Top 10 Reasons to Come Back to the Catholic Church...

St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Monroe, Michigan ^

[heyheyhey]

You Can't Go Home Again is the title of a once famous novel by Thomas Wolfe. There is deep wistfulness in his novel. He believed that going home again is bound to be a great disappointment. Not so with the Catholic Church. No matter how long you've been away, you can always come home. You can start coming to Mass. You can become a part of a parish community. You can enter into the faith far more deeply than when you left...

There are as many reasons for coming back to the Church as there are people who left. While God is at the center of each person's decision to return the circumstances are varied. Here are ten reasons that influenced the decision of other people to return to the practice of the Catholic faith.

10) Because they want meaning in their life,

9) Because childhood memories surface,

8) Because they made mistakes,

7) Because they need to forgive others,

6) Because they want to be healed,

5) Because the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth and grace,

4) Because they want their children to have a faith foundation,

3) Because they want to be part of a faith community,

2) Because they want to help other people,

... AND ...

1) Because they hunger for the Eucharist.

Many people come back to the Catholic Church because they feel an intense longing for the Eucharist. Sometimes it happens at a wedding, a funeral, a baptism, a First Communion, or a Confirmation. Sometimes it happens when people are alone or facing difficulties in life. They describe it as a deep hunger for the spiritual nourishment that comes when they receive the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.

[Gophack]

I was a CEO Catholic for too long. While loosely raised Catholic, I wasn't required to go to church and it was easy not to go when there was no one to go with as a kid.

I was confirmed later than normal (23) right before I got married (in the church) and at the time tried to go to church regularly with my husband, but didn't really get anything out of it. My heart was still closed, and I didn't really repent all my sins, and I guess I still felt like an outsider. But when I was pregnant with my third child, at the same time my oldest started Catechism, I suddenly felt drawn back to the church. I knew I had to be the example for my children.

The best thing about it is that once I had the realization, I couldn't read enough about the Church and my faith, I started attending Mass every Sunday, and during Advent went to Confession for the first time in 20+ years. The weight lifted off my soul after Confession was almost palpable. I truly felt free from sin for the first time in years, and I had plenty to atone for.

Now, three years later, I feel blessed that the Holy Spirit guided me back to the Church, and I even find myself going sometimes during the week just because I want to, not because I feel I have to. I look forward to Mass on Sunday and receiving the Eucharist, and knowing that Jesus is right there with me, and He has and will forgive me and love me. When things get rough, I don't whine and complain (much) anymore, but I try and hand everything to Jesus and say, you know what's best for me, help me get through this.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share, and praise the Lord for bringing me home.

[madprof98]

My wife and I returned to the Church after many, many years. The local Catholic paper made us the cover story.

[heyheyhey]

Extraordinary testimonies.
Praised be the Lord, and may He continue to bless you abundantly!

Long, long time ago I lived in a small and very friendly parish where everyone knew everyone else. A young married couple moved into the area. They joined the parish and immediately became involved in some ministries only to leave the Catholic Church officially and noisily after a couple of months or so. They got "re-baptized" in some local Evangelical community.

It was a shock to all in the parish, and most of all to our elderly pastor - one of the finest priests I've ever known. No one in the church knew the reasons behind their decision. Some speculated that they came to the parish and got involved in it with the predetermined decision to leave the Catholic Church with a lot of noise, but no one knew for sure.

It took place over 25 years ago, and I still remember the first intercession said by the pastor on Sunday in the prayer of the faithful: Let us pray for those who left the Church because of our lack of charity.

I thought then that by saying the prayer our pastor told us what could be the actual reason for the young couple to leave our parish and the Church. And, even if they had other reasons, our true Christian charity might have prompted them to stay.

[tiki]

I read your story, it was great.

When I converted from Methodism to the Catholic Church my heart and convictions were solidly there for 2 years before I joined RCIA. I went to Mass, I prayed the prayers, I tried to live the life but something was holding me back. My friends would tell me I was ready, one even arranged for a priest to work with me privately. I just kept telling them I didn't know why but I felt sure I'd know when the time was right.

Finally, one evening I was talking to a friend and when I hung up the phone, I had made my decision. I turned to my husband and said, "I'm going to join the Catholic Church and I won't ask you to join with me but I'll need your cooperation. You'll have to get baptized and we'll have to have our marriage blessed."

