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.

[Salvation]

"Taste and see the goodness of the Lord"

[MudPuppy]

The Lord has a sense of humor...I've been teaching RCIC for 7-12th graders for 2 years now. I love telling them WHY we do things and talking about the history of the Church.
It's always fun when I tell them the Exorcist was based off a true story and we discuss demons & why Oija boards are very bad things, etc. They get the HELL scared into them.
Never a dull class :)
They are tasked with asking any question they have on the faith or the Church. If there's something I don't know, I ask the priest. He visits our class often.

To Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary

[HumanaeVitae]

Wonderful thread. I was raised in the Church, but fell away when I went of to (a Jesuit!) college. I got wrapped up in Randian libertarianism and agnosticism before meeting my wife and coming back into the fold four years ago.

Interesting story: at the Jesuit college I attended (and I believe all Catholic universities and colleges), six hours of theology were required for graduation. In the first theology class I took, the book we studied was Matthew Fox's "Original Blessing", which denied the fall of Man and Original Sin. Fox had already been defrocked for writing this heretical book, but there his book was, being taught out in the open at a ostensibly Catholic University. I was a skeptic at the time, so it didn't bother me, but looking back it's not hard to see why so many Catholics don't understand the basics of the faith...

Cheers...

[Desdemona]

Funny thing...I really never left. I got lazy about going to Mass while I was in college, but I never left. In fact, as a teen-ager, I was ridiculed a lot for being traditional in many ways. That doen't mean that I haven't needed Confession more often than I went. I didn't realize it so much as I do now. I confess to my fair share of human failings.

I was taught badly in Catholic schools and some things that are not part of the church. My home life as a kid was that of the post-Vatican II hyper-drive. My family isn't strict about much of anything beyond Mass and meatless Fridays during Lent. Heaven forbid we break that. Well, and Grace before dinner.

In the last year, as things in my home parish unravelled, I came to realize that as warm as that congregation is, they're more protestant than Catholic and, frankly, I want to be Catholic. There's just so much more depth. Eucharistic Adoration is so peaceful. The Rosary is wonderful for helping to put things in their proper perspective. Private devotions and the Liturgy of the Hours are very helpful. These are all recent discoveries.

I do like to help people, but I recognize that they have to want it. I am giving serious consideration to volunteering in the archdiocesan program called "Coming Home." I also have a great interest in spreading orthodoxy among people my age and younger (under 35 crowd). There's a lot no one ever told us - and actually the blank slate makes learning much easier. The more I learn, the more I realize how rich the Church, not just as the Body of Christ, but culturally, is.

Daily I pray for those who have fallen away. They have to decide they want to return, no one can force them. But we're always here when they are ready.

[xzins]

The difference is that your head bishop can kick butt if he wants. Apparently, he chose that route with Card. Law.

I'd probably nail a few more than he did in your denom, and I'd definitely nail a lot more in my own. As far as I'm concerned, we have more anti-bishops floating around than the real mccoys.

[Gophack]

I also have a great interest in spreading orthodoxy among people my age and younger (under 35 crowd). There's a lot no one ever told us - and actually the blank slate makes learning much easier.

I'm 33 and feel the same way as you. I also think that our generation is more "conservative" and more willing to sacrifice in some areas, much as our grandparents generation were so willing to sacrifice their lives in war. I try and talk in my parish about practicing NFP ... not being lecturer about it, but just talking about how we use it and what a blessing it's been to our marriage and family. The younger families are more receptive to NFP, even if they are not currently practicing, than the 40+ crowd. (I think they just don't want to admit they've been wrong most of their lives).

Young people need something to believe in. Of course this is Jesus Christ ... but at the same time, they knew to know in their hearts that their time at church is not in vain, that living the Gospel, though difficult at times, is believing the Gospel.

On another thread, I said that I started practicing NFP after my firstborn was conceived while I was using a barrier method (as a pro-lifer, I believed only the pill was evil because it was an abortificant.) After learning NFP in my pre-marital class I said, well, I don't know, but the church is teaching it and I want to be a better Catholic (this was years before my re-conversion). I know that by faithfully practicing NFP and learning more about why the Church teaches what she teaches has led be into a deeper relationship with God, even though at the beginning I was skeptical and only practicing NFP to try and be obedient.

I hope there are more ministries aimed at young people, particularly being CEOs fully into the faith. I commend your work!

[Desdemona]

There's more to what I am interested in doing than re-emphasizing Humanae Vitae. It could just be that I'm single and, while I would very much like my own family, God has something else in mind for me for now (I wish He'd let me in on it).

Things like the Real Presence, the Blessed Mother's true place, learning the Doctors of the Church, true Theology - that's the meat and potatoes of the Faith. That's what has been missing.

[Gophack]

You're right, I didn't mean to sound "one issue", I was using it as an example.

I would like to see an expansion of the Rosary for young people, perhaps with a combination Rosary/Bible Study. Also, regular Eucharistic Adoration. I like your idea about the church fathers, perhaps a "bible study" studying the church fathers (focusing on a different father each month and what they contributed to the deposit of faith.)

[Catholicguy]

<> God Bless you, ThomasMore. Great story. It echoed St. Augustine's and your Mom sounds like she was St. Monica.<>

[Aquinasfan]

It's always fun when I tell them the Exorcist was based off a true story and we discuss demons & why Oija boards are very bad things, etc. They get the HELL scared into them.

Fear of the Lord can begin with fear of the devil. I actually think this is one of the most effective ways to penetrate teenage malaise. It can shock them out of their dull, two-dimensional, MTV world into the 3D world of good vs. evil.

Download this interview with the exorcist from the archdiocese of NY while it's still available on-line.

[nina0113]

Back when I was a lapsed Baptist, almost the only thing I thought the Catholic Church had RIGHT was her position on birth control. If you really believe in a personal God, who pays personal attention to you and your needs, why would you not believe that he knows how many children you need also?

One of my sisters & her husband belong to a non-denom storefront (literally - it's in an industrial park) church. I have heard them with my own ears ask God to find them a good parking place. Yet they contracept. I'm just waiting for an opening to bring up the illogic of their practices.

[ThomasMore]

She was a real saint. I don't remember a day that went by not seeing her pray, intently, for her deceased husband's and her sons' salvation. My younger brother, a recovering alcoholic, was actively alcoholic for 25 years. For all 25 of those years, my Mom prayed. She never saw him sober, but she does now. He's been in recovery for 7 years. It all began with a rosary! :^) (BVM is powerful intercessor)

As for me, I wasn't a basket case like my brother but I was very much an Augustine type. Praise the Lord for His grace, love and patience. (Amazing Grace has always been one of my favorites)

Blessed be God, forever!

TM

[Gophack]

Many protestants are turning to NFP. There was a great article on the Couple to Couple League website about a protestant couple who wrote a book about NFP. Remember, most Protestant churches opposed all forms of birth control until the 1930s. Many are going back to their roots. If they go far enough back, they'll find themselves back in the Catholic Church! :-)