Huge Catholic advertising campaign?

[SingleMomMonica]

I have noticed a recent HUGE Catholic advertising campaign and am wondering WHY?

Why does the Catholic Church feel it necessary to advertise?

Driving to a friend’s house I past by 4 Large Billboards, 2 of which were computerized, 2 bus stop advertisements and today I have watched TV for about an hour & a half total, but have seen 5 Catholic TV Commericals.

What is going on?

 

[Teneas]

I have noticed a recent HUGE Catholic advertising campaign and am wondering WHY?

Why does the Catholic Church feel it necessary to advertise?

Driving to a friend’s house I past by 4 Large Billboards, 2 of which were computerized, 2 bus stop advertisements and today I have watched TV for about an hour & a half total, but have seen 5 Catholic TV Commericals.

What is going on?

Wow! Really?! In Cali?!

I have no clue what is going on, but I applaud it. Down here in the Bible Belt Georgia, we don’t get to see the Church step up like that unfortunately. I applaud it, and also would like to know if any Catholics from there know what is going on. Maybe Cali has a shot of being something worth it.

no offense meant to anyone living in Cali. I was purely joking, cause…well, you guys got some great blondes!

 

[rob179ny]

I have noticed a recent HUGE Catholic advertising campaign and am wondering WHY?

Why does the Catholic Church feel it necessary to advertise?

Driving to a friend’s house I past by 4 Large Billboards, 2 of which were computerized, 2 bus stop advertisements and today I have watched TV for about an hour & a half total, but have seen 5 Catholic TV Commericals.

What is going on?

This is definately not happening where I am located… It would be great to see true Catholic organizations tackle this medium…

 

[Teneas]

Just reread your post, and I would say that the Church would see the need to advertise for the same reasons any church would advertise. To spread the word of course. Doesn’t sound very Catholic to advertise though, not saying it’s not Catholic, just does seem strange.

 

[ralphinal]

Typically, it is part of a Catholics come home type of outreach, trying to get lax and lazy Catholics to come back as well as those who have actually left the Church to return

 

[ljubim]

I have noticed a recent HUGE Catholic advertising campaign and am wondering WHY?

Why does the Catholic Church feel it necessary to advertise?

Driving to a friend’s house I past by 4 Large Billboards, 2 of which were computerized, 2 bus stop advertisements and today I have watched TV for about an hour & a half total, but have seen 5 Catholic TV Commericals.

What is going on?

Wow, what sort of things did they say?

I would also appreciate seeing this where I live. We drove back home yesterday and saw these huge billboards that said, WHERE ARE YOU SPENDING ETERNITY?!?, and, HELL IS REAL. I know they’re from Protestants, but some human sympathy, not scare tactics, would be appreciated.

 

[fermat]

I have noticed a recent HUGE Catholic advertising campaign and am wondering WHY?

Why does the Catholic Church feel it necessary to advertise?

Driving to a friend’s house I past by 4 Large Billboards, 2 of which were computerized, 2 bus stop advertisements and today I have watched TV for about an hour & a half total, but have seen 5 Catholic TV Commericals.

What is going on?

I live in the Sacramento area and there there are a lot of ads here as well. The two most common are Catholic Come Home and the Immaculate Heart radio station .

Catholics Come Home is a lay apostolate that speaks to fallen away Catholics. There are many Catholics out there who were very poorly catechized as youth and fell away from the church because they just didn’t get it. This is part of an effort to reach out to them and bring them back into the fold.

 

[SingleMomMonica]

Wow, what sort of things did they say?

I would also appreciate seeing this where I live. We drove back home yesterday and saw these huge billboards that said, WHERE ARE YOU SPENDING ETERNITY?!?, and, HELL IS REAL. I know they’re from Protestants, but some human sympathy, not scare tactics, would be appreciated.

The TV ads are of various people who had stopped going to Church cause they were to busy with Professional Sports, dealing with family problems, or just stopped going. They then talk about how great it is to be back in Church.