He said okay way too easy. So something (the Holy Spirit?) urged me to push just a little harder and within 5 minutes I had him agreeing to attend the inquiry part of RCIA with no strings attached. If he dropped out I wouldn't say a word. After the inquiry he kept going but he never committed himself out loud to me.

I get cold chills when I think about how many things happened.

About the middle of October the priest asked the RCIA leaders if they would start another period of inquiry because he had some others who were interested. So the next time I saw my son I asked him to go. He gave me the "Mother, you have to be out of your mind look!" I just said "Please, just do it for me." Then I got a hold of my poor daughter-in-law and convinced her to join him, promising to babysit the kids while they were at class.

There was no turning back for any of us. We all came into Communion with the Church Easter 2000. My husband was baptized, my son and I had first Communion and Confirmation and my daughter-in-law who was baptized a Catholic was Confirmed.

There is more but this is long enough already.

[NYer]

Thank you all for witnessing to your faith! These stories are just beautiful. Many cradle catholics who, like me, strayed at some point in time from the faith, often find themselves called back through "extraordinary" means. In my case, it was a young man who asked me to be his sponsor at Confirmation. After years as a lapsed catholic, once inside that church, I didn't want the "moment" to end. I inhaled it, and left the rest up to God. Each day, I am more committed than the day before.

For converts, like you tiki, there is a wonderful web site where you can read the stories of others who entered the catholic church.

The purpose of The Coming Home Network International (CHNetwork) is to provide fellowship, encouragement and support for Protestant pastors and laymen who are somewhere along the journey or have already been received into the Catholic Church. The CHNetwork is committed to assisting and standing beside all inquirers, serving as a friend and an advocate.

Would you like to assist others on the journey home? Your help is needed especially if you have faced the same journey. There are others from your previous denomination who could use an encouraging word or someone to discuss specific issues with by email, phone, mail or even in person.

For more information please contact our office at 800-664-5110 or helpers@chnetwork.org. Please include your postal address in your message as well as your email.

The Coming Home Network International

Marcus Grodi, who founded CHN, has a wonderful program entitled Journey Home that runs on EWTN, Monday nights.

[BlackVeil]

Because childhood memories surface This is listed as a reason why people return to the Church. I am sure that has always been so, but will it be in future? The type of childhood memories which people now have of Catholicism do not have any strong cultural pull. The practices are not different from the rest of life, and follow various passing fashions.

[Jeff Chandler]

What a wonderful witness!

I have had the priviledge of seeing similar examples of the Holy Spirit's work.

[Aquinasfan]

Thanks for your story. From reading your posts it's hard to believe that you've been back for only three years. You're very knowledgeable.

I had a reconversion experience myself in my early twenties, although I never formally left the Church. My reconversion was actually prompted by an early "mid-life crisis." At 22 I had a beautiful girlfriend and was graduating with a degree in a high-paying field, yet I felt completely empty and was very depressed.

I remember one fateful day when I was 19 and had met my college girlfriend. I remember saying to myself, "Thanks for everything God. I have everything I need now. I'll get back to you when I'm about to die." Looking back I can see that everything started to become unglued after that point. My heart was divided. My heroes were Jesus and Mick Jagger. Pretty embarassing in retrospect. Fortunately, I never stopped going to Mass.

After graduating I decided to change my career to something I loved and my girlfriend dumped me. I then began to take some responsibility for my spiritual life. I clearly remember going into a Catholic bookstore to purchase a Bible and thinking, "I hope these people don't think I'm some kind of religious nut."

Within three years both of my parents died. I can see that God "turned me around" just in time to survive the loss of my parents.

I spent most of my twenties sorting things out and married at thirty. I'm now happily married to a wonderful Catholic woman and we have two lovely children. Our home is solidly Catholic, and I don't think it would have been had I not experienced the suffering I did in my twenties.

[MudPuppy]

I love reading these stories.
My abbreviated and not well- written testimony:
I came back to the Church about 4 years ago after a 20 year absence. I'm also constantly reading and looking for things Catholic :) Being raised in a Catholic home certainly helped...although, I don't remember ever learning anything in my CCD classes. I hated that my Dad always made us go to Church on Holy days and every single Sunday :)
By the time I was 17 yrs old I knew better than Dad and had no interest in religion...I could find God in a forest and didn't need a Church. Didn't need a priest to confess because I could talk directly to God. You've all heard it before.
After a failed marriage and the end of my time in the Marine Corps I struggled daily with doing the right thing. I prayed quite a bit but still didn't go to Church.
When my daughter was 8, I enrolled her in the RCIC program so she could make her 1st Communion. Since I was making her go, I felt I had to set a good example so I volunteered as a prayer aide and we attended Church.
My son was finally baptized when he turned 7 and I've since married in the Church.
But the real heartfelt conversion happened about 4 years ago....reading Bud McFarlane's books definitely pushed this process along. My eyes were opened and my heart softened to hear the Good News.
My younger sisters and brother are still in shock that I've become a "Holy Roller" and I'm still trying to explain how exciting it is and why they should be excited also.
I highly recommend www.catholicity.com

[ThomasMore]

Wonderful testimonies to the grace of conversion.

