Catholics going door to door?

[IHeartBenedict]

Hello.

I was wondering what you all think of going door to door as Catholics in order to evangelize. What (if any) experiences do you have, was it a good experience, (or not). Would you consider doing it? Why/why not?

I would like your feedback.

Ishii

There is a Catholic ministry that does that: I remember seeing their literature. But for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it. Maybe if you ask the apologists they will know.

 

[ishii]

This technique is long overdue in our modern society. Didn’t Jesus visit the homes of some of those who became his followers, i.e. Zachaeus?

Where I live, almost in the shadow of the parish church, in a community that is nominally 75% Catholic, we get religious solicitors several times a week from the Mormons, JWs, and from new congregations being formed by new ministers of small storefront churches of no particular denomination.

Recently, my godson’s wife has been taken in by JWs who show up three times a week to see her; they crossed out portions of my Bible she was using that they disagree with. She still wears a medal of the Virgin, but they constantly insist that the BVM was not a virgin, and have convinced her to not let a priest, or anyone else, baptise her new infants…there’s no such thing as a “sacrament”, you know.
They send a teenaged “minister” around weekly to teach the 10 year old things that sound like reworking of Jack Chick Comics, and have given her one of their “corrected Bibles” that she is expected to carry with her to school and elsewhere. This morning a man and a woman were allowed to spend an unsupervised hour with the 8-year-old boy, telling him to avoid the “devils” who lead the Catholics and reading to him from the JW Bible.

At least the Mormons who come around are polite and avoid being negative about others’ beliefs.

Yes! Jesus said to Zachaeus that he would be visiting his home. I believe Jesus said that to me, too, a few years back as I was walkng to mass.

You are right about the JW’s. They are sneaky and seem to resort to deception to try to convert someone over to their religion. I know this from firsthand experience. The Mormons are more polite and straightforward.

Thanks for your comments.

Ishii

 

[bettyg51]

In 1993, the NCCB - National Council for Catholic Evangelization published Go and Make Disciples, a study guide for implementation of evangelization in a parish. It was very helpful. I don’t know if it is still in print.
The survey we used was based on what the Legion of Mary uses, but was modified somewhat.
The benefit to me was that it motivated me to study apologetics, which is why I’m a fan of Catholic Answers. It was a big help to me. We passed out Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth to those we thought would read it.
I was taught that we are planting seeds so do not worry about whether we see the seeds sprout. If it takes seven people to plant the seeds before one sprouts, it is worth it to be one of those sowing the seed. If nothing else, we cleared up some misconceptions from the “usual suspects” that spread lies about the Catholic faith.

 

[ishii]

Thanks for all of your responses. I will probably consider doing this.

Ishii

 

[T_Hope]

This is a very interesting dialogue. As a former mormon, who is happily beginning RCIA in less than two weeks, and has never been happier, btw, I would not answer the door. I don’t like the idea of “selling” religion.

However, I would talk to you, a Catholic, wanting to share your faith at … say, a park, or some very public place. From my perspective, I’d be more apt to walk up to a table to ask for information when it’s offered because I want to be the one knocking, and asking, and seeking. If I am not doing the asking, the chances of some salesperson wanting to sell me something is not going to get my attention.

I am the sort of person who likes to talk to people. And if I meet someone who is generally willing to talk to me, I like to find common ground. That’s hard to do on a doorstep in the time you have to catch someone’s attention.

