A return trip across the Tiber
Every year we Catholics get a welcome jolt in the thousands upon thousands of new converts that enter the Church during Easter Vigil. In recent years approximately 100,000-150,000 people have become Catholic each year in this country. This is cause for great rejoicing and as one of those people I am very appreciative of my fellow converts. I can’t think of anything more joyous than being received into the fullness of the Catholic Church.
But there is a lesser-known and less-joyous aspect of all these conversions. I have heard from a variety of sources that almost half of all new converts are no longer regularly attending Mass just a year after their reception into the Church. Many who swim the Tiber are making a return trip out of Rome. For example, the former Episcopal bishop of Albany, who became Catholic in 2007 to much fanfare, has recently returned to the Episcopal church. This is a serious issue and I would even say a crisis.
Most Catholic parishes pray for those to be received into the Church at every Mass leading up to the Easter vigil. But after the vigil, those prayers mostly dry up. We need to continue to pray for new converts that they maintain their relationship with Christ through the Church. We also need to work hard to make new converts feel welcome and do all we can to help them live their Catholic faith.
Next Sunday, if you see a recently-received Catholic at your parish, go up to them and strike up a conversion with them. You may very well be helping to stem a tide of swimmers going the wrong way across the Tiber.
During the Intentions in the Mass until Pentacost, the newly baptized Catholics(Neophytes) are prayed for each Sunday. And the following year, they are hosts for a reception following the Easter Vigil for that years New Catholics. They are always invited to look at the numerous Ministries we have at the Parish and to get involved. We (RCIA Team) tell them to take some time “Being Catholic” and then investigate where the Holy Spirit takes them to. There are always going to be some that you seldom see, but for the most part; they stay pretty “Fired Up.”
St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Community
Cumming, Ga. (Atlanta Archdiocese)
Tiber Swim Team Class of 2003 here. The hardest part of converting is finding the Catholic Church in the local parishes. I had given up, as all of the parishes in my area are parishioner run, priest unfriendly, New Age, practically Protestant messes. The hippy 60′s-era priests here tell their remarried (without annulments) parishioners that they would NEVER tell anyone not to take communion. When NFP is mentioned, parishioners scream, “You know what you call people who use NFP? PARENTS!” As if being a parent is horrific. When my husband went through RCIA, the priest told him that no one has patron saints anymore. During Lent, the parish didn’t do stations of the cross. When we asked him about it, he told us that if we were interested in those old-timey practices, we could certainly do them ourselves as a family group.
Although only 10% of Catholic priests have been accused of sexual misconduct, 100% of the parishes in my area have been afflicted with these bad priests. My husband and I finally just sat down this winter and said that this was not what we gave up our family, our friends, and our futures for. What we have locally in SW Ohio is not the Catholic Church but some sick perversion.
I hope this is not the case in the rest of the country. But from what I’ve seen of Bp. Mahoney, etc., I suspect it is.
Thank God, we found the Tridentine Rite parishes run by the FSSP. THIS is what we thought we were joining in the first place. In the Tridentine Rite, the parishioner’ need for prominence isn’t what Church is all about; worship of Our Lord is what is primal.
If we hadn’t found the Tridentine Rite, I would have concluded that Jesus was wrong and that the Devil had triumphed over His Church, given the state of the Catholic Church in America today. If we hadn’t found the Tridentine Rite, we would have joined the local Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
I honestly believe that, of the seven parishes in our town, not one of them is actually Catholic. They are all just Protestant Churches with Catholic names on them. Well, there’s one with a really good, faithful priest, but the parishioners hate him for his holiness and I’m sure he’ll gladly leave when his six-year “sentence” is up.
We were astute enough to figure out that the majority of “Catholic” parishes in the USA have actually left the Church in all but name only. If we hadn’t found the Tridentine Rite FSSP parishes, we would not have believed the Catholic Church still existed.
And that’s why many converts leave.
