Welcoming Estranged Catholics Back to Church
In the December 11th edition of OSV Newsweekly, I wrote an article on welcoming estranged Catholic back to the Church:
As Christmas approaches, there is one thing we can be as sure of seeing as Santa Claus and incessant ads for holiday deals: full Catholic churches. As predictable as the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, Catholics of all stripes return to their parish every Christmas, many visiting for the first time since the previous Easter. The Catholics in attendance at a typical Christmas Mass run the gamut from daily Mass communicants to irregularly attending families to those who are estranged from the Church but come out of familial obligation.
As practicing Catholics, what can we and our parishes do to reach out to those who are estranged from or perhaps just uninterested in the Catholic Church? While this question has many possible answers, it will be helpful to review some basic principles that should form the foundation of any outreach to lapsed Catholics.
Also, be sure to read the sidebar for the article titled “The Mercy of God” – it is a great story of God’s great love for us!
I read your article and I need to point something very important out to you. Just because a person who was a catholic no longer is part of any parish nor attends catholic services does not mean they do not have a relationship with Jesus, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. More often than not, coming “back” to the RCC is returning to the institution of the RCC to continue to live out one’s commitment to Christ. Most people I know of, which includes myself, that have stopped being part of the RCC did not stop being Christians but ended their relationship with an institution of human beings that in many instances caused them great harm by not being Christ-like. For these, the church needs to take ownership of the wounds that it caused. That has never been a strong point for the RCC and it’s leaders and people.
Others, I know of left because they wanted more of Jesus and were not being fed by their church community. Good catechesis, for all age groups, for many many years prior to VatII and many many years after VatII was extremely lacking and poorly done where existed. Due to this many left because they didn’t even know what being catholic really was in its essence.
You have not been a catholic that long so did not experience what so many did before and after Vat. II and the subsequent 30 years before you became a Catholic. I was there and very much involved within the church structure. To date, I have yet to see RC churches open to seek to bring about healing, to acknowledge the part the RCC played in turning people away.