Posted on 05/30/2007 6:56:24 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Today more and more American Catholics are opting out of attending church altogether including 20% of Hispanics, says former Catholic and now minister and author Tim Lott. "I have personally experienced the boredom at Sunday Mass, I questioned the man-made rules of my faith along with the churches rituals, only to find that I was empty inside after thirty-eight years of religion." Now, through his personal journey of searching for answers after a tragedy stuck in his life, he has discovered what is being called, "a survival kit for the casual churchgoer."
Fort Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) May 30, 2007 -- Tim Lott, author of Growing Up Catholic The Pursuit of Truth From Tradition to Satisfaction says, "You, too, will benefit by discovering this same tremendous joy and peace that I have found, a life of inner happiness and harmony, no matter what your circumstances may be. Today many Catholics who attend Sunday mass are simply going through the motions feeling secure that they have enough religion to sustain them. Many leave church feeling empty inside, they want to know why this void still exists and what to do about it, while others simply stop going."
In his new book Lott brings to the forefront the problems parishioners battle with today and how to overcome them.
Growing Up Catholic The Pursuit of Truth: from tradition to satisfaction was written as a result of a man who questioned his faith after thirty-eight years. Realizing he had been going through the motions of religion which had been taught from childhood, he sought to find the reasons why there was emptiness where so much religion had been before. Catholics have traditionally been more consistent in church attendance than Protestants. However, that trend has reversed course, and Catholics have been more likely than Protestants to earn the un-churched label throughout the past decade and the trend is not slowing down.
Growing Up Catholic The Pursuit of Truth is just that, a search for truth through the deep complicated Catholic beliefs and rituals, which forces you to ask the question, "Am I who I thought I was?" By asking such a question you are challenged to step out of your comfort zone and examine your inner self.
It is a known fact that parishioners, both men and woman are questioning their Catholic faith, but men seem to be facing this turmoil and doubt more than women today as it indicates in the lack of church attendance each week by men. "We as men need to be the leaders in our home and this includes the spiritual leader as well. We build the foundation for our family to follow, if that foundation is weak what does it say about us as men and leaders of our household, our children and their future," said Lott.
In May 2007, the Barna Group showed more than three-quarters of moms identify "family" to be their highest priority. At the same time, a majority of mothers strongly agree that their faith is very important in their life. In contrast, fathers also tend to list family as their top priority in life, yet they are much less likely to equally attribute importance to faith. "Unfortunately, many men are not the spiritual leaders of their family," said Tim Lott. He has discovered answers through his own personal experience of searching for truth about religion, faith and God in a simple and practical way that completely changed his life and altered his approach to church and God. "This book is a survival kit for today's casual churchgoer. I wish that I had the book twenty years ago," said Todd Oetken a current Catholic and financial planner.
Tim's new book, Growing Up Catholic The Pursuit of Truth from tradition to satisfaction is his personal struggle and testimony of a man who grew up Catholic and at the age of thirty-eight, after a tragic event in his life, discovered that his faith could no longer support him spiritually. He sat out to find the answers to why.
Tim is a former Catholic who left the secular business world and now is an ordained minister. He has worked on staff at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, as the Director of Ministries, and at Community Christian Church of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as the Minister of Involvement. Tim started teaching the "Growing up Catholic" class in 2002 at Northeast. His book is distributed by Bookworld and will be available June 2007 in all major book stores but is available for pre-order at www.GrowingUpCatholic.net. ISBN 978-0-9791188-3-8
That must be 'he set out'.
he sought to find the reasons why there was emptiness where so much religion had been before.
He possibly could have 'sat out' of church to find out why. ; )
Yeah, if he sat out he might not have become the minister of involvement. Bwah, ha ha ha
This book should be avoided. The author apparently has a lot of hangups about the Church, particularly on divorce ( I would guess he’s a divorcee) and speaks about Catholicism authoritatively, while admitting he was an infrequent participant, and this shows in his inadequate explanations of Catholic teaching. He is in the business of creating his own doctrine that serves some semblance of emotional aspiration.
When he wrote about a personal tragedy changing his life, I expected a death of a child, or a wretched, fatal illness, or some kind of debilitating injury, something in which he had no control over that can shake the core of one’s faith. His wife threatened to leave him.
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Prayers that this author may return to the Catholic Church.
**Second is Inactive Catholics**
This is the first time I have seen the second largest category being inactive Catholics!
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The Pursuit of the Dogma of Me
(and my needs)
Further proof that God truly does spit out the lukewarm.
... at the age of thirty-eight, after a tragic event in his life, discovered that his faith could no longer support him spiritually."
"The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." Matthew 13:22
That's pretty obvious. Ironically, it's not his marital divorce that's jeopardizing his salvation, but the spiritual one.
The truth is that more than 50% of Catholics sleep in on Sunday and only go to mass on holidays or to get the baby baptized .
That in spite of the church law that says they are hell bound for making that decision.
Your sting of links does not change that
SHOCK! This CANNOT BE CORRECT! The media keeps saying the largest growing religion is ISLAM, don’t they?
You are absolutely right. But with how full my parish is for each Mass offered each weekend(6 English Masses and 1 Spanish Mass), I'm not sure what we'd do if all the registered families decided to show up each weekend, much less all of the Catholics who aren't registered members but who live in within the parish boundaries.
We'd probably have to start up a new capital campaign and expand the church...again.
And, by the way, I am not saying that ALL parishes are that way. (i.e., I have no doubt that you would have little or no problem finding articles that counterdict my statement...so don't bother).
How come you won’t answer my question? How do you know the Bible is the inspired Word of God?
Great links!
"Roman Catholics, the largest U.S. church with a reported 69 million members, start counting baptized infants as members and often don’t remove people until they die. Most membership surveys don’t actually count who’s in the pews on Sunday. To be disenrolled, Catholics must write a bishop to ask that their baptisms be revoked..."
"...The Catholic understanding of membership is that a person becomes a member upon baptism and remains a member for life," Gautier said. "Whether you show up at church or not is not what determines whether you're a member."
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