I’m I guess what you could call a fallen away Catholic since I converted to Orthodoxy, these advertisments don’t spark any interest besides curiosity as to why there out there because they do not address any dogmatic or doctrinal reasons why people, including me, leave the Catholic Church.

Maybe there are those who left without being educated and it’s those uneducated people they’re reaching out to meaning they are only reaching out to those who did not leave after study of dogmatic or doctrinal issues.

I wonder what kind of response, if any, these advertisments are getting?

Has membership or tithe increased?

 

[TheosisM]

I assume this is by the Catholics Come Home group, as someone mentioned.

catholicscomehome.org/

I personally like the “Epic” commercial.

youtube.com/watch?v=Vs6qZd_xP1w

I can’t remember which article it was, but I did read a news article awhile ago about how the Catholics Come Home commercials had a very positive effect in the dioceses part of the trial run, with Mass attendance increasing substantially after the airing of the commercials over a period of time. I believe one of these locations was the Diocese of Phoenix.

 

[RomanCath379]

I have noticed a recent HUGE Catholic advertising campaign and am wondering WHY?

Why does the Catholic Church feel it necessary to advertise?

Driving to a friend’s house I past by 4 Large Billboards, 2 of which were computerized, 2 bus stop advertisements and today I have watched TV for about an hour & a half total, but have seen 5 Catholic TV Commericals.

What is going on?

First of all, you yourself use to be Catholic so don’t act like you don’t know the lingistics of the faith. Second, there would be NO Catholic commercials EVER on regular television. Maybe on EWTN or a Catholic station, furthermore, I even doubt your billboards are Catholic. Take a picture, upload it, then I will believe you. If anything, perhaps they are signs that you return to the faith you once carried.

 

[tweetymom]

First of all, you yourself use to be Catholic so don’t act like you don’t know the lingistics of the faith. Second, there would be NO Catholic commercials EVER on regular television. Maybe on EWTN or a Catholic station, furthermore, I even doubt your billboards are Catholic. Take a picture, upload it, then I will believe you. If anything, perhaps they are signs that you return to the faith you once carried.

Here in California there are real tv advertisments on regular tv. So your never is false.

 

[adelore]

I’m from Michigan, and yes I’ve even seen Catholic Billboards. Just as a person is leaving Muskegon, MI on I-96 going east towards Grand Rapids, a Billboard is there saying, **"What have you done for your marriage lately? **Then in small print, but not tiny, it says Catholic Church, Grand Rapids Diocesses.

I’ve also seen a couple of these same Billboards in Grand Rapids, Mi. If you do a web search for this Bill board, ** “What have you done for your Marriage lately?”**

You will find all kinds of comments from people who have seen this Billboard (since 2008 and still today) put out by the Catholic Church all over the country. (I did a search trying to find you a picture of it, but I could only come up with people posting comments about it. Yet I myself have seen this Billboard.)

I’d go take a picture of it, but I live over an hour from where I’ve seen this Billboard. But if I get down that way again, I will take a picture of it and then post it here.

 

[prodigalson12]

Catholics come home was not sanctioned, created, influence, or supported by the Catholic church, it was/is all laymen doing this, people like you and I, getting together, raising their own funds and implementing this bad boy, and you know what, IT IS ABOUT TIME!!!

I am not downplaying it like it’s just there for lax Catholics, it’s our way of telling the world, we are an approachable, God fearing church that makes a huge amount of contributions in the world. The fact it’s happening to start to encrouch upon territory largely held by other faiths, or lack therin, is the underlying issue I suspect from the OP, and sadly, too many other people. These were done in taste, they are done with style, and are a gentle way to invite anybody that wants to know about us, who we are, and what the Catholic faith is about, to not hesitate.

What makes this more remarkable, we aren’t the type to press hard on people for conversions, this is not the same as too many other religions, yet these displays are being viewed as a recruitment tool, but if you notice, there is no pressure about this, what so ever in that regard. Basically saying, here we are, this is what we do, this is what we stand for, if this looks appealing to you, learn more at your local parish, nothing more.