I think that when people join a Church which is obviously in crisis, then they shouldn’t expect anything less than imperfection. Sure, Catholic culture has declined, popular piety is down, and so forth; does that mean there is nothing for converts to do but tuck tail and run because the situation isn’t ideal? The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church; that is a Divine Promise. What we’re in now is simply a skirmish, a time of tribulation. Should we abandon Christ when things get tough, or we aren’t “personally fulfilled,” whatever that is? When Christ was in mortal agony in the Garden of Olives, he must have looked less than impressive: his frame wracked with such agony that he sweat blood, fell upon his face on the ground, and repeatedly prayed for this agony to pass. Then the soldiers (the secular powers) marched against him. His apostles fled like cowards. Today, when Christ’s Body, the Church, is wracked by the same anguish, should we flee for our own comfort, or stand by Christ in his affliction?
As it is said, “Could you not watch with me for even one hour?” I, for one, think it is best to imitate the Blessed Virgin, standing at the foot of the Cross; for without conflict, there is no Crown.
Thomas, I don’t believe that as a convert, I expected perfection. However, as an outsider, it wasn’t so “obvious” to me that the Church was in crisis. Yes, I knew about the sexual abuse crisis but, hey, I went to public school. I was used to seeing people in power sexually abuse children and never believed that this scandal was limited to the Church.
However, when you’re in RCIA, you are presented with the teachings of the Church. You’re not presented with the “obvious crisis.” You’re not told that, although RCIA materials state the Real Presence in the Eucharist, many priests and most laity don’t believe in it. I’ve sat through Masses where the priest omitted the creed entirely because he said that there wasn’t one creed of the Church that he could honestly believe. I’ve sat through Mass on Christmas Day to have a priest relate stories of Tibetan prayer flags and how Tibetan culture and spirituality is superior to Catholic culture.
When I was in RCIA (in a different archdiocese than I now live in), the RCIA team referred to my priest as “Superpriest.” I didn’t realize how true that was, how blessed I was with a good priest to teach my RCIA course. I certainly wasn’t prepared to move away six months after coming into the Church into an archdiocese filled with ravenous wolves in priests’ clothing. Spiritually, it was devastating to be at Mass week after week, month after month, year after year, listening to nothing short of heresy being promoted in the “homilettes” (no more than three minutes long). Even as a new Catholic, I knew that what was being taught was wrong. My husband and I would stay up half the night going through the Catechism (or the GIRM) to try to find some justification for what was being taught in our parish. We WANTED our parish to be good and faithful and in communion with Rome.
Everything we’ve learned about the Church, we’ve taught ourselves through reading good books written by good Catholics. We were watching with Jesus for more than hour in a parish with liturgical dance and a priest who refused to wear priestly vestments. We stayed for years because we didn’t want to abandon Jesus. We were afraid that we had been “leaning upon our own understanding” when we decided to become Catholic and had misled ourselves into believing the Catholic Church was truly the Church Jesus founded.
I was never looking for “personal fulfillment.” I was looking for Jesus’ one true Church. Based upon the conduct in our archdiocese, we feared we’d been hoodwinked.
We feel blessed that Jesus has lead us to an FSSP parish. We no longer endure Mass. We no longer dread going to Mass. It’s a crying shame when you dread going to God’s house.
I will have a substantive comment after we hear from the experts- Queen Elizabeth, head of his “church”, Rowan Williams, another head of his “church”, “bishop” Vicki Gene Robinson, theologian and Papal Advisor. God bless us all.
It’s a good thing that the sacraments work ex opere operato–that is, regardless of the holiness of the priest. It is very sad that many of these heresies and liturgical abuses occur, but that does not mean that the Church is a sinking ship. If you do not believe Our Lord’s words “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it,” then you’re doubting God, directly. Yes, it’s sad that many people have been hoodwinked by the false interpretations of Vatican II, but if you read the documents that Vatican II actually produced, they are plainly orthodox. There is no such thing as the “Tridentine Rite.” It is all the Roman (Latin) Rite–the difference, as Pope Benedict XVI continually reaffirms is that there is an ordinary form and an extraordinary form of the one Roman Rite Mass. There is, in calling the extraordinary form a separate “rite”, a danger in thinking that you belong to a separate community from the rest of the Catholic Church in your area–like the SSPX and not the FSSP–just be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater when rejecting heresy and (as it was so well put recently) “liturgesy.” The Church will always have sinful members, but the Church is not defined by the sins of her members; rather, She calls her members to perfection. I agree with taking recourse to a parish that has orthodox and orthoprax priests. I just caution against rejecting Peter because of Judas–considering leaving the Church because She has members who sin (even when they sin so gravely as misrepresenting Her teachings from the pulpit or at the altar).
