Catholics Come Home In the News

Stay informed about Catholics Come Home!

CatholicsComeHome.org featured in The Boston Pilot Newspaper

TheBostonPilotcom

Workshops lay groundwork to help ‘Catholics Come Home®
by: Jim Lockwood

BRAINTREE — The Archdiocese of Boston and its parishes are gearing up for its Catholics Come Home® initiative, an effort to welcome lapsed Catholics back to the Church that will begin this Lent.

CCH white logo (Registered Trademark) edited in picnic for smaller border 052810“On the ground, there are a lot of things going on to support this program,” said Archdiocese of Boston Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization Janet Benestad.

Beginning Feb. 22, the archdiocese will be hosting free workshops for pastors, parish staff and Catholics Come Home® parish leaders to suggest ways to welcome those who return to the Church through this initiative.

Workshops will be held Feb. 22 at St. Michael Parish in North Andover, Feb. 23 at Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton and Feb. 24 at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Braintree. All sessions run from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The presenter will be Tom Curran, of MyCatholicFaith.org, a website featuring Catholic podcasts, blogs, multimedia resources and news. Curran produces a course called “Helping Catholics Come Home,” which is available on the website. The course can be used by parishes to train catechetical leaders as part of the Catholics Come Home® initiative.

The workshops will be videotaped and made available on the archdiocese’s CatholicsComeHomeBoston.org website. Information on Catholics Come Home® will also be available in Spanish and Portuguese.

Benestad said the workshops are geared towards “receiving those who accept the invitation.”

Throughout Lent and ending on Easter Sunday, Catholics Come Home® will be airing commercials on major television networks and cable news outlets. They are expected to air on Boston Channels 4, 5, 7 and 25, as well as FOX News, MSNBC, ESPN and TBS. Spots are also slated to be broadcast during cable coverage of Boston Celtics, Bruins and Red Sox games.

A total of between 2,000 and 3,000 ads are expected to air in segments of 30, 60 and 120-seconds. English, Spanish and Portuguese commercials are expected, though plans for Portuguese spots are still being finalized.

According to Benestad, the ads are expected to reach 92 percent of local television viewers.

She said that while the commercials will do a great deal to invite people back, the program will not be successful unless parishes are ready to receive them.

She is encouraging parish communities to be welcoming at Mass and be willing to assist those who may be unfamiliar with Mass rubrics.

“(The parishes) know through the ads people are going to call, they might show up at a rectory or they might show up at a Mass,” she said.

She said that across the archdiocese, parishes are marking the Catholics Come Home® initiative in unique ways.

“Different parishes are going to approach Catholics Come Home® in a different way,” she said. “In different places, people have come up with a variety of ideas to welcome people back to the Church.”
read entire article

Please keep all of our CCH Diocesan Partners that will be airing Catholics Come Home® initiatives this Lent in your prayers.  Please also remember in prayer all those who will receive this invitation “home” to Christ’s Catholic Church! Learn more about bringing CatholicsComeHome.org TV commercials to your diocese


CCH Recommends…

Any Friend of God’s is a Friend of Mine
By Patrick Madrid
The best ever explanation of the Catholic doctrine of the communion of saints written for a popular audience. Patrick Any Friend of God'sMadrid explains in a clear, easy-to-follow style why Catholics pray to and honor Mary and the saints. Using the Bible and the testimony of the early Church Fathers, he provides a concise overview of the biblical and historical foundations of this often misunderstood Catholic doctrine. He also walks you through the standard anti-Catholic arguments against praying to Mary and the saints and demonstrates from the Bible why these arguments are themselves unbiblical.

Get it today from our web store and help support CCH in the process!


National Catholic Bible Conference coming to ATLANTA!

Catholics Come Home is excited to be a sponsor for the 2011 National Catholic Bible Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, July 22-23. Mark your calendars early! The theme of the conference is “The Great Conversation: Encountering God’s Word.” This is a can’t-miss event with fantastic speakers and an opportunity to learn more about the Word of God and how better to share it with others. See the NCBC’s website (http://catholicbibleconference.com/) for a speaker list and more details about the event. Hope to see you there!


Archdiocese of Boston parish says ‘Catholics come home'

enterprisenews_logo BOSTON

‘Catholics come home,’ says St. Albert’s in Weymouth

WEYMOUTH —

The Archdiocese of Boston wants to gather its flock back into the fold. Hearing the call, the parish council at the Church of St. Albert the Great knew what to do.

The. Rev. Paul Soper of the Church of St. Albert the Great in Weymouth and Betsy Clifford, pastoral associate and music director, consider hymn selections for the open house that will be held on March 9, 2011.
The. Rev. Paul Soper of the Church of St. Albert the Great in Weymouth and Betsy Clifford, pastoral associate and music director, consider hymn selections for the open house that will be held on March 9, 2011.

As part of a new national campaign, Catholics Come Home, the church will hold a 24-hour open house March 9, Ash Wednesday.

Ads that are part of the archdiocese-wide campaign will begin airing on Boston television stations March 7, said the Rev. Paul Soper of St. Albert’s.

Every parish in the archdiocese is being asked to plan something for the beginning of Lent to welcome back those who have left the church or feel distant from it. The council at St. Albert’s decided to take a page from its vigil days of the past and be open around the clock with welcoming activities for that one day and night.

In 2004, St. Albert’s parishioners held a 10-month vigil, refusing to leave the church, to protest plans to close it. In 2005, the Archdiocese announced St. Albert’s would remain open.

At the Ash Wednesday open house, two Masses will be held and ashes will be given out all day. A priest will be available to take confession at anytime and lay people will be available throughout to sit down and talk and there will be refreshments in the parish hall.
click to read entire article


Get Your Catholic Media Bundles!

CD bundles2Order the popular Lighthouse Catholic Media bundles from CatholicsComeHom.org! These make great (even unexpected) gifts for family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors–and are a fantastic and powerful ways to evangelize. We feature three unique and powerful CD sets:

I Am Catholic
Lighthouse Catholic CD Bundle
featuring Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Larry Richards, Fr. Robert Barron
I Am Not Catholic
Lighthouse Catholic CD Bundle
featuring Stephen Ray, Patrick Madrid, Dr. Scott Hahn
I Used To Be Catholic
Lighthouse Catholic CD Bundle
featuring Dr. Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins

 

Thanks for supporting Lighthouse Catholic Media and Catholics Come Home…and for sharing the faith with others (or simply growing in your own faith!)


Give more; Love more!

Blessed Mother Teresa is one of the greatest saints when it comes to teaching us how to love.

Mother Teresa Praying“There are thousands of people who would love to have what we have, yet God has chosen us to be where we are today to share the joy of loving others. He wants us to love one another, to give ourselves to each other until it hurts. It does not matter how much we give, but how much love we put into our giving.”

Need a good lesson on love? Check out Blessed Mother Teresa’s No Greater Love. It is a CCH favorite!


Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul!

Today we celebrate the feast of the conversion of the great “apostle to the st-paulGentiles.” After his conversion, St. Paul spread the Gospel fervently and with tremendous love for the Lord about whom he preached.

Read about the conversion of this great saint here.

St. Paul, great evangelist and example of God’s mercy, pray for us!


Find a parish to call home.

Need some guidance finding a parish near you? MassTimes.org has a parish-finding resource for that.

Search Now