Why didn't I know about the Catholic Church?

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Even though I’ve been a practicing Christian my whole life, until this past year, I knew very little about the Catholic Church. How is it that I’ve gone so long without hearing more about Catholicism?

I see billboards, newspaper ads, and television commercials for Protestant churches. Why not more outreach and PR from the Catholic Church? After all, we have a better product! 😉

I’m a recent convert, and I’m just reflecting and wishing that I’d come into the Church long ago. I’ve been missing out! If I had only known…
 
i was the same for me first time i really heard about the catholic church i was 19 i converted soon after 😃 it was what i had been looking so long for
 
The CC feels and believes that anyone who is really seeking the Truth will be led to the CC.There is adequate information available who wants to knnow.IMO many protestants get to a point where they are satisfied with their beliefs and don’t care to know more.Their happy (so they think)where they are.Sometimes its painful to seek more because you’ll know you may have to give up more.Anyway its an effort.You may feel that you are unique in discovering Catholism in the US but there are thousands every year that find the Church which come from various christian denominations and people who weren’t christians at all or were athiests.
 
valentino said:
The CC feels and believes that anyone who is really seeking the Truth will be led to the CC.There is adequate information available who wants to knnow.IMO many protestants get to a point where they are satisfied with their beliefs and don’t care to know more.Their happy (so they think)where they are.Sometimes its painful to seek more because you’ll know you may have to give up more.Anyway its an effort.You may feel that you are unique in discovering Catholism in the US but there are thousands every year that find the Church which come from various christian denominations and people who weren’t christians at all or were athiests.
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I was in the process of choosing a local church to attend and was considering different denominations. I began to research a bit because I knew that some of them were getting a little screwy and there were some things that I didn’t want to “support” by my attendence and giving.

The Catholic Church wasn’t even on my list. Then something sparked my interest. Once I began to look into it, it was like an avalanche.
 
one of the local parishes in Ocean City, Maryland, USA is advertising on the side of public transportation buses. OC is a beach resort town and a lot of vacationers come in to attend mass.
 
largely, I think this is something that the Church could do better. The Church should market itself better to attract more people. It also does not seem to do too much to refute commonly misunderstood parts of the faith.

However, for the person actively looking for religion, there is plenty to be had on the internet to stear you the right direction.
 
Valid question.

And the founding of Catholic Answers was Karl Keating’s response.
 
There might well be a number of reasons for lack of advertising.
  1. Much of what the Church does is at the local level so if a particular parish does not think of it, or have the money for it, it would not be done.
  2. Why do we need to advertise. We have a virtula head of state as our spiritual leader who is always in the news. Anyone who wants to find out more can look us up on the net if no where else.
  3. It wasn’t all that long ago that being Catholic dould get you hung from the lod oak tree. 60 years ago the KKK still persecuted Blacks, Catholics and Jews int many parts of this country.
  4. Americans have an expectation of professionally done advertising from being exposed to it constantly. If it is not well done, it can lead to ridicule. (pick you favorite rediculous ad for example). Prfessional advertising is not cheap and there are better things to spend money on.
  5. The clincher. traditional advertising. You shall be known by your love for one another. 👍
 
mcrow said:
largely, I think this is something that the Church could do better. The Church should market itself better to attract more people. It also does not seem to do too much to refute commonly misunderstood parts of the faith.

However, for the person actively looking for religion, there is plenty to be had on the internet to stear you the right direction.
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marketing costs money, the Church is not as rich as people think it is. A lot of money goes to the schools and hospitals and a whole realm of charities so there isn’t much left over for TV commercials and billboards.

That is changing somewhat though, as the Church has created an internet presence including being on Facebook.
 
vsedriver said:
marketing costs money, the Church is not as rich as people think it is. A lot of money goes to the schools and hospitals and a whole realm of charities so there isn’t much left over for TV commercials and billboards.

That is changing somewhat though, as the Church has created an internet presence including being on Facebook.
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There are a lot of cheap ways to market. As you mention, Facebook is one. Local perishes can do more to be a part of the local county and state fairs. A booth at most county fairs are either free or very cheap.