Most of my adult life was spent in Hedonism. I was born and raised Catholic but by the time I was eighteen, I was totally enamored with satisfying my appetite for the passions. I loved fame and fortune. Sex and Silver were my primary interests. I was an entrepreneur and a musician. When I wasn't working I was playing. I lead a very selfish hedonistic lifestyle. Eighty hours a week of work and playing out was not unusual. I played with a blues band called "Roomful of Blues" in my younger days, and then with a big showband, "TNT", later on. Life was fast and perceivably good.

But that all changed in 1988. A couple of born again Christians challenged my spiritual side which lead me to ask, "What happened to Christ in your life?" The death of my mother, who was a saintly and devout Catholic woman, was of no small consequence in my conversion, either. The night before she died, she told me she was offering up her suffering (she had cancer and suffered for six long months) for the souls of her deceased husband and the conversion of her three sons (me being the middle). The grace of conversion lead me further into a desire to have a closer relationship with God. This lead me to state, "I want to be a GOOD whatever (Catholic or Protestant)!" I was lead to read the early fathers of the Church and quickly found out how Catholic the Church was in those early centuries. I fell in love with the Church Fathers and spent the next seven years reading the thirty-eight volumes of their writings.

By 1990 I was not only back in the faith but was now attending daily Mass, frequenting the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receiving the Holy Eucharist daily. It was a very powerful and ongoing conversion of heart that lead me to the Charismatic Renewal, the Cursillo Movement, back to school to study theology and philosophy and eventually to the Permanent Diaconate.

I've spent the last 10 years of my life, together with my wife of 30 years, in service to God's people. They have been the best years of my life. If you would have told me fifteen years ago I would be a Deacon today, I would have laughed in your face. But today I see the folly of my past ways. Along the way, on my own "journey home", many a convert played a big role in my own learning experience. Some I've come to know personally and will be ever grateful to God for these relationships.

TM

[Salvation]

Wonderful find!

Bookmarking this.

In our series "Catholics Can Come Home Again" (book by Carrie Kemp) the reasons coincide with this lisit totally!

[Salvation]

Thanks for sharing your story!

[Salvation]

And thank you for letting us read your story! So inspiriing! Praise the Lord!

[Salvation]

Let us pray for those who left the Church because of our lack of charity.

We pray to the Lord,

Lord hear our prayer.

[Salvation]

Your story exemplifies the way Jesus evangelized!

Talking to people one on one. Different words and actions for different people.

Consider the Samaritan woman versus the man perched in a tree to just get a glimpse of Christ versus the good thief on the Cross. He treated them all differently!

Thanks for sharing.

[Salvation]

**Fortunately, I never stopped going to Mass.**

One of the secrets of success -- keep showing up!

Thanks for sharing your story and God bless!

[Salvation]

**When my daughter was 8, I enrolled her in the RCIC program so she could make her 1st Communion**

Thanks for sharing. It is beautiful.

Many Catholics don't know that there is a RCIA for children.

[xzins]

The strongest reason above (IMHO, of course) is #3. The others don't mean that much to me.

They should replace one of the 10 with "has a presiding bishop with real authority."

As a methodist, I really wish we didn't have this coffee-clatch of bishops who jaw around and do their own thing, the denomination be damned. I wish one of them could kick the others' butts and make them go to the left or to the right.

At least, if I disagreed with the head bighat, I could know the official policy, and that I need to leave that organization.

[Salvation]

**By 1990 I was not only back in the faith but was now attending daily Mass, frequenting the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receiving the Holy Eucharist daily. It was a very powerful and ongoing conversion of heart that lead me to the Charismatic Renewal, the Cursillo Movement, back to school to study theology and philosophy and eventually to the Permanent Diaconate.**

You have an inspirational story. It is a step by step progression as you posted. God bless, Deacon!