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Catholics Come Home In the News

Stay informed about Catholics Come Home!

More great news in response to the Archdiocese of Chicago's CatholicsComeHome.org campaign

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The Archdiocese of Chicago’s BLOG shares some of their most recent updates and results since their Advent 2009 CCH TV ad campaign:

“You may have seen experiences of speed and excitement while watching skiing events in the winter Olympics, but that is nothing compared to what’s been going on in the Office for Evangelization in the last 8 months!

It was mid summer when three dioceses (Chicago, Joliet and Rockford) began coordinating on an evangelization initiative called Catholics Come Home. The plan was to air 2,000 television ads in 3 languages over 10 stations in 5 ½ weeks beginning December 16 inviting Catholics to return to the practice of the faith. During the Fall our staff held training sessions for over 320 Parish Contacts, informational meetings for 650 parish receptionists and dozens of presentations at Parish and Deanery meetings throughout the Archdiocese, and we started our website.

During Advent, the phone calls and e-mails began coming in. Throughout January and February we have heard from many people who have come home to the Catholic Church. Each person brings with him/her a story of a difficult time in their lives though the outcome of their return is always a sense of peace and joy.

Now it’s March and Catholics Come Home Chicago keeps going and going and”…click here to read entire blog

Visit CatholicsComeHome.org each day to grow in your faith this Lent.

How about some apologetics this Friday…!

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“I don’t need to go to Church. As long as I’m a good person, that’s all that really matters.”

“Christianity is no better than any other faith. All religions lead to God.”

How would you answer questions like these?

Check out this article by Deal Hudson, which provides practical answers to 12 common claims that you have probably heard when discussing matters of faith with others who do not share your beliefs: 12 Claims Every Catholic Should Be Able to Answer.

We must never forget to defend the truth of our Faith at all times, even when it is most difficult. As our beloved Pope John Paul II reminds us, “The truth is not always the same as the majority decision.”

Share our CatholicsComeHome.org site with your friends this Lenten Season! God bless!

Testimonial from Diocese of Green Bay

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We received this inspiring CCH testimonial from a parishioner in the Diocese of Green Bay, WI where CCH ads are currently airing this Lent:

“I was away from the Church for several years until 9/11/01.  I was in tower 2 in NYC when the second plane struck that tower. I was one of the lucky ones. I have been trying to give back to the Church ever since.  Our diocese is kicking off Catholics Come Home this Lent.  I want to be apart of this effort in my parish.  I have volunteered to be a partner to anyone wishing to talk about “coming home” to the Church. – John”

Visit CatholicsComeHome.org as part of your daily Lenten commitment to spend more time with Christ and His Catholic Church.

Thoughts on Lent from our Holy Fathers…

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“Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need—the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship.” -Pope Benedict XVI, Lenten Message 2010

PopeBenedictXVI“In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one’s body. Fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a ‘therapy’ to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God.” -Pope Benedict XVI, Lenten Message 2009

“How should we respond to the invitation to conversion that Jesus addresses to us in this time of Lent? How can there be a serious change in our life? First of all, we must open our hearts to the penetrating call that comes to us from the Liturgy. The time of preparation for Easter is a providential gift from the Lord and a precious opportunity to draw closer to him, turning inward to listen to his promptings deep within.” -Pope John Paul II, Lenten Message 2001Pope JPII

“It is my fervent hope that believers will find this Lent a favorable time for bearing witness to the Gospel of charity in every place, since the vocation to charity is the heart of all true evangelization. To this end I invoke the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church and pray that she will accompany us on our Lenten journey.” -Pope John Paul II, Lenten Message 2003

To grow in your Catholic Faith this Lenten season, visit CatholicsComeHome.org.

Catholics Come Home Recommends…

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Interested in adding a great book to your Lenten reading?

In I’m Not Being Fed: Discovering the Food that Satisfies the Soul, Jeff Cavins explores the reasons why many Catholics have left the Church for various Christian denominations. You probably have personal stories of either you, your family, your friends, or your neighbors experiencing some of the issues Cavins discusses in this book. He responds to that commonly-heard complaint of formerI'm Not Being Fed Catholics — that they simply were not being “fed” by their Church and that they longed for a more personal, “spiritually nourishing” relationship with Jesus. This book is sure to help you understand how to respond to this common sentiment, and to help you grow in the knowledge and love of the Catholic Church–where all can find the true food they are looking for!