 

[adelore]

By the way I see nothing wrong with the Catholic Church Advertising. Why shouldn’t she (the Church) put up signs, advertisments ect.?

Todays world isn’t what it was “years” ago. Society has taken on a new set of “morals” (I’m not saying all people have, but truely we’re not living in the Ozzie and Harriet Days, or Leave it to Beaver days anymore.) The family and family values, just aren’t what they use to be. It use to be families use to:

1. Sit down and eat together and pray before and/or after each meal. (now days, life is so busy, people work different shifts, most american families, dont even sit down together at a meal.)
2. It was common for Mothers to be stay at home moms. Or wife’s to be “housewifes”. (In todays world, there are a lot of single Moms, that have to work. Or single Dads that have to work and raise the children alone.
3. ** Board Games, Card Games, Hide -n- Seek, Playing in a Real “Tree House”, Riding Bike, ect., **and such are not the norm anymore. T.V., Video Games, Computers, ect. are now the norm for entertainment for the kids. Our family “vaules” have changed. I’m not saying “all” families have changed but over all Society has.
4. Years ago, it was the “Few” who didn’t attend a Church of somekind in your neighborhood. Now days if you look at your Neighborhood, it’s a few families that Do attend a Church of somekind.

So why shouldn’t the Church advertise and try to pull people back to the Bible, The Church, and re-gain Christian Values the way this country was once?

I’m all for it. Advertise Away…

 

[puzzleannie]

I have noticed a recent HUGE Catholic advertising campaign and am wondering WHY?

Why does the Catholic Church feel it necessary to advertise?

Driving to a friend’s house I past by 4 Large Billboards, 2 of which were computerized, 2 bus stop advertisements and today I have watched TV for about an hour & a half total, but have seen 5 Catholic TV Commericals.

What is going on?

what was the content of the ads? were they for the various charitable outreaches and collections such as Catholic Charities, the bishop’s fund in your area, global charities? Were they inviting lapsed Catholics to come home? Were they specific to a Catholic institution such as a hospital or university? Was it a pro-life message? In other words, do you mean the universal Catholic Church is advertising with a message straight from Rome, or is the Church in your diocese adverstising for a specific purpose, or are various Catholic apostolates and institutions advertising, and it is just coincidence.

I applaud whoever is doing the advertising, and give double applause if the purpose is to welcome new inquirers to the Faith and to call former Catholics to come home.

other than EWTN and the few hours of religious programming on our local PBS stations, which is owned by the diocese, I never recall seeing the Church advertising on TV at all in this area.

Just as Paul and the other apostles used every available means of communication in their day, as missionaries have been doing ever since, the Church should be doing the same in this day.

 

[Cat]

I love the Catholics Coming Home ads!

We are doing the campaign in our diocese, and it is really exciting. Back in the fall, our bishop urged all of us to pray the Rosary everyday for the Catholics Coming Home campaign, and I obeyed him, although I confess that I missed four days!

Now that the campaign is in full swing, the priests are preaching homilies that teach basics of the Catholic faith and welcome Catholics back home again. All of us are being reminded to reach out and welcome people that we don’t know and be friendly and loving before and after Mass. No, it’s not becoming a Protestant love-in. In our parish, a table has been set up, and parishioners are waiting to greet any visitors and answer any questions. We have a huge tract rack in the church narthex now, with all those great CAF CDs that help people who need some catechesis. And all of us are being encouraged to invite our Catholic friends back to Mass.

The campaign is such a wonderful “unifier” and “galvanizer.” I think it’s doing the faithful, Mass-attending Catholics as much good as it is attracting the fallen-away Catholics. It’s encouraging us to be faithful and to close to Jesus and our Holy Mother.

And as an ex-Protestant, I think the ads are very educational for non-Catholic Christians. These ads sure make it obvious that the Catholic Church is not a Babylonian mystery religion of goddess worship and quasi-occult rituals. The ads give so much glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, and proclaim Him as Savior and Lord! In other words, the ads preach the Gospel. IMO, that’s great!

