Evangelizing Cradle Catholics

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nickybr38

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The more I get to know my parish community, the more I suspect we should be focused on re-evangelizing cradle Catholics.

If our cradle Catholics were strong… the Church would be so much more powerful than it is.

The question is… how DO you evangelize cradle Catholics?

I’ve been having tentative discussions with some but I’m not sure if I’m making a dent. They are so in the world. They speak like Protestants but bear the witness of being Catholic. They don’t have the Scriptural devotion that Protestants have so you can’t really evangelize them with Scripture… they seem to have this wishy washy spirituality that is just so hard to speak to.

Any tips? Any success stories?
 
nickybr38 said:
The more I get to know my parish community, the more I suspect we should be focused on re-evangelizing cradle Catholics.

If our cradle Catholics were strong… the Church would be so much more powerful than it is.

The question is… how DO you evangelize cradle Catholics?

I’ve been having tentative discussions with some but I’m not sure if I’m making a dent. They are so in the world. They speak like Protestants but bear the witness of being Catholic. They don’t have the Scriptural devotion that Protestants have so you can’t really evangelize them with Scripture… they seem to have this wishy washy spirituality that is just so hard to speak to.

Any tips? Any success stories?
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I may be close to the last generation of Cradle Catholics who actually learned basic Catholic doctrines. However, I am sure that there are still geographic locations where basic Catholicism is still being taught.

From what I observe here, some, not all, Catholics have bought the idea that “Catholics” can still be Catholics while accepting the teachings of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Because these Catholics think that any sincere opinion, not necessarily perfectly true, is o.k., they have lost interest in learning or re-learning the really deep truths of our Faith. Going by Mass attendance, I would say that the truths of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ have been hit the hardest. Personally, I think that is happening because the idea of symbolism in the Bible has been around for decades.

In my humble opinion, the Sacrament of Repentance and Reconciliation is also targeted. It is amazing to me, how often a homily’s reference to this Sacrament is missed. One time, in my travels, I asked a priest why that Sacrament was not mentioned with the Gospel of the Prodigal Son… LOL

I have no clue what to do. My experience here has been to use the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition. For Scripture references, I check the footnotes.

I truly agree with you that evangelizing Cradle Catholics is essential.

Blessings,
granny

The human person is worthy of profound respect.
 
nickybr38 said:
The more I get to know my parish community, the more I suspect we should be focused on re-evangelizing cradle Catholics.

If our cradle Catholics were strong… the Church would be so much more powerful than it is.

The question is… how DO you evangelize cradle Catholics?

I’ve been having tentative discussions with some but I’m not sure if I’m making a dent. They are so in the world. They speak like Protestants but bear the witness of being Catholic. They don’t have the Scriptural devotion that Protestants have so you can’t really evangelize them with Scripture… they seem to have this wishy washy spirituality that is just so hard to speak to.

Any tips? Any success stories?
Click to expand...
I heard over and over from cradle Catholics that when they got involved in RCIA it made them learn the faith. Of course this method requires a solid RCIA program, but they said over and over that when they became a sponsor or dismissal leader it changed everything since they learned the faith along with the student in RCIA.

It seems like the church (or maybe you!) needs to develop an Adult Catechesis program for cradle Catholics.
 
nickybr38 said:
The more I get to know my parish community, the more I suspect we should be focused on re-evangelizing cradle Catholics.

If our cradle Catholics were strong… the Church would be so much more powerful than it is.

The question is… how DO you evangelize cradle Catholics?

I’ve been having tentative discussions with some but I’m not sure if I’m making a dent. They are so in the world. They speak like Protestants but bear the witness of being Catholic. They don’t have the Scriptural devotion that Protestants have so you can’t really evangelize them with Scripture… they seem to have this wishy washy spirituality that is just so hard to speak to.

