Posted on 04/25/2011 6:54:13 AM PDT by NYer
As the sun rose and fog cleared at St. Agnes Catholic Church in North Naples, reports of a resurrection in religious faith this Easter mirrored the celebration of Jesus.
With an in-your-face, make-you-feel-guilty advertising campaign called Catholics Come Home, Roman Catholicism packed the pews with a marketing venture that would make Coca-Cola envious.
Rev. Robert J. Kantor, priest and administrator at St. Agnes Church in North Naples, said the campaign, geared toward bringing people back to church, is seeing results. He said the Easter Sunday sunrise service had a 20 percent increase in attendance.
“Maybe we put our faith in a box and just pull it out and dust it off a couple times a year,” Kantor said during his first Mass on Sunday.
Such twice-a-year Catholics — as some call those who attend Mass on Christmas and Easter — were joined by the weekly churchgoers and a new group — the lost souls who found their way home.
Jo-Ann Lewis, of Naples, is of the latter. Lewis attended Catholic elementary and high school and then left the church for 40 years.
“I just drifted away,” she said. “When I was young (the church taught about) the things you couldn’t do. It was more authoritarian.”
A newspaper ad several months ago for Catholics Come Home piqued her interest.
The non-profit organization is based in a suburb of Atlanta, Ga. and initiated a media blitz in Southwest Florida, as well as in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle and other cities. The commercials are airing during prime time TV shows and ads are appearing in newspapers and on the radio. Nearly $200,000 is being spent throughout the Diocese of Venice, which oversees parishes in Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers and the rest of Southwest Florida, according to Catholics Come Home founder Tom Peterson. The funds are donated by parishioners and other supporters of the group’s efforts, he said.
Peterson, a self-proclaimed “part-time Catholic,” had a spiritual awakening before forming Catholics Come Home in 1997.
“We’re calling people back to the largest family reunion,” Peterson said.
The Roman Catholic Church has 1.2 billion followers around the globe. Worldwide sexual abuse scandals involving priests and children along with revelations that the church tried to cover up the crimes have left some Catholics questioning their faith.
One in 10 Americans who were born and raised in the faith have left the Catholic Church — more than 22 million people, according to a study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, .
“People who are coming home say they didn’t have a reason to leave,” Peterson said. “It was just secular life got in the way.”
Churches, including St. Williams Church of North Naples, are holding classes as part of the campaign to reintroduce people. Attendees discuss why they left the faith and how to reconcile some of their conflicts.
Kantor said there are many people who have returned to St. Agnes in particular need of addressing marriage issues caused by divorce and remarriage.
Although it can be difficult to track how many Catholics are returning to the church due to the advertising, Peterson said he’s convinced his organization is bringing more people into the parishes.
“The message is positive and production and quality of the commercials is first class,” Kantor said. “I think it can’t help but make an impact. This kind of advertising reminds them of the beauty, richness and value of what they left,” Kantor said.
The commercials also give regular parishioners a sense of pride in their faith, he said.
The St. Agnes sunrise service attendance increased from about 1,500 last year to 1,800 this year. The campaign, as well as a growing church that is only a few years old, are likely the cause, Kantor said.
If Easter had fallen during the height of tourist season, two churches would be needed, said an usher during a 9 a.m. Mass that looked to double the size of the sunrise service.
“Hopefully we are changed and it is for the better,” Kantor said while standing in front of a Catholics Come Home poster inside the church at a late Sunday morning mass. The poster read: “All are welcome.”
Kantor said, “Hopefully people find this a place they feel at home.”
I was in NY for Easter and evidently they had had a huge “come home” campaign, with Confession (or Reconciliation, as it’s now called, I guess) available all day at every church in the city on Monday of Holy Week. Evidently the churches were stuffed and priests who had been accustomed to spending a half hour per week in the confessional suddenly found themselves there all day!
As one priest said drily in a homily I heard, “they had priests in the confessionals, and - amazing! - people went to confession.” I think the churches are gearing up to make the sacraments more available, after 40 years of many priests and bishops shrugging off their duties and even discouraging people from going to confession, and now we’re seeing the results. People WANT to go, which is not surprising, and now it’s possible for them to do so.