I’ve never proselyted as we are talking about here. But people need to know what you know and what I am learning. It is life-changing. It’s a miracle! And I think that there are countless ways you can do this. Lots of wonderful suggestions have been made in this thread. I would add another - I would suggest that you be your best self in every situation, and talk to people and listen to them. You may meet someone today who is longing for what you have - be looking for that person because I promise, they are looking for you. And not necessarily on a doorstep -

Hope

 

[CD_Michels]

Our parish did door to door evangelizing for 10 years. We had an increase in people coming back to Reconciliation after being away for many years, increased enrollment in religion classes for the public school kids, and one person came to RCIA. We found others that needed information on annulments. We had a script we used for our “surveys.” We handed out a brochure and some helpful information, based on the conversation. People were very welcoming and friendly. Many Protestants said they should be doing this too. Most conversations were only five minutes long because we went to every door in the neighborhood.
The question I asked non-Catholics was “Is there anything about the Catholic faith you would like to know more about?” If you don’t know, tell them you will get back to them.
The question I asked Catholics was, “Have you ever thought about coming back to the Catholic Church?” Regardless whether you decide to go door-to-door or not, everyone should memorize these two questions. Once I asked a lapsed Catholic this question at a party. She thanked me a year later after she came back to the Church. She couldn’t remember what I asked her, but she remembered that it was gentle and made her think about it.
The most promising leads were followed up by a personal letter from our deacon inviting them to some program or group in the parish.

I participated in a Parish based door-to-door outreach that used almost the same script as this and had a very similar outcome that was overwhelmingly positive. This event was organized by Stella Jeffrey who was on EWTN with Scott Hahn talking about door-to-door outreaches.

 

[Subrosa]

Hello.

I was wondering what you all think of going door to door as Catholics in order to evangelize. What (if any) experiences do you have, was it a good experience, (or not). Would you consider doing it? Why/why not?

I would like your feedback.

Ishii

Hi Ishii -

I do it regularly in my position as a memeber of The Legion of Mary. It is a full part of the ministry. It is interesting in that I get a wide veriety of responses. Some are completely uninterested, others want to discuss different religious aspects, many simply want to be asked to return to church and know that they are welcome.

I must say that you need to get out of your comfortable place and get some guts in order to do it.

Feel free to contact me via private message is you’ld like more.

Subrosa

 

[Alan55]

Another option is to do some loving service in a neighborhood. This approach is described in a wonderful book “Conspiracy of Kindness” by Steve Sjogren, an evangelical pastor. He, together with others from his church, would perform service projects such as car washes. Always free. When people asked why they were doing the project, they’d simply say that they were members of such-and-such a church and they wanted to show the love of God for their neighbors. If the person wanted to talk, great, but they didn’t push the conversation. If they wanted more information, they’d give them a business card with information about their church – address, service times, phone number. They found that people were very, very responsive. It made the church visible in the best possible way. Sjogren’s book provides lots of ideas for such projects.

In one church I attended, our small group did a service project like that. We went to the beach near our home in San Diego and picked up trash with our kids. I can’t tell you how many people came up to us to say thanks. Didn’t do our kids any harm either.

 

[angelic06]

I have a huge disgust and total contempt with the idea of going door to door. I know that when I was younger people from the local Baptist churches and the Jehovah Witnesses (and I think also the Mormons?) used to come from time to time to our household. My mother said that they (the JWs) tried to burn our garden once, and she even showed me a note from them which said that they did this and that our souls are going to be like this.

I assume that not all JWs act this way, but I just want to make sure we Catholics don’t get implicated with this sort of activity, considering we are already suspect in light of the sex abuse crises, etc. I suggest instead that we should put handouts for people to see on their windshields…if they are not interested, they will throw them away, and it’s done in broad daylight so that people don’t think you are up to no good. That being said, how about CA or CUF pamplets? That way, the embarrassment of not being able to answer a question and its possible brethren, downright making something up, will not be an issue.

Paul R. Viola

 

[allenirvan]

I have two thoughts here:
I recently asked my cradle Catholic friend why Catholics don’t do more ministry such as this or other evangelizing. He said that he thought that those kinds of jobs were for the clergy. Now I understand that isn’t true, but he thought so strongly about it that when I showed him the “12 ways to evangelize” thing his reaction was “whoever wrote this isn’t Catholic”. IMO as a cradle Baptist, something is wrong if a Church teaches their people that they have the Sacraments, the Real Presence, and all these other things you can’t find elsewhere, then doesn’t teach them to go and try to actively share that with the world - or even their friends.