Any tips? Any success stories?
Click to expand...
You could try the following:
  1. start by conducting a survey. Ask the people “Rank what you would like to know the most about the Church”
    A) Bible Study (many parishes offer, but not always at good times for working adults)
    B) what the Mass means
    C) how to pray during Mass, Adoration, Devotionals and/or at home
    D) Learn why is the Church Against Gay Marriage, Abortion, Birth Control, etc
    E) apologetics - how to answer claims against the Church
    F) Marriage, Divorce, and Annulments
    G) Confession - why it matters
    H) include 4 questions asking them what they don’t like and love about their parish and what questions they have about the Church as a whole, and what they love the most about the Church as a whole
  2. free adult faith foundation classes during CCD class and focus on different topics each week. Include donuts, coffee and water. If possible, work with the pastor and religious Ed director to schedule CCD at a time on Sundays when Mass is NOT in session. Then, schedule your free AFF meetings during that time. You could pay for them by raising your CCD fees by a couple dollars and seeking donations for food and/or supplies.
  3. start a book club where X copies of books are purchased by the parish (or donated). For example: “The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic,” “The Protestants Dilemma,” “DeLivered,” etc.
  4. purchase Father Baron’s video series and make it part of CCD to have a time when the whole family has to come and watch then together.
  5. I would suggest focusing on parents of kids in CCD first plus others who want to learn.
  6. make sure pitch for Catholic Answers (their Q&A hotline, catholic.com & Catholic Answers Live) is always in your bulletin.
  7. work with your diocese or neighboring Parishes to book special speakers, like Tim Staples, Patrick Madrid, your Bishop, etc. And advertise in your bulletin and durning announcements when your diocese or other parishes are sponsoring speakers and AFF events.
These are just a few ideas that I have had myself.
 
Some parishes have specific groups for people who want to learn more about the Catholic faith. I think, however, that we need to have a particular emphasis on evangelizing young adults and adolescents. I do think that we do a great job, often, with evangelizing children - but once they’re confirmed we sometimes “fall off the wagon” in regards to catechesis. Using contemporary methods, such as taping and watching “Life on the Rock” (I used to go to a young adults’ group where we did this) can be helpful.

Personally, as a cradle Catholic, I was very well catechized because my parents saw to it. Today, I’m catechizing DSD. She gets half an hour at school once a week - but even the teachers themselves have admitted that it’s not nearly enough. So, I teach her at home. DH helps, but he converted to Catholicism as an adult so he doesn’t have much experience with teaching the faith to children. DSD and I have catechism lessons every week. (In fact, she is finishing Grade 4 and the Grade 5 and 6 catechism teachers are looking forward to having her in their classes because she probably knows more about the faith than most kids!) She LOVES her lessons with me and it gives us a chance to spend some good time together.
 
His_helpmeet said:
Some parishes have specific groups for people who want to learn more about the Catholic faith. I think, however, that we need to have a particular emphasis on evangelizing young adults and adolescents. I do think that we do a great job, often, with evangelizing children - but once they’re confirmed we sometimes “fall off the wagon” in regards to catechesis. Using contemporary methods, such as taping and watching “Life on the Rock” (I used to go to a young adults’ group where we did this) can be helpful.

Personally, as a cradle Catholic, I was very well catechized because my parents saw to it. Today, I’m catechizing DSD. She gets half an hour at school once a week - but even the teachers themselves have admitted that it’s not nearly enough. So, I teach her at home. DH helps, but he converted to Catholicism as an adult so he doesn’t have much experience with teaching the faith to children. DSD and I have catechism lessons every week. (In fact, she is finishing Grade 4 and the Grade 5 and 6 catechism teachers are looking forward to having her in their classes because she probably knows more about the faith than most kids!) She LOVES her lessons with me and it gives us a chance to spend some good time together.
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i think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. seems like everyone thinks that the others are doing it. the parents think the teachers are doing it at school. the teachers at school might be doing some but are hoping the parents can help supplement at home. as a result, no one is doing it properly. for the most part, cradle catholics i know are pretty well learned but that might just be my area. i think also having nothing after confirmation is a hindrance as well. the teenage years are a difficult period and important to keep the faith going. espeically for those who are not previleged to be home schooled or go to catholic school.

i’m not really a cradle cahotlic so i cna’t really say. but when do you learn about the significance of the mass? or all the important doctrines? i don’t remember learning of those in children prep classes.
 