 

[Marie5890]

I think it’s great. Sometimes people need to be reminded, even thru advertizing, to re-evaluate their lives, take the pulse of their spiritual health.

I do expect many people who left the church are due to social moral teachings (many divorce/annulment issues, birth control, etc etc) and less about the kinds of hard core doctrines singlemm is referring to, (most simply have not had that kind of depth of catechesis and probably have little interest in it really)

Sometimes people’s lives get soooo busy and sooooo distracted that the spiritual side of them is the first part to get neglected…

These ad campaigns are a great reminder…

JMO

 

[Marie5890]

I love the Catholics Coming Home ads!

We are doing the campaign in our diocese, and it is really exciting. Back in the fall, our bishop urged all of us to pray the Rosary everyday for the Catholics Coming Home campaign, and I obeyed him, although I confess that I missed four days!

Now that the campaign is in full swing, the priests are preaching homilies that teach basics of the Catholic faith and welcome Catholics back home again. All of us are being reminded to reach out and welcome people that we don’t know and be friendly and loving before and after Mass. No, it’s not becoming a Protestant love-in. In our parish, a table has been set up, and parishioners are waiting to greet any visitors and answer any questions. We have a huge tract rack in the church narthex now, with all those great CAF CDs that help people who need some catechesis. And all of us are being encouraged to invite our Catholic friends back to Mass.

The campaign is such a wonderful “unifier” and “galvanizer.” I think it’s doing the faithful, Mass-attending Catholics as much good as it is attracting the fallen-away Catholics. It’s encouraging us to be faithful and to close to Jesus and our Holy Mother.

And as an ex-Protestant, I think the ads are very educational for non-Catholic Christians. These ads sure make it obvious that the Catholic Church is not a Babylonian mystery religion of goddess worship and quasi-occult rituals. The ads give so much glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, and proclaim Him as Savior and Lord! In other words, the ads preach the Gospel. IMO, that’s great!

What a great thing to do. And in unity, prayer and faith.

Every so often we stick a sign outside of our parish near the edge of the street (a route in our town and in the general suburb at large) that simple asks.

“Curious about the Catholic faith?”
and then the parish phone number.

Several of our inquirers and those who have continued into the RCIA program have come as a direct result of that sign…

 

[SingleMomMonica]

Here in California there are real tv advertisments on regular tv. So your never is false.

He’s always speaking falsehood on every thread I’ve ever seen him post on.

 

[SingleMomMonica]

I think it’s great. Sometimes people need to be reminded, even thru advertizing, to re-evaluate their lives, take the pulse of their spiritual health.

I do expect many people who left the church are due to social moral teachings (many divorce/annulment issues, birth control, etc etc) and less about the kinds of hard core doctrines singlemm is referring to, (most simply have not had that kind of depth of catechesis and probably have little interest in it really)

Sometimes people’s lives get soooo busy and sooooo distracted that the spiritual side of them is the first part to get neglected…

These ad campaigns are a great reminder…

JMO

I’m all about the Theology and I guess I just don’t understand people who leave or join a Faith that are doing it for non-Theological reasons.

But I guess if those kind of people are out there, then perhaps it’s a good thing cause then they’ll at least be somewhere? But then I don’t know, does the Catholic Church desire more “Cafeteria Catholics” who don’t know & don’t care to know about there Faith?

I don’t know. I’m having a hard time with both sides of it.

BTW, the advertisments I’ve seen do not address those social issues you mentioned either. Just that “I used to be Catholic…stopped going to Mass…now I’m going to Mass again” - there are several differnt people who say that. Then there is one that say…“after death you’re going to watch a movie of your life and relive the high and low points…it’s not to late to change the ending of your movie”, while it’s not doctinally accurate regarding life after death, it’s a good secular message to kinda wake up to what you’re doing and how it affects others.