I entered the Catholic Church in April 2009 in Vancouver, Canada. Our Archdiocese seems to be generally orthodox. Our current Archbishop was the former head of Religious Education at the Vatican, I believe, and he is an excellent leader and educator, unsurprisingly. The track record of orthodox (some would say conservative) bishops goes back a while. This is somewhat ironic given the overall religious climate in Vancouver, which is quite agnostic/new-agey/whatever-works-for-you.
My parish is run by Dominicans, who are energetic and orthodox. It has been a huge blessing to be a part of this church. I am happy here…About a year ago, I attended Latin Mass once, and found it nice, but I felt compunction to leave my parish.
It’s going to take more than welcoming new converts and praying for their steadfastness in the Catholic faith and sacraments. The Catholic Church has been on shaky ground since Vatican II and because it has been redefining itself and the roll of it’s followers, many converts don’t seem to be members of what they were looking for because the Catholic Church since Vatican II has been in a continual effort of clarifying what it is and what it represents. It has watered itself down and then attempted to distill through various processes what it once represented and stood for. It claims nothing ever really changed but the fact is it is changing today and is in revolution within itself. The Catholic Church has failed to stick with the basics in order to atract and accomadate the diverse. Now it wants to revove the basics and it offends the diverse. That’s waht happens when you have too many chiefs and not enough indians.
revive ot revove.
what not waht
Serena,
I didn’t mean to imply that you were the one I was referring to with my comments. There’s no doubt in my mind that you might well be in a very bad parish, and diocese in general. Since we’re currently experiencing widespread heresy and apostasy, there is much to be desired among many priests, religious, and parishes in general. I was speaking generally in reference to many converts who do leave the Church because it doesn’t “live up to their standards,” so to speak. But I empathize because it is very difficult to stand by in many of these more “progressive” parishes. I’m lucky enough to live in a parish that is very Orthodox, with the Church remaining open 24/7, perpetual adoration chapel, a dozen first class Relics on display, and daily Mass. If I had to experience what many others do, I might well be discouraged also.
Serena
I thank God that you at least had good RCIA training.
What has been said is true. We cannot judge the Church by OUR standards. We must always remember that even when it looks pretty rough, God is in charge.
I worked with RCIA for several years and always, always insisted that we stick to orthodoxy rather than opinion. At times, that meant teaching our catechumens (we have a mixed group of neophytes and candidates) something different than what they were actually seeing happen. Not always comfortable, but the catechumens quickly saw that the Church, in practice, is not perfect. I always taught that perfection was the goal.
That said, when I was away for a while, a Pastoral Associate started his ‘lesson’ with “God is dead”. I heard about this across the waves and discovered that he was practically attacked, not only by the RCIA assistants, but by some of the catechumens! Sadly he was the only chaplain who’d offered to do more than one talk. We did not accept his offer.
Even in that group though, very few are actively practicing their faith now. The reasons are varied and predictable, but all sad nonetheless.
I reverted to the Catholic church almost 3 years ago. I live in a small city with one Catholic church. We have a pertual adoration chapel, with adoration 24/7 365 days a year. Our current pastor has been here for a little over a year. He follows the leadership of the Bishop very closely. Returned the tabernacle to the main church. Moved all choirs to the choir loft. Emphasizes correct dress, silence in the sanctuary, and proper reverence for the real presence. It has been a truly wonderful experience to return home.
Indeed, and amen. We must be a people of encouragement for all of our new brothers and sisters in Christ. One possible is to have an ongoing class/study/social group to help the neophytes feel more at home in their new faith; to give them people they can connect to and look forward to meeting each Sat/Sunday.
Another is to educate the cradle Catholics to be more welcoming to the new members.
Please look at the triumphalistic language you use, and imagine reading, for example, an Episcopalian/Anglican blog written exactly the same way as yours. As you will well know much of The Episcopal Church including the Presiding Bishop joined The Episcopal Church from Roman Catholicism.
First sentence: calling them “converts”. If only true conversion were this easy! For some conversion may lead to joining Roman Catholicism, and for others joining Roman Catholicism may result in conversion – but they are by no means identical in the way you imply.
