Evangelizing Cradle Catholics

[edwest2]

It’s not unusual for Catholics who were raised in a Catholic Community that was more concerned about really trying to live out their faith daily to gradually succumb to a world that kept yelling “Quit trying to shove your faith down my throat!” for decades. So, they watched coworkers and friends decide shacking up was OK, strip clubs were OK, porn was OK, casual sex was OK, and since they didn’t see much “wrong” with them, they slowly slipped away.

The Church knows this. The Church knows some of us haven’t gone to Confession for decades. Pope Francis has been talking about Confession and returning a sense of the sacred to our lives. The Church knows it’s difficult for people who have been away from the Church or have done numerous bad things to come back. So the Church is inviting everyone to come home:

catholicscomehome.org/not-attending-mass/

Don’t be afraid because God really does still love you. Like a father, he is waiting for you to return even after years of riotous living

biblehub.com/luke/15-20.htm

Peace,
Ed

 

[pianistclare]

It’s not unusual for Catholics who were raised in a Catholic Community that was more concerned about really trying to live out their faith daily to gradually succumb to a world that kept yelling “Quit trying to shove your faith down my throat!” for decades. So, they watched coworkers and friends decide shacking up was OK, strip clubs were OK, porn was OK, casual sex was OK, and since they didn’t see much “wrong” with them, they slowly slipped away.

The Church knows this. The Church knows some of us haven’t gone to Confession for decades. Pope Francis has been talking about Confession and returning a sense of the sacred to our lives. The Church knows it’s difficult for people who have been away from the Church or have done numerous bad things to come back. So the Church is inviting everyone to come home:

catholicscomehome.org/not-attending-mass/

Don’t be afraid because God really does still love you. Like a father, he is waiting for you to return even after years of riotous living

biblehub.com/luke/15-20.htm

Peace,
Ed

Well said.
Thank you!

 

[RedFox0456]

It’s just crazy to think about how sin accumulates, both individually and on the societal level, and just how damaging it ends up being.

 

[edwest2]

It’s just crazy to think about how sin accumulates, both individually and on the societal level, and just how damaging it ends up being.

I watched it happen very gradually, especially in the media, over the last 40 years. Take TV. I thought most of what I saw in the 1970s was not that bad. But some of it was a little risque, off color, and in bad taste. In the 1980s, things got more sexual, and by the late 1980s, scandalous behavior was being modeled on TV. Then we get Two and a Half Men? My God! Sex, sex, drinking, sex, sex, and more drinking, sex and immoral behavior. Even from mom.

Humans do imitate those around them. Bars are the ONLY places to meet someone? Time to stop that. Start Catholic social events at your parish. How can you live like a Catholic when the people you meet are convinced immoral living is OK? No, Catholics aren’t perfect but let’s try to stop living two different lives: the “I go to Church on Sunday” Catholic, where I’m Catholic for an hour, OR, we try to be with other Catholics and talk about life and living like a Catholic every day. WE need to create a Catholic Culture - at least for ourselves, in group settings – and not just twice a year or once a month. We need to interact at least once a week. I mean, sit down with a group and remind ourselves about how we should be living. The World will not do that. We have to.

Peace,
Ed

 

[RedFox0456]

I watched it happen very gradually, especially in the media, over the last 40 years. Take TV. I thought most of what I saw in the 1970s was not that bad. But some of it was a little risque, off color, and in bad taste. In the 1980s, things got more sexual, and by the late 1980s, scandalous behavior was being modeled on TV. Then we get Two and a Half Men? My God! Sex, sex, drinking, sex, sex, and more drinking, sex and immoral behavior. Even from mom.

Humans do imitate those around them. Bars are the ONLY places to meet someone? Time to stop that. Start Catholic social events at your parish. How can you live like a Catholic when the people you meet are convinced immoral living is OK? No, Catholics aren’t perfect but let’s try to stop living two different lives: the “I go to Church on Sunday” Catholic, where I’m Catholic for an hour, OR, we try to be with other Catholics and talk about life and living like a Catholic every day. WE need to create a Catholic Culture - at least for ourselves, in group settings – and not just twice a year or once a month. We need to interact at least once a week. I mean, sit down with a group and remind ourselves about how we should be living. The World will not do that. We have to.

Peace,
Ed

Yes. Living out your faith with the support of other Catholics, who are knowledgeable and passionate about their beliefs is incredibly powerful. I finally decided to go to the Catholic Newman Club here at WVU and it has caused such a shift in my life. Not from being pressured to change, but by being inspired to change. I really just wish our young people got to experience these things BEFORE going off to college and being inundated with the world. It has really made me want to get into youth and young adult ministry! (Of course at 26, I’m pretty positive I still fit into one of those categories )