This book is definitely a CCH favorite!

Get a copy of this inspiring book…Visit CatholicsComeHome.org today!

A Great Saint Who's 'been there'…St. Margaret Clitherow

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CCH ‘Water-cooler-worthy update’ to inspire You:

A CCH supporter called today and generously donated towards our national CatholicsComeHome.org TV campaign goal.

She mentioned that locally they have a group that prays for those away from the faith, and that their patron saint is St. Margaret Clitherow, who was married and eventually converted to the Catholic faith.

St. Margaret Clitherow endured much, and was even imprisoned several times for her conversion, for sheltering priests (including her husband’s brother), and for permitting clandestine Masses to be celebrated on her property.  Her faithful example even lead to both of her sons becoming priests and her daughter becoming a nun.
Patron saint of:  businesswomen, converts, martyrs

WOW! What an inspiration for the CatholicsComeHome.org apostolate’s work reaching out to those away from the faith!  You never know the many lives touched through the CCH TV commercials, and then, in-turn, the many lives touched by the example of those converted!

St. Margaret Clitherow, pray for us!

Support CatholicsComeHome.org, and help get these ads airing nationally to reach your loved-ones away from the faith!

CatholicsComeHome.org in the Sacramento News…

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CatholicsComeHome.org in the News:

TV campaign targeting lapsed Catholics worked, Sacramento officials say

Preliminary numbers comparing Mass attendance before and after the “Catholics Come Home Campaign” show that three out of five of the 51 parishes that submitted data showed an increase, diocesan officials said.
Click here to read the entire article from The Modesto Bee.

Visit CatholicsComeHome.org each day this Lent to grow deeper in faith!

A prayer for your day

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If you haven’t been introduced to this prayer, you will surely fall in love with it…This is a great prayer to get you in the right mindset to shine for Jesus each morning!

Jesus Prayer by Cardinal John Henry Newman
(This prayer was recited daily after Communion by Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her Sisters of Charity)

Mother Teresa Praying

Dear Jesus,
Help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go.
Flood my soul with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly
that my life may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with
may feel your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as you shine,
so to shine as to be a light to others.

The light, O Jesus, will be all from you; none of it will be mine.
It will be you, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise you in the way which you love best,
by shining on those around me.
Let me preach you without preaching, not by words but by example,
by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do,
the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for you. Amen.

Following the example of Our Mother this Lenten Season

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As you begin your journey through this Lenten season, think of the areas in your life where you are not allowing yourself to be the person God wants you to be. What can you do to make your will in more perfect conformity to His?

To help us with this process of conformity to the will of God, we can look to our Blessed Mother, who perfectly exemplifies how to live up to the high hopes our Father has for us.

“God has to have two pictures of us: one is what we are, and the other is what we ought to be…There is, actually, only one person in all humanity of whom God has one picture and in whom there is a perfect conformity between what He wanted her to be and what she is, and that is His Own Mother. Most of us are a minus sign, in the sense that we do not fulfill the high hopes the Heavenly Father has for us. But Mary is an equal sign. The Ideal that God had of her, that she is, and in the flesh” (The World’s First Love, Fulton J. Sheen, pp. 12-13).

Most Immaculate Virgin Mary, pray for us!

To grow in knowledge of your Catholic Faith this Lent, visit CatholicsComeHome.org.

Catholics Come Home already bearing some fruit – updates from Archdiocese of Chicago & Diocese of Rockford

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CatholicsComeHome.org NEWS Update:

Check-out these two wonderful media stories about the ‘fruit’ that CCH campaigns in Northern Illinois are already bearing:

Click here to watch the full interview with Monsignor Eric Barr, Vicar for Clergy and Religious at the Catholic Diocese of Rockford, for his thoughts on the effectiveness of the Church’s “Catholics Come Home” media campaign.

Click here to read an article from the Archdiocese of Chicago’s ‘Catholic New World’ Newspaper about the early results of the CCH TV Ad campaign.

Visit CatholicsComeHome.org each day to grow deeper in faith and love of Christ’s Catholic Church this Lent!

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