On the other hand:
I would absolutely LOVE it if SOMEONE from the Catholic Church in my area would show just a little interest in bringing people into the church and a bit of concern for the souls of others. My small 3 person family has tried hard to become part of the Church and has hit nothing but roadblocks even at our small local parish. Door to door just sounds like a huge step from what I see locally… Besides, it seems somewhat counter productive this time of year, after all, RCIA typically doesn’t seem to start until September - what are you going to do, just tell them all they can come and sit through mass and learn on their own until class starts?

Sorry for ranting somewhat but as someone who genuinely feels they could be at home in the Catholic Church after years of protestant church jumping, it seems awfully difficult to become a Catholic, especially after seeing how welcoming, genuine, and loving the members of fundamentalist protestant churches can be toward visitors.

 

[allenirvan]

I have to apologize for getting a little too zealous with my comments in the previous post. I have no business implying that the local parishioners show no concern for the souls of others. We have been somewhat welcomed but I guess its just not the “hi, we’re so glad you’re here, what’s your name, you’ll really enjoy my class, come get involved, we’re going out tonight wanna come” that I’m used to… Very sorry, I would edit that if I could…

 

[JRKH]

I have two thoughts here:
I recently asked my cradle Catholic friend why Catholics don’t do more ministry such as this or other evangelizing. He said that he thought that those kinds of jobs were for the clergy. Now I understand that isn’t true, but he thought so strongly about it that when I showed him the “12 ways to evangelize” thing his reaction was “whoever wrote this isn’t Catholic”. IMO as a cradle Baptist, something is wrong if a Church teaches their people that they have the Sacraments, the Real Presence, and all these other things you can’t find elsewhere, then doesn’t teach them to go and try to actively share that with the world - or even their friends.

On the other hand:
I would absolutely LOVE it if SOMEONE from the Catholic Church in my area would show just a little interest in bringing people into the church and a bit of concern for the souls of others. My small 3 person family has tried hard to become part of the Church and has hit nothing but roadblocks even at our small local parish. Door to door just sounds like a huge step from what I see locally… Besides, it seems somewhat counter productive this time of year, after all, RCIA typically doesn’t seem to start until September - what are you going to do, just tell them all they can come and sit through mass and learn on their own until class starts?

Sorry for ranting somewhat but as someone who genuinely feels they could be at home in the Catholic Church after years of protestant church jumping, it seems awfully difficult to become a Catholic, especially after seeing how welcoming, genuine, and loving the members of fundamentalist protestant churches can be toward visitors.

I have to apologize for getting a little too zealous with my comments in the previous post. I have no business implying that the local parishioners show no concern for the souls of others. We have been somewhat welcomed but I guess its just not the “hi, we’re so glad you’re here, what’s your name, you’ll really enjoy my class, come get involved, we’re going out tonight wanna come” that I’m used to… Very sorry, I would edit that if I could…

Allen,
Don’t worry about your “rant”.
I recently had lunch with a convert from a pentacostal background. Her problem was trying to find a more “charismatic” fellowship in the church. She mentioned some of the same types of things that you do. How difficult it is to “get in with” catholics. I certainly don’t have the answer but I did tell her that I was very greatful for converts like her, from evangelical, fundementalist, backgrounds who can help us with this issue.

After our lunch I began thinking about this and came up with a couple of things that I am sure contribute.

1. Catholic Churches, unlike many others, have multiple services on a weekend. Our parish has a mass on Saturday evening and 3 masses on Sunday Morning. Not every one attends the same masses all the time nor, especially in the summertime, the same parish. So seeing different people is not an indication that they are new or non-catholic.
2. Catholicism tends to be a more contemplative, personal, and introspective faith. Look at many of our Sacraments and Devotions. Mass is not a “on the fly”, “make it up as you go along” thing. It is very organized and ritualized. The rosary, divine mercy Chaplet, various litinaies, confession, etc. are all very introspective in nature. Not that many of them aren’t things done in groups, but they are not the High energy “alleluia” type of worship that some noncatholics are use to.
3. Shyness works both ways. I’d venture to say that many masses on a Sunday have ushers or “greeters” at the doors before mass, and virtually every mass on Sunday has the Priest and Deacon greeting people at the doors after mass. Perfect oportunity for a person to ask for direction to someone who can answer questions etc.
   So while we certainly need to be more open, we must rely also on the seeker to seek.