First sentence: describing it as “entering the Church”. We enter the Church through the sacrament of baptism. The Right Rev. Daniel Herzog did not “enter the Church” when he “swam the Tiber”, nor did he “leave the Church” when he did the return lap. He joined the Church when he was baptised, and he has not left it.
Certainly, it is fascinating to read that after a year in the Roman Catholic Church, half have ceased to regularly participate in the Eucharist.
I relate to Serena completely. I am a revert of about 15 years and her experience has been my experience.
I came back because I discovered the Church’s authority and infallibility through a reading of the Early Fathers. I now understand that leaving again isn’t an option so I had to embark on church shopping within Catholicism.
Living in Seattle made this very difficult but FINALLY found Blessed Sacrament Church which is a Dominican Parish.
Orthodoxy and obedience to the Church, Gregorian Chant, the smells and the bells, all of it.
THIS is what I signed up for, not aging relics of the 60′s working from within to destroy the Church.
I don’t need “Fr” Richard McBrien,”Sr”Joan Chittister, “Fr”Hans Kung, “Commonweal” and other pseudo-catholics fixing the Church Jesus founded. The Holy Spirit is leading us into all Truth so we really don’t need their services.
It is no mystery to me why ex-catholic is the 2nd largest denomination in the country and why about 35% of catholics leave.
When Fulton Sheen said years ago that if you want your kids to leave the Church send them to a Catholic college you know there’s a problem.
I really tire of people downplaying the problem as the Church being “imperfect”as though there is nitpicking going on.
I think large percentages of priests and nuns and to a lesser extent Bishops are blatantly heretics and in rebellion to Church authority.
Yes Jesus did promise the Church will survive till the end of time. He did NOT promise the Church in AMERICA would survive, so claiming this promise for us in this country is false comfort. Witness the Churches in Ephesus, Smyrna and others swallowed up by history.
Jesus also promised to cut off every branch that doesn’t bear fruit and throw it into the fire so the “relax and quit worrying ” crowd really needs to rethink.
The only way to rectify this is through personal Holiness achieved through Prayer and Sacrament and living out our individual callings faithfully.
When the people will lead the leaders will follow.
I think we have a very grim situation within the Church in this country and I’m starting to smell smoke.
So what is it that happens to Protestant reverts? While every individual’s story is unique, I think some generalizations are fairly safe. These are generally souls who come from backgrounds already well-rooted in evangelical Christianity, in a life of Bible reading, prayer, and personal relationship with God. When these souls discover the truth about the Catholic Church, they fall in love with her. They are thrilled when they finally come, at least on some level, to apprehend the Catholic vision of the Church and to see and and understand her glory — “ever ancient, ever new.” They love the Church that spans the ages, the Church of St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Newman, Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict XVI. They love the moral courage of the Church, which stands like an adamantine bulwark against the evils of abortion, pornography, and relativism. They love the magnificent beauty of her ancient European cathedrals, her basilicas, her paintings and sculptures, her Gregorian chant and polyphony. They love her theology, which they encounter in the writings of great doctors and theologians of the Church. They love her incarnational vision of life, which they encounter in the writings of numerous Catholic novelists.
But then they join a local Catholic parish …
The process usually begins with a desert experience called RCIA (Rite for the Christian Initiation of Adults) — a series of meetings and classes in which they are treated more like preschoolers than intelligent adults, spoon fed pathological doses of hand-holding and introspection, and treated to ample quantities of shared feelings. If they survive that, they’re welcomed into an Amchurch parish, whose music is Haugan and Haas, whose homilies are psychology tips from Dr. Phil, whose art and architecture is a combination of bog Bauhaus and degenerate Art Deco, and whose members never read traditional Catholic authors but whose discussion groups can’t stop talking about Richard Rohr, Thomas Groome, Anthony Tambasco, Sr. Joan Chittister, Andrew Sullivan, and John Dominic Crossan.
It would be easy enough to say their conversion to the Catholic Faith was never authentic, or that their understanding was incomplete. Lord knows there was ample collective agonizing, introspection and speculation over that question when Rod Dreher defected to Eastern Orthodoxy. But as that undertaking made plain, the issues are neither simple nor always clear.