Posted on 09/06/2009 3:50:15 PM PDT by NYer
And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working. And spreading.
From the Los Angeles Times:
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can be found in church.Curious to see what all the fuss is about? Check out the videos below. And you can find more at the Catholics Come Home link.
Now, using a strategy straight from the secular playbook, its leaders hope to lure back those who have drifted.
The diocese and nearly a dozen others across the country are preparing to air several thousand prime-time TV commercials in English and Spanish, inviting inactive Catholics to return to their religious roots.
In addition to Sacramento, dioceses in Chicago, Omaha, Providence, R.I., and four other cities will launch the “Catholics Come Home” advertising blitz during Advent, the period before Christmas.
Four more dioceses will follow during Lent next spring. Los Angeles is not among the initial group but could be part of a nationwide campaign slated for December 2010.
"I'm hoping that a significant number of people will give us another look," Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said of the campaign. "Many Catholics have a sense of believing but not always a sense of belonging."
The potential audience is huge.
Only about one-quarter of U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass every week, and a majority go to religious services a few times a year or less, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, which conducts social science research about the Catholic church.
Researchers there also found that two-thirds of Catholics believe they can be good members of their faith without attending Mass regularly.
Inactive Catholics cite a number of reasons for their absence. Many do not believe that missing Mass is a sin, the center reported. Others say they are too busy with family or work, or, as other analysts point out, are more interested in material happiness than spiritual fulfillment.
"There is a strange pattern of people who aren't practicing but still have beliefs and pick up parts of the faith," said Mark Gray, a research associate with the center. "They may give up meat on Fridays during Lent or attend Ash Wednesday services."
Check out the YouTube videos at the link above.
Where even fewer attend and fewer are taught.
Those people don’t sound very Catholic to me. The Episcopalians who claim to be Anglican Catholics seem just as Catholic...and they belong to what is little more than the church of faggotry.
I always wondered why more parishes did not do this.
You make a good point in that poor catechesis is largely responsible for the difficulties that people have with the Church.
There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church. - Fulton Sheen
There are probably some who have actually chosen to leave based on some doctrine on which they disagree. For example, the Catholic Church does not permit artificial contraception or in-vitro fertilization. The reasons are spelled out but, unfortunately, some Catholics simply disagree and choose to leave for those christian churches that allow such practices. Sadly, the majority of Catholics who have left did so out of ignorance. They were never properly formed in their faith and, out of ignorance, switch to some other christian church that has caught their attention.
Agreed. Consider that this effort is called "Catholics Come Home", lending credence to the idea that these non-participants are (still) Catholic. Meanwhile, many überCatholicsTM will cite latae sententiae and various canon laws to argue that these same people shouldn't be considered Catholic at all. So if the überCatholicsTM are right, what kind of message is this ad campaign really sending?
What draws someone to the church is the WORD, not a gimmick, isn’t it?
The Church is Christ's bride (Ephesians 5:29) and has "no spot, wrinkle or blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). Christ also stated that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18). Individual clergy may commit sins, even popes commit sins because in the Church there are both "weeds and wheat" (Matthew 13:30).
In removing yourself from the Church, the only one who suffers is you. You have removed yourself from the life-giving sacrament of Holy Eucharist.
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." - John 6:51-56
Whatever your disagreement with the Church, why not visit Catholics Come Home. You have nothing to lose.
The Anglicans and Episcopalians ... and now, the Lutherans, have all embraced the ordination of homosexual clergy. Perhaps you have mistakenly confused the Catholic Church with the others.
Such an interesting exchange between two people, neither of whom is Catholic. Why do either of you care what estranged Catholics choose to do?
Actually, what draws lapsed Catholics back home are the Sacraments. At Sunday Mass, they not only hear the Word, they also receive Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, present in the Holy Eucharist. Can your church top that?
The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
Any "Christian Church" that claims merely acknowledging the Creator (not even using the word God) grants you access to Heaven has some fundamental problems. According to the Catechism, suicide-bomber Abdullah will be in Heaven, but Protestant Lars will not. The former denies Jesus as Savior, the latter lives by it, yet the Church has determined that the former is to be in Heaven, the latter in the fires of Hell.
In removing yourself from the Church, the only one who suffers is you. You have removed yourself from the life-giving sacrament of Holy Eucharist.
There are plenty of other, life-affirming, Christ-centered churches for people to attend. The Catholic Church - contrary to its own dogma - is not the sole arbiter of what is Christian and Holy.
You seem to have passed over the following in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
2258 "Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being."56
This catholic left because I’m sick of the church turning the other cheek on abortion. Despite what they church says, it really isn’t against abortion. This greedy church is all too happy to not risk $$ from abortionists. If it were true to its own teachings it would excommunicate every last pro-abortion catholic. And would never have allowed the abortionist-and-chief to go to Notre Dame.
Funny thing, I was thinking about Martin Luther today and wondering if he will still be in Purgatory when I pass through. That should be a good enough punishment to keep him there and explien to everyone who passes through why he is sorry he split the Church. And yes, I did go to Reconcilliation yesterday about my hoping teddy is in hell.
Why would you use a study from a non-Catholic College like Georgetown to measure Catholic Church attendance?
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