How do you bring home inactive catholics?

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Hand them a cd from lighthouse catholic media. They are about 3 to 5 bucks each. Cavins, hahn, kelly are all great speakers. The one on revelation by barber totally blew me away. Catholic is the way to go, at least according to the bible writings and tradition. It all makes sense. Listen to the speakers, read some books. They’ll get you all fired up
 
Lutheranteach said:
It’s no mystery. If you want them back you go out and ask them why they left and you taker seriously the reasons they give; you don’t dismiss those reasons out of hand and tell them them without a moment’s thought that they are wrong. You make changes where changes can be made and address concerns where they can be addressed. And, when you come across those whose thoughts and beliefs aren’t compatible you wish them well and view them as brothers and sisters in Christ and not some kind of damaged goods.
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That is very true. We can try with “incentives” and stuff, but we need to remember that Catholicism isn’t a club or social gathering or something, it’s a faith. People may have left because people had issues or misconceptions about something, and this is Catholicism so there’s very few cases where you can honestly say that “things have changed” (since doctrine does not change).

You see it here all the time on the apologetics forums where people say "I have a problem with ". You can start throwing out biblical quotes, catechism paragraphs and quotes from the early Church fathers, but unless you know what their issue is then it’s pretty much like trying to treat someone who comes into the ER saying “fever”.
 
Speaking from personal experience I know how hard it was to come back home to the Catholic church. There was no welcoming committee and I was dealing with a lot of guilt and shame from years of living a sinful life. I could make up all kinds of excuses for why I left the church but now I see clearly that I left due to willful pride and self justification of doing what ever I decided I wanted to do. As one poster said, mostly due to “below the belt” issues.

Outreach is definitely the way to touch the minds and hearts of fallen away Catholics. And plenty of love and patience. Both my siblings are still “out there” and I pray for them daily when I start the rosary. Now, when we get together (we live in different states) they will go to Mass with me, however neither has had a true conversion YET! 😃
 
“]If as a parrish you are able to identfy a group of FC’s, a letter from the Pastor, inviting them back and perhaps to a casual agtthering [coffee and dougnuts for example] to discuss there issues with others who may have the same point of view?”

Be careful about sending out unsolicited letters to FC’s. This can backfire. Some may say “how dare he, I am an active catholics - I go twice a year” or “how did he get my name, is he checking envelopes, etc…” We have had that happen with some parishes. A better approach is a general announcement in the bulletin, inviting them or having the active catholics in the parish give out flyers. One parish inserts very nice invitations in their Easter and Christmas bulletins (I would also suggest also Ash Wednesday) - that the inactive Catholic can fill out and put in the collection plate or can be given out to family/friends.
 
“That is very true. We can try with “incentives” and stuff, but we need to remember that Catholicism isn’t a club or social gathering or something, it’s a faith. People may have left because people had issues or misconceptions about something, and this is Catholicism so there’s very few cases where you can honestly say that “things have changed” (since doctrine does not change)”

Yes. But people do change. If we can get folks back to mass and reconciliation, the Lord can work on their hearts on the doctrinal issues. Many times their arguments against the Church are a cover for a deeper hurt. Welcoming them back to the community, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest…
 
I have attended a catholic church for close to three years. I called when rcia classes were offered. No one responded to the voice mail I called again leaving another message. After some time a person from the church contacted me. I expressed my intrest in attending rcia . When I found out that it was during the week in the evening because I work a second shift job I could not go but they told me that I could meet with them on saturday but they were busy and would get back to me soon. I watched the new members a few months later be accepted into the church. They all stood before the congregation and said they believed all that the catholic church teaches is of God. No one ever called me to set up the time to take rcia classes. I kept attending off and on and then on a regular basis .Another group entered the church the following easter. I cannot say that I believe all that the catholic church teaches is of God because some of the traditions of the church do not seem to agree with the scriptures. I keep looking to see why the church says what it does in thease places trying to understand; not to argue or refute. There is alot I love about the catholic church. I have brought my wife who used to be catholic a time of two to this church but she isnt interested in comming so I atten by myself.

At times during holy communion it is like a sword that pierces my heart. It feels my very Lord is being denied to me. My wife has told me that the catholic church does not allow non roman catholics to partack of the body and blood of our Lord in the euchrist.

This has been teribly hard for me and one day I went to the priest and asked if I could have permission to partake of the body and blood at communion. He gave to me a book of which I read about the various doctrins of the catholic church. I told him that I read it but no answer to my question about partakeing of holy communion.