I agree. We had reconciliation offered alot more this year - all throu Lent. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised to see ENORMOUS lines the last two weeks, even on Good Friday & Holy Saturday!!!! Praise be to God!!!!
I would like to see the Church itself “come home” after 50 years of essentially being at schism with itself.
On Good Friday, the line was over an hour long. lol
Glad I made it earlier in Lent.
A good sign that the Catholic faith is coming home to its spiritual roots! WELCOME HOME sisters and brothers who have been away for so long! The last time I went to confession, there was a long line. THANKS be to God!
Actually, this campaign used digital media via the "I Confess" downloadable ap to generate the interest.
The Diocese of Brooklyn, working with both the Archdiocese of New York and Diocese of Rockville Center are launching a grassroots digital campaign entitled "i-Confess." Using both social and digital media, the goal of this campaign is to generate interest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The contest dovetails with New York's All Day Confessions event, happening Monday April 18th.
Digital campaign 'i-Confess' Generates Interest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Lol! I have that app, but I was going to confession bi-weekly before I downloaded it, anyway. I use it more as my list so I don’t forget to mention anything to Father, which is something I’ve accidentally done from time to time.
I’m just thrilled to see the big, huge lines. This is great news!
Something is definitely happening. Our priest shared similar comments — long lines — many people coming to Confession after 22, 5, 10 and he even mentioned 40 years!
Keep praying and evangelizing.
Is all of this happening because more parishes have Eucharistic Adoration? One of the results of having Eucharistic Adoration is that there WILL be long Confessional lines. The second result is that there WILL be more vocations. (I’m seeing that too.)
Oops
2, 5, 10 and he even mentioned 40 years!
The Easter Vigil
New Catholics ‘ on fire’ for faith
New Catholics bring varied lives to the church of Oregon (850 converts)
Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil)
The Exultet
The Dark before Dawn
Easter and the Holy Eucharist(Catholic/Orthodox Caucus)
Easter Day and Easter Season
THE EASTER LITURGY [Easter Vigil] (Anglican and Catholic Rites)
Holy Saturday and the Easter Vigil
Poles visit symbolic Christ's Graves on Holy Saturday
Easter Vigil tonight
HOMILIES PREACHED BY FATHER ALTIER FOR EASTER VIGIL FROM 2002-2005
2 Paschal Candles; Lights On at Vigil And More on Washing of the Feet
RCIA and Holy Saturday
....And also priests who are faithful sons and servants of the Church as well.
As I had said in a earlier posting, the last time I was at confession, the day before Palm Sunday, THERE WAS A LONG LINE. Praise God for this miracle!
“I would like to see the Church itself “come home” after 50 years of essentially being at schism with itself.”
I couldn’t agree more; at my parish in NJ, one of the places where the Eucharist was being distributed had only a well-dressed man & woman giving it out - no priest. There were a few priests giving it out in other parts of the church, but if you went up the center aisle, halfway up you encountered these two.
On top of that, while the celebrant did make the point that attending Mass regularly is a requirement, he didn’t say anything about the state your soul should be in to receive Communion (which is often done when people who haven’t been there in a while show up). They made a point of having a generic “double jeopardy” collection, and at the end of Mass they announced the purpose of next week’s second collection...
We had no Latin Mass in the area but I did watch an Easter Mass from 1941 on YouTube. I was even frantically searching for a Byzantine or other Eastern Rite Mass to attend but no luck. There was a Greek Orthodox Mass nearby but that is not Catholic from what I understand.
We have a Latin Mass 30-40 minutes away but scheduling made that impossible; I had to go too late.
I have news from Prague, the Czech republic. This is a very atheistic country and nearly completely atheist city, yet the English speaking Church was overflowing and the (American) priest said that this was the highest turnout in years. So this campaign is working. God be praised!
Thanks Salvation for that bit about Confession. It had been 10 months since my last confession (I only discovered an English speaking Church in warsaw in Feb and didn’t have time to get there for confession) and the blessings one feels after this sacrament is enormous. A lot of the feelings one bottles inside, the dislike etc vanishes with this simple forgiveness by God. Our God is a loving, forgiving God, all we have to do is ask for and accept the forgiveness
Truly a MIRACLE!
Slowly, the last sad effects of the oppression of communism/socialism is being distroyed by the grace of God and many prayers. THANKS for the GOOD NEWS report!
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