Perhaps, signs outside the church about the RCIA classes starting soon. Even better, have either a priest or knowledgable lay person do a “Catholicism for the Curious” group once per quarter. It’s not RCIA, but just for those who want to know about a basic overview and might be interested in converting. They could hand out RCIA info afterword for those interested. This sort of thing could be advertised for nothing in the community activies flyer most towns have.

There are tons of ways to do it very cheap, they do not need to do commercials or anything like that.
 
Another thought: there were two types of pastors … the monastics and the builders.

The builders put up churches, schools, convents, rectories and other facilities. They were very extraverted and vigorous.

The monastics were more into prayer and meditation. More introverted. Pretty much low key sort of men.

And there was always a push-pull between the two types.

Once the “immigrant” church was built-up … the monastics took over.

And the builders and the immigrant church/ parishes brought their culture with them from Europe. They didn’t need to do any evangelization.

In the inner cities, often there was a parish church on every block.

After the original few generations moved to the suburbs, those inner city parishes wilted because the “replacement” residents were not evangelized to “join” the local Catholic parishes.

The suburban parishes were more blended … but still were folks who had moved from the cities and brought the basic Catholic traditions and cultures with them.

There just is no “tradition” of evangelizing “outsiders” in a formal “bureaucratic” sense.

Prior to the start of the program of RCIA, there were large numbers of converts who were brought in on an informal basis by the builder/pastors. RCIA was more rigorous and formal and took a whole year. There is a tendency to just ignore the way the builder/pastors brought in so many converts.
 
In my case I was brought up Episcopalian and never gave Catholicism a second thought. We knew about Catholics because an uncle had married a Catholic gal and had become a Catholic too. So, there was a small influence there, but still, in our home the Catholic Church was almost never mentioned. What we are brought up to believe is what we tend to believe. If you’re not brought up Catholic but some other Christian belief you are going to think of Catholics as just another denomination–one that you’ll never join, but no better or worse than your own. That’s how most Protestants think and who can blame them? We trust our parents and our church leaders to tell us the truth. Why would we question what they taught us?

If we hadn’t been ripped from our Episcopal Church after my dad died I may have stayed Episcopalian all my life and never have thought twice about it. I may have become rather heterodox, as many are, going more with the mainstream society’s mores than those of Christ, as many Episcopalians have. Or I may have become a Continuing Anglican, clinging to the truths the Episcopal Church once taught (that were very close to those of the Catholic Church) and even become an Anglican nun/sister–like those seen in the royal wedding.

I can only chalk up my interest in the Catholic Church to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I came out of Pentecostalism and back into the Episcopal Church in my 30’s, but it had radically changed from my childhood. All through my life there were little incidents with the Catholic Church that, in and of themselves did nothing to convert me, but added up and paired with the way things went in my 30’s I found myself drawn to the Catholic Church, in spite of myself. The very last place I had envisioned myself was in the Catholic Church.

So, how does one learn that the Church exists and that one ought to be a part of it? Only God knows that because each person’s story is so different from each others. The only thing that seems to run, like a golden thread through all conversion stories is that the Church was there–like a castle on a hilltop. It attracted our souls and captured our hearts because the Holy Spirit put within them an ineffable desire to know and love God in the fullness of truth. It is a mystery of God that I can’t explain.
 
Another thought: there were two types of pastors … the monastics and the builders.

The builders put up churches, schools, convents, rectories and other facilities. They were very extraverted and vigorous.

The monastics were more into prayer and meditation. More introverted. Pretty much low key sort of men.

And there was always a push-pull between the two types.

Once the “immigrant” church was built-up … the monastics took over.

And the builders and the immigrant church/ parishes brought their culture with them from Europe. They didn’t need to do any evangelization.

In the inner cities, often there was a parish church on every block.

After the original few generations moved to the suburbs, those inner city parishes wilted because the “replacement” residents were not evangelized to “join” the local Catholic parishes.

The suburban parishes were more blended … but still were folks who had moved from the cities and brought the basic Catholic traditions and cultures with them.

There just is no “tradition” of evangelizing “outsiders” in a formal “bureaucratic” sense.

Prior to the start of the program of RCIA, there were large numbers of converts who were brought in on an informal basis by the builder/pastors. RCIA was more rigorous and formal and took a whole year. There is a tendency to just ignore the way the builder/pastors brought in so many converts.

