Encouragement for fallen away Catholic

[gitsch]

Anyone have any “sensitive” suggestions for a former Catholic who has fallen or hard times (drug/alcohol abuse, rebellious kids)
Their AA counselor has convinced them all they need is “to be personally saved” with no need of a chuch or any sacraments. Besides praying and telling her I care, I would like to give her some encouraging spiritual advice.

 

[Maranatha]

Anyone have any “sensitive” suggestions for a former Catholic who has fallen or hard times (drug/alcohol abuse, rebellious kids)
Their AA counselor has convinced them all they need is “to be personally saved” with no need of a chuch or any sacraments. Besides praying and telling her I care, I would like to give her some encouraging spiritual advice.

While it’s good to be personally saved, God made humans a social people. The Catholic Church, in addition to the role of protecting the revealed truths passed on to us from the Apostles, is also a place to find community support. We are made by God to give and get support in community. Being anti-social is not good.

As for the sacraments, God made us as part spiritual and part physical beings. First, God mandated the public ritual worship in the Jerusalem Temple and set the tradition of ritual public worship. In fulfilling and surpassing the Mosaic law, Christ instituted the sacraments as a visible (physical) means to the distribution or real grace (spiritual).

 

[IrishAm]

Perhaps a medal of a patron saint of alcoholics (John of God, Martin of Tours, Matthias the Apostle, Monica, Urban of Langres – according to a Catholic Forum list) to remind her that she is not fighting this battle alone, she has friends in “high places” as well as here to call upon.

 

[jimcav]

I have heard wonderful things about the Matt Talbot Retreats.

They are retreats specifically held for recovering alchoholics, and while I believe they are unaffiliated with AA, they are highly recommended by them. One need’nt be a Catholic to go either, so that might help entice your fallen away friend to go. I’m not sure where your located, but most of these retreats are held in the NE US.

Check out their web-site -

matttalbotretreats.org/faq.html

God Bless…

 

[jc-servant]

OP, I have learned to invite people to come with me to mass or to some less formal event at my parish in a casual way. I think that if we make a big deal of it, some people feel pressured.

I used to be more hesitant about inviting people to mass with me. I have an aunt who went to Catholic school as a child. I’m currently the only practicing Catholic in my extended family. I just left our family reunion one Saturday afternoon and went to mass and returned. When my aunt came back and found out where I had been, she said that she wished that I had told her because she would have gone to mass with me. (She married a Protestant who does not go to church and fell away from church herself in the '60’s.) I could have fallen over from surprise! I might have missed an opening for her to come back home!!

For someone who is having a hard time, maybe you could say, “Hey, I’m going to mass at 5pm on Saturday. Would you like to go with me and then out to dinner?” Maybe inviting the person to go to a Christian concert or to a church carnival or to a women’s fellowship where it is mainly socializing? My parish has an annual Advent brunch which non-Catholics and fallen away Catholics can enjoy because it an excuse to dress up and be served brunch by nice men in a festive atmosphere. We have fish frys during Lent which can be a fun reminder of childhood for people who grew up participating in Catholic life. I also know some Catholics who have “come home” after going on a retreat with a friend.

I hope you find something that will lift this person up in their struggle for sobriety.