Not partaking of the euchrist at mass really got to me one day. So I went to talk to the priest again after service. He shook my hand and asked how I was doing then asked about my wife who used to be catholic and said it has been awhile since she came. When I tried to tell him about how I was haveing a problem about not being able to partake of communion he just walked away before I could even open my mouth. It seemed that the only thing he wanted was to get my wife back into church because she had been roman catholic. I guess that I didnt matter.
 
hope_7 said:
I have attended a catholic church for close to three years. I called when rcia classes were offered. No one responded to the voice mail I called again leaving another message. After some time a person from the church contacted me. I expressed my intrest in attending rcia . When I found out that it was during the week in the evening because I work a second shift job I could not go but they told me that I could meet with them on saturday but they were busy and would get back to me soon. I watched the new members a few months later be accepted into the church. They all stood before the congregation and said they believed all that the catholic church teaches is of God. No one ever called me to set up the time to take rcia classes. I kept attending off and on and then on a regular basis .Another group entered the church the following easter. I cannot say that I believe all that the catholic church teaches is of God because some of the traditions of the church do not seem to agree with the scriptures. I keep looking to see why the church says what it does in thease places trying to understand; not to argue or refute. There is alot I love about the catholic church. I have brought my wife who used to be catholic a time of two to this church but she isnt interested in comming so I atten by myself.

At times during holy communion it is like a sword that pierces my heart. It feels my very Lord is being denied to me. My wife has told me that the catholic church does not allow non roman catholics to partack of the body and blood of our Lord in the euchrist.

This has been teribly hard for me and one day I went to the priest and asked if I could have permission to partake of the body and blood at communion. He gave to me a book of which I read about the various doctrins of the catholic church. I told him that I read it but no answer to my question about partakeing of holy communion.

Not partaking of the euchrist at mass really got to me one day. So I went to talk to the priest again after service. He shook my hand and asked how I was doing then asked about my wife who used to be catholic and said it has been awhile since she came. When I tried to tell him about how I was haveing a problem about not being able to partake of communion he just walked away before I could even open my mouth. It seemed that the only thing he wanted was to get my wife back into church because she had been roman catholic. I guess that I didnt matter.
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Wow, this is very disappointing.

Lets deal with this in two pieces. First of all, you can’t just partake of communion. To partake of communion, you must be in the state of grace. This will require baptism and confession. You need to the Rcia instruction and you need to be taken into the Church prior to that.

So, if you are serious, you need to work on becoming Catholic. This will require RCIA. I know you said you made an attempt a few years ago. Its time to attempt it again. The next time you are at mass, tell the priest after mass that you are interested in becoming Catholic and would like to start in the RCIA program. The programs should be starting about now. Be persistent. Hopefully someone from the parish will step up and help you.
 
Hello Hope 7. Sorry for your predicament. Be persistent. If you truely want to go thru RICA there will be a way. I just finished Scott Hahn’s 4 CD set of How to get the most out of the Mass. Very good. I truely suggest books and CD’s to enliven your faith. The people in the Church are human’s and there will be faults. Once you get what the faith is truely all about ( I’m sure you know ) you will not be discouraged and not loose hope. Good luck! Again, I can’t say enough about the lighthouse catholic media cd stuff. Outstanding stuff.
 
Sorry to hear about that hope 7… If your circumstances require extra support this should be made available. If we have any rights, the right to know God more fully; to seek to receive him is arguably more necessary than physical life itself.
Given that, we are human, if you show them you are seriously committed, it will help to inspire them to step up their commitment.

As to the post, our parish Old St Patrick’s of Whitmore Lake, MI and St. Thomas the Apostle, Ann Arbor, MI are participating in the launch of a lay apostolate of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary where these are the focus:
the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius,
the formation of the clergy,
the refutation of current errors and defense of sound doctrine,
the propagation of good books and media,
the formation of the laity,
and the missionary apostolate.

Historically, when the OVM did outreach to those fallen away, they first identified what things that person was wrestling with, and referencing from that a list of books, media, and refutations that they could then charitably present to help them surmount those obstacles.

That part is pretty straightforward, in order to identify the root issues and not just the symptoms, one has to be able to know this person deeply. The charity/love to get to know, and sacrifice for this person, to make these things attractive to them, that grace comes from God. (received most significantly in the Eucharist)
The spiritual exercises help us to partake of that grace more fully.

3 points to drive conversion Truth/Beauty/Goodness

P.S. “hope 7” I believe there was another forum that dealt extra circumstantial RCIA requirements. I believe the gist of that article was contact the local Dioceses as they organize these programs and would be the best able to provide for your needs.
 
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