I’m also wondering if the “demise” of the Holy Name Societies was a factor. Prior to “Vatican II”, each parish had a men’s group, called the Holy Name Society that had monthly meetings and received Holy Communion together and then went for breakfast together … at which there would be spiritual talks. Kind of a mini-retreat. These groups got a lot done for the parish. [This was in addition to the Knights of Columbus.] At some point, the Holy Name Society at most parishes just disappeared. [The womens’ groups continued on … the Rosary Altar Societies.] I always wondered why the Holy Name Societies went away.

There were a lot of “strange things” that took place at the time of Vatican II.

Religious education went away. The “plan” was to basically do away with educating the children and make it up with adult education. So the kids were turned loose with NOTHING [some pastors complained to me about that … education is based on a “spiral” with continuously increasing sophistication … the old Baltimore Catechism comes in several editions for different age groups …] but the adult education aspect simply never materialized.

One of my friends said that Catholics were forced to learn their faith “by osmosis”.

Priests were forbidden to teach from the pulpit at Mass, although a few “snuck in” lessons here and there … integrating the life of the saint-of-the-day with the Gospel reading.

What a mess!

And to fill that void is what led Karl Keating to start Catholic Answers.

There is a book out, by Halleck … about how the training and teaching of the laity deteriorated. Can’t think of the name of the book off hand. I have a copy of it around here. Even Catholics with only a grade-school education could explain the basics of the faith … but after “the changes”, Catholic laity had been completely dumbed-down.
 
Della said:
So, how does one learn that the Church exists and that one ought to be a part of it? Only God knows that because each person’s story is so different from each others. The only thing that seems to run, like a golden thread through all conversion stories is that the Church was there–like a castle on a hilltop. It attracted our souls and captured our hearts because the Holy Spirit put within them an ineffable desire to know and love God in the fullness of truth. It is a mystery of God that I can’t explain.
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Very, very well said Della. It reminds me of one of my first comments during RCIA. I just felt drawn to the Cathoilc Church, and I was there to learn what I could. Before, I didnt’ know much at all about the Church, but the more that I learned, the more that I liked!
 
mcrow said:
Even better, have either a priest or knowledgable lay person do a “Catholicism for the Curious” group once per quarter. It’s not RCIA, but just for those who want to know about a basic overview and might be interested in converting.
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I think that’s a great idea.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
Valid question.

And the founding of Catholic Answers was Karl Keating’s response.
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And I am VERY thankful for Catholic Answers and everyone who has been willing to share their insights on these forums. It has been a great source that I’ve turned to many, many times over the past several months.
 
We had an Apologetics Class at our parish, and several Protestants, including me and my husband, attended. I’m not sure if we were the only converts out of that class. But it was a great class, taught by an ex-Protestant, and not only did the Protestants learn a lot, but so did the Catholics.
 
Cat said:
We had an Apologetics Class at our parish, and several Protestants, including me and my husband, attended. I’m not sure if we were the only converts out of that class. But it was a great class, taught by an ex-Protestant, and not only did the Protestants learn a lot, but so did the Catholics.
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Exactly. I feel that apologetics is important. Show people the truth (in a charitable way, of course) Many may be as I was. Clueless.
 
Perhaps I didn’t hear much about the Catholic Church because I live in a more rural area. Catholics are definetely in the minority.

As for more outreach from the Church, I’ve been thinking about the Apostles. Jesus sent them out to the ends of the earth. They didn’t wait for people to come to them. I understand that in the scriptures Jesus did say that those who come to him a drawn by the Father, but are we not to play a part in that?
 
novusCatholic said:
Perhaps I didn’t hear much about the Catholic Church because I live in a more rural area. Catholics are definetely in the minority.

As for more outreach from the Church, I’ve been thinking about the Apostles. Jesus sent them out to the ends of the earth. They didn’t wait for people to come to them. I understand that in the scriptures Jesus did say that those who come to him a drawn by the Father, but are we not to play a part in that?
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I’m on the RCIA team in my parish. I notice that quite a few candidates are drawn to the church because of one of the women in the parish. She doesn’t hide the fact that she’s Catholic. She shows an interest in those she comes in contact with without being preachy. But when people have a crisis they ask her to pray for them or they go to her to talk and eventually some of them end up becoming Catholic. They want what she has. I think we need to be more like that.
 
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