That being said, I know you are right and that we need to do a better job of noticing and engaging those "walk-in’s, interested in learning more about the faith.
Perhaps a table in the vestibule or gathering space (manned on the Sunday masses) with brochures/information/phone numbers etc. that would allow even the shyest of seekers to get info, understand a bit of the mass, and make contact with someone to answer their questions.

I do hope that you will soon be able to come into the Church. Our prayers are with you.

Peace
James

 

[janessa1850]

Allan, I know exactly what you are saying. It’s incredible to say this, but I attended a Catholic Church for over 10 years, dropped out for a while, then returned. No one there even notices me or says hello or anything. I recently visited an Anglican Church. It had been my 4th visit. I was treated like a long-lost buddy, invited to all kinds of things, someone volunteered to pick me up and take me to Mass and Bible Study… Contrastingly I have a lot of trouble getting to my old Church-Catholic-bec ause I don’t have a ride. What is the deal?

 

[Regardless]

Wow. That would be fascinating to see. Very bold and zealous.
Bravo.

Jesus told his followers to go and teach others, and prophecied they would.
The early Christians were certainly very involved in going out too spread the truth they had found.
It seems logical to me, that the true religion would be busy spreading the word of God- (rather than wait for people to come and ask for it.)

Be prepared for lots of automatic: “I’m not interested” and “I have my own religion” replies.

What will you talk about?

 

[prodigalson12]

Allen, zero apologies necessary, it’s about time someone lights a fire underneath us to take some real initiave, get outside of our comfort zone, and yes, face rejection in the process. One mindset I had when I used to go door to door, selling newspaper subscriptions, I kept my focus on the successes, not on the failures. I think the above poster does the same.

We should have to take advice from outside denominations like this, but we should in this regard. You also mentioned not feeling welcomed, well neither do I, and yet I remain in spite of it, for my involvement is not contingent along the people themselves, if I’m stuck with a bunch of irreverant, luke warm people around me, I think to myself, I have the angels and saints with me, and most of all, Our Lord, and it’s about him, not them that matters, yet I would by lying if I told you it doesn’t hurt facing rejection from the people almost every single time.

I was invited to a gathering from a non denominational two weeks ago in one of their homes, I attended it, as well as a second one this week, I have found my brethren of followers to finally fellowship with, they are nice, friendly, actually speak to me, and actually want me there, and these two meetings I experienced more fellowship then the entire time I have with all of the churches I visited before, Catholic and Protestant alike.

If I was not so steeped in the Catholic church, if I didn’t really know what it stood for, I’d drop it in a heart beat, based upon this, and I feel, if you did take RCIA, you too would be in the same boat as I. Don’t let that interest go away because some pew warmers drove you away, you have just as much, if not more so of a right to be there then they, and by all means, we can use more people that are zealous for the faith within it, it needs to be stirred up, and do not be afraid to be bold in the process.

 

[JRKH]

Allan, I know exactly what you are saying. It’s incredible to say this, but I attended a Catholic Church for over 10 years, dropped out for a while, then returned. No one there even notices me or says hello or anything. I recently visited an Anglican Church. It had been my 4th visit. I was treated like a long-lost buddy, invited to all kinds of things, someone volunteered to pick me up and take me to Mass and Bible Study… Contrastingly I have a lot of trouble getting to my old Church-Catholic-bec ause I don’t have a ride. What is the deal?

Have you considered calling the parish office to see if they can hook you up with a ride?

Peace
James

 

[Justin1982]

I went out for the first time last week with members of Legions of Mary from my parish. We have a simple introduction and an information card to leave with the people we meet.