I am a cradle Catholic, and had the benefit of a devout grandmother. I went to Catholic school right after vatican II. There were many changes at that time, and I did not have much exposure to the catechism. My grandmother filed in the gaps.

The most important thing for cradle Catholics (and all Catholics) is a solid foundation. I am pleased to see my children learning much more about religion than I did in school.

Perhaps there should be an informal refresher course offered for Catholics at the parish level, and you get a certificate when completed.

For some reason-people like certificates.🤷
 
For me, it begins with being an example of the Faith. Don’t hide your light; let it shine! That doesn’t mean being holier than thou or anything like that.

I have had people come to me after speaking to them previously, and tell me that they’ve made their first confession in years, simply by listening to me talk to others about it.

Be an example. Share your faith, your activities, and invite them to join. 🙂
 
phil19034 said:
You could try the following:
  1. start by conducting a survey. Ask the people “Rank what you would like to know the most about the Church”
    A) Bible Study (many parishes offer, but not always at good times for working adults)
    B) what the Mass means
    C) how to pray during Mass, Adoration, Devotionals and/or at home
    D) Learn why is the Church Against Gay Marriage, Abortion, Birth Control, etc
    E) apologetics - how to answer claims against the Church
    F) Marriage, Divorce, and Annulments
    G) Confession - why it matters
    H) include 4 questions asking them what they don’t like and love about their parish and what questions they have about the Church as a whole, and what they love the most about the Church as a whole
  2. free adult faith foundation classes during CCD class and focus on different topics each week. Include donuts, coffee and water. If possible, work with the pastor and religious Ed director to schedule CCD at a time on Sundays when Mass is NOT in session. Then, schedule your free AFF meetings during that time. You could pay for them by raising your CCD fees by a couple dollars and seeking donations for food and/or supplies.
  3. start a book club where X copies of books are purchased by the parish (or donated). For example: “The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic,” “The Protestants Dilemma,” “DeLivered,” etc.
  4. purchase Father Baron’s video series and make it part of CCD to have a time when the whole family has to come and watch then together.
  5. I would suggest focusing on parents of kids in CCD first plus others who want to learn.
  6. make sure pitch for Catholic Answers (their Q&A hotline, catholic.com & Catholic Answers Live) is always in your bulletin.
  7. work with your diocese or neighboring Parishes to book special speakers, like Tim Staples, Patrick Madrid, your Bishop, etc. And advertise in your bulletin and durning announcements when your diocese or other parishes are sponsoring speakers and AFF events.
These are just a few ideas that I have had myself.
Click to expand...
^^^^ All of the above AND I would add: A DYNAMIC Parish Missions twice a year…Advent & Lent is a good place to start. Since most parishes literally “shut down” during the summer months…if you begins something new, summer is a great time to start…people are looking fro something to do, and the evening weather is pleasant enough for a good turnout.
 
I think these are all good ideas, and I can’t think of any better ones. However, my experience has been that the showing of Catholicism at my parish has an abysmally low turnout and are usually attended by the few parishioners who do everything anyway. Many cradle Catholics who are cool with coasting through are not terribly interested in learning more about their faith, and probably wouldn’t go out of their way to attend church programs. Most of them are not regular Mass-goers anyway.

We can get people more engaged be doing simple things… sharing our own experiences, living our faith more authentically, not being shy about talking about Christ, His Church, ro the sacraments.
Even online, we can post little things. There are some good Catholic memes out there, like ones that explain in a couple of sentences a doctrine of the faith… why we do this or that… some might list the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Even just a graphic of the Blessed Sacrament, with a couple words about the Real Presence. Every little bit helps!
 
nickybr38 said:
The more I get to know my parish community, the more I suspect we should be focused on re-evangelizing cradle Catholics.

