Winning back fallen away Catholics

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I think you have a point. But those are the saddest cases. These are people who loved the faith when it didn’t ‘interfere’ with them, but when it did, decided that their own wishes or feelings were more important. And that can be the case with any belief system (even one of 'non belief). And we don’t know if the leaving will be permanent. Sometimes we get ‘fed up’ and walk away for a while, only to return, sometimes quite a long time later, having given ourselves the time and space to come to a more rational decision.
 
Bre6785 said:
Has anybody else noticed that fallen away Catholics seem to be the most vehement and hateful toward the Church? I believe they never really knew or understood Church teaching to begin with, or had a very morbid/scewed understanding. How do we even start a dialogue with them?
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I’m thinking,
  1. they got caught up in sin themselves,
  2. and they didn’t like Church rules to follow, nor the fix for sin.
Take one example. Divorce…&…remarriage

Divorce hits Catholic families too. How does one move forward from that? How many Catholics who divorce, get remarried again without annulment of their previous marriage? It’s a bunch. Now they are jammed up. They couldn’t get remarried in the Church. They can’t go to communion because they are in mortal sin. So the next question they ask, why still go to mass? And it keeps going down hill from there.
 
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I’d suggest you start a dialogue by asking them why they left and then actually listening to their response and taking them at their word, rather than trying to figure out why they “REALLY” left, and assuming you know better than they do.

Eventually, the conversation may come round to them leaving for a variety of reasons they hadn’t previously identified or whatever, but many of these dialogues seem to begin with the Catholic already having a lot of assumptions and theories and being more concerned with presenting them than with hearing the other person out.

The wording of the opening post, and my own experience being examples.
 
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Education. I forgot the former Protestant theologian author who turned Catholic who once said " Once you study Church history is when you become Catholic". It’s true too. If I wasn’t so in love with learning church history I could understand why people wouldn’t understand it. I remember my brother once saying he felt like a pawn at Mass. Ignorance really.
Every bit of the liturgy has a purpose, a divine purpose actually and comes from the primitive church.
 
Some one close to me said that she is a better person as a non-Catholic compared to when she was a Catholic. I have no answer for her.
 
I’d establish a shared base of trust in other areas and let them indicate to me when they wish to broach the subject. I find it counter-productive to raise an issue with someone that is guaranteed to provoke them to anger and harsh remarks. I’d wait until charitable, equanimous discourse is likely.
 
I agree there are some out there in various faiths (not just Catholicism) where they remain so long as it’s convenient. That doesn’t negate the error in the OP which claims that as a whole people who leave the faith are ignorant of it. Far from it. As I’m sure someone has or will point out in a recent test non-believers came out on top in a study of religious knowledge.

One thing as a tangent from your point, I’ve notice that believers seem to be ok with those who have a “childlike faith” where they don’t have a great understanding of the faith but are moved emotionally by it. It’s not surprising then that if those emotions change that specific type of believe may fall away from that faith later on.
 
Mike_from_NJ said:
One piece of wisdom I can offer, and it’s something that applies not only to religion but numerous other topics: Two people can be provided with the same information and come to differing conclusions.
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Where do you think this statement, if true, leaves those of us who wish to come to a true conclusion? Do you believe two opposing conclusions stemming from the same information can both be true?
 
I fail to see how its ok for a potentially damned soul, if you believe such things, is something to joke about.
 
Isn’t this true of Protestant churches as well? “Church just don’t fit in with todays hectic schedules etc.” or “A pastor insulted my sensibilities so I never went back…etc. etc.” The Roman Church is hardly unique in these instances if your conclusion is that its any harder to be a Catholic than some other affiliation.
 
In my experience if you confront them in an ‘in your face’ style it will drive them farther away. Better be an example to them and pray for them. When they are ready, they will seek your advice.
 
setarcos said:
Where do you think this statement, if true, leaves those of us who wish to come to a true conclusion? Do you believe two opposing conclusions stemming from the same information can both be true?
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I don’t think they can both be true. In this particular scenario one of the following is correct:
  1. There are no gods.
  2. God as defined by the Catholic Church is true.
  3. There are one or more deities that don’t match the description the Catholic Church gives.
The problem becomes that religion is both unprovable and unfalsifiable (the latter meaning that it can’t be absolutely shown to be incorrect). That means that both the believer and the unbeliever can look at the same information and come to different conclusions.
 
I think that if we show them love that makes a big difference. We also have to be rock solid in the knowledge of our faith so we are ready to explain and defend our faith and in the state of grace (get the plank out of your eye) so we have the Holy Spirit as a helper.
 
Lighten up. Op asked what to do to facilitate discussions and everyone loves pizza
 
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