AN OUTREACH PROGRAM TO WELCOME RETURNING CATHOLICS
BACK HOME

No matter how long you’ve been away, you can always come home!  You can start coming to Mass, you can become a part of the community, you can enter into the faith far more deeply than when you left.  Chances are, you are already feeling a strange inner pull.  No matter what anyone else tells you, the spiritual longing you feel is God trying to draw you back to Himself.  But, God never forces, He only invites.  Whether or not you return to the Catholic Church is a decision that only you can make.

There are many reasons for coming back to the Church.  While God is at the center of each person’s decision to return, the circumstances are varied.  Here are ten reasons that influenced the decision of other people to return to the practice of the Catholic faith.

• Because they want meaning in life. In the hustle of today's busy lifestyles, lots of people suddenly realize that their lives have lost a sense of meaning or purpose.
• Because childhood memories surface. Some people say childhood memories of feeling connected to God surface in later life.
• Because they made mistakes. Some people become burdened with the weight of accumulated sin.
• Because they need to forgive others. Sometimes people hold on to anger and resentment toward individuals who have hurt them deeply.
• Because they want to be healed.
• Because the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth and grace.
• Because they want their children to have a faith foundation.
• Because they want to be part of a faith community.
• Because they want to help other people.
• Because they hunger for the Eucharist.

Most people discover that coming back to the Church is not an event as much as it is a process that involves a little pain, a little laughter, some thinking, some prayer, some discernment, and a lot of letting go. "My actual return to full participation in a parish took about three years after I felt the first longing," one person admitted. And what do they get in return? The Catholic Church offers union with Jesus Christ in Scripture, in prayer, in the community of others, in the Eucharist, and in the other Sacraments. It offers spiritual support in good times and bad.  It offers divine wisdom that is thousands of years old.  It offers meaning and purpose in this life and the promise of life after death.  You'll know you are home when you begin to feel a deep sense of peace.
While some of us are comfortable returning to the Church simply by celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation and then attending Mass once again, others may need more support as well as a period in which to explore their faith. "Landings" is a parish-based, lay-led ministry of welcoming returning Catholics back to the Church through small group faith sharing.
For more information, please contact: Alice Carden.610-983-0269.ayizzi@verizon.net