If our cradle Catholics were strong… the Church would be so much more powerful than it is.

The question is… how DO you evangelize cradle Catholics?

I’ve been having tentative discussions with some but I’m not sure if I’m making a dent. They are so in the world. They speak like Protestants but bear the witness of being Catholic. They don’t have the Scriptural devotion that Protestants have so you can’t really evangelize them with Scripture… they seem to have this wishy washy spirituality that is just so hard to speak to.

Any tips? Any success stories?
Click to expand...
First, many Catholics who went to Catholic schools will probably stop going to Church shortly after, especially after they start college.

The Problems:
  1. No good role models who practice their faith.
  2. No one to help them stay away from TV shows, movies, books and internet sites that promote and model immorality, profanity and perverse sexuality.
Possible solutions:
  1. Form a youth group. Have someone lead it who will build-up their faith and help them navigate a world filled with immorality, especially sexual immorality.
  2. For adults, form a Men’s and Women’s Group. Form friendships, share your hardships, get questions answered in a Biblical and practical way.
  3. Respectfully suggest to your priest to tell parishioners that showing up for Mass and Holy Days of Obligation are not enough. TOO MANY people don’t even know the person they are standing next too. When Mass is over, they get in their cars and drive home. We need to live our faith 7 DAYS A WEEK.
  4. Schedule events where people get together and get to know each other! It could be a “board game” night, or a study group that talks about HOW TO LIVE LIKE A CATHOLIC when the world around you is filled with people who are lukewarm, confused and enjoying immoral things as if it doesn’t matter.
The bottom line: We need each other. We need to encourage each other. We need to get together and talk, and yes, even have some fun. We need good guidance and suggestions on how we can leave immorality behind and use our spare time for good, or, if we’re too busy, become friends. Help to bear each other’s burdens if we can.

It’s not cool to be Christian anymore. Why can’t I watch movies or TV shows that model immoral living? Maybe some Christians could get together and play a sport, or take a walk together in the park. We need to be immersed in our faith. And enjoy life in a clean way. Maybe take a painting class or do something else you’ve always wanted to do as a hobby.

amazon.com/Evangelizing-Catholics-Mission-Manual-Evangelization/dp/1612787738

amazon.com/Extreme-Makeover-Transformed-Conformed-Culture/dp/1586175610

nfcmusa.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=170

God bless,
Ed
 
nickybr38 said:
The more I get to know my parish community, the more I suspect we should be focused on re-evangelizing cradle Catholics.

If our cradle Catholics were strong… the Church would be so much more powerful than it is.

The question is… how DO you evangelize cradle Catholics?

I’ve been having tentative discussions with some but I’m not sure if I’m making a dent. They are so in the world. They speak like Protestants but bear the witness of being Catholic. They don’t have the Scriptural devotion that Protestants have so you can’t really evangelize them with Scripture… they seem to have this wishy washy spirituality that is just so hard to speak to.

Any tips? Any success stories?
Click to expand...
Maybe ask the priest if you could get a few Converts to give there Story on why they became Catholic, instead of a Sermon at Mass for one or two weeks. I wonder would this put a zzzzzzzzzzz into some laid back Catholics. You know what comes easy you don’t treasure, but most Converts have gone through hell and back (well I know I did my parents did not talk to me for 10 years) so what do you think of this idea.
 
Another idea I just had, which was inspired by Ed West’s post, is to create a “parish game show”

Catholic.TV has this program called WOW which is a Q&A game show about the Catholic Faith, which children participate.

You could create a something like WOW or even “Catholic Jeopardy” where you can team up kids and adults to answer questions about the Faith.

Mix up the teams so they are not with their family members, but that the whole family participates. Example:

Dad is on Team 1
Mom on team 2
Son on team 3
Daughter on team 4

Each team could be made up of at least 1 adult, 1 young adult/teen (post confirmation), 1 teen/preteen (pre confirmation), and at least 1 elementary school kid. Basically, having a rep per each age group/generation on each team. If you have a lot of turnout, you could make a “grandparent” aged group to add to the teams too.

