced to the more typical Catholic parish life. Each Sunday I rose early and walked a long way through the cold to Mass. Upon arrival, I was greeted by no one. The music was abysmal and the preaching was utterly uninspiring. Honestly, I felt I could have done a better job. There were no parish groups for me to join. There was nobody of my own age. There was no coffee after Mass and no real socializing of which to speak. I was just another anonymous parishioner who slipped in, heard Mass and then slipped back out. I had no personal contact at that parish whatsoever.
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.