The winner stays on, and new challengers come on to take on the winner. At least 3 teams at once (like Jeopardy), add more if needed.

Use the priests, Deacons and other knowledgeable people as the judges and question writers. You can even give them Catholic.com as resource to study before hand.

Draw teams by hat, start with the child. Then, have/him or her pull names out of the hat for his/her additional teammates (1 hat per age group). When their name is called, they “come on down” like in the Price is Right.

It could be lots of fun.
 
Celtic_Maiden said:
Maybe ask the priest if you could get a few Converts to give there Story on why they became Catholic, instead of a Sermon at Mass for one or two weeks. I wonder would this put a zzzzzzzzzzz into some laid back Catholics. You know what comes easy you don’t treasure, but most Converts have gone through hell and back (well I know I did my parents did not talk to me for 10 years) so what do you think of this idea.
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You couldn’t do that during Mass unless the Priest read their story during his Homily.

But that could also be something after Mass, during a “fellowship”
 
I use a Youcat (even for adults) because the language is simpler and it references the Catechism (which can be found online.) I think everyone on here has great ideas!
I don’t have a success story (yet) for a fallen away Catholic, BUT I have nearly converted my Protestant friend. I text my Protestant friend everyday, teaching him something new and interesting about the CC. It’s really cool watching this process happen!
Hope I helped!!

Richard Feynman
 
You can ask your Pastor to offer a “teaching Mass” every couple of years.
It’s really good to instruct people on the various parts of the Mass, what they mean, and what their Biblical origins are.
I find that when this is done, the reverence pops up a few notches each time.
People get complacent and “go through the motions” very easily.
All of us need refreshers courses. 👍
 
As a Cradle Catholic Revert, I honestly don’t know where exactly people went wrong when I was a youth. I was taught about the faith, my family went to weekly mass, etc. Somehow, it just didn’t transfer the magnitude of the events over to me. I mean, once I came back and opened my heart to God, that is totally different and I could talk about the beauty and majesty of the mass for days! As a younger person… I don’t really know what would have done it. Perhaps just seeing people who were truly passionate about their faith would have done it.
 
RedFox0456 said:
As a Cradle Catholic Revert, I honestly don’t know where exactly people went wrong when I was a youth. I was taught about the faith, my family went to weekly mass, etc. Somehow, it just didn’t transfer the magnitude of the events over to me. I mean, once I came back and opened my heart to God, that is totally different and I could talk about the beauty and majesty of the mass for days! As a younger person… I don’t really know what would have done it. Perhaps just seeing people who were truly passionate about their faith would have done it.
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This! This is exactly what we need! People with charisma! People with a natural love and joy for God and the faith! When we start doing this, it rubs off on people.
 
👍
pianistclare said:
You can ask your Pastor to offer a “teaching Mass” every couple of years.
It’s really good to instruct people on the various parts of the Mass, what they mean, and what their Biblical origins are.
I find that when this is done, the reverence pops up a few notches each time.
People get complacent and “go through the motions” very easily.
All of us need refreshers courses. 👍
Click to expand...
 
Thanks guys. 🙂 This post was inspired by a conversation with my coworker.

She hasn’t been to confession in thirty years because she KNOWS she’s living in sin and she knows she has no desire to change.

But as we spoke she revealed that she ALSO knows she shouldn’t be receiving the Eucharist and yet she does anyway (although she referred to it as ‘communion’ not the Eucharist).

I spoke to her briefly after which she said she would be speaking to the ArchBishop. It doesn’t sound like she’s going to stop what she’s doing or like she’ll go to confession but it DOES sound like she’ll be approaching him and God willing he will tell her what she needs to hear to change her heart.

I came away from the conversation feeling like I had NO IDEA how to talk to cradle Catholics who’ve fallen away and thus why I came here. 🙂

I have so many cradle Catholic coworkers and if I fall into conversation with anymore of them I want to be prepared.

Anyway! Thanks again guys!
 
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