Posted on 09/06/2009 3:50:15 PM PDT by NYer
And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working. And spreading.
From the Los Angeles Times:
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can be found in church.Curious to see what all the fuss is about? Check out the videos below. And you can find more at the Catholics Come Home link.
Now, using a strategy straight from the secular playbook, its leaders hope to lure back those who have drifted.
The diocese and nearly a dozen others across the country are preparing to air several thousand prime-time TV commercials in English and Spanish, inviting inactive Catholics to return to their religious roots.
In addition to Sacramento, dioceses in Chicago, Omaha, Providence, R.I., and four other cities will launch the “Catholics Come Home” advertising blitz during Advent, the period before Christmas.
Four more dioceses will follow during Lent next spring. Los Angeles is not among the initial group but could be part of a nationwide campaign slated for December 2010.
"I'm hoping that a significant number of people will give us another look," Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said of the campaign. "Many Catholics have a sense of believing but not always a sense of belonging."
The potential audience is huge.
Only about one-quarter of U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass every week, and a majority go to religious services a few times a year or less, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, which conducts social science research about the Catholic church.
Researchers there also found that two-thirds of Catholics believe they can be good members of their faith without attending Mass regularly.
Inactive Catholics cite a number of reasons for their absence. Many do not believe that missing Mass is a sin, the center reported. Others say they are too busy with family or work, or, as other analysts point out, are more interested in material happiness than spiritual fulfillment.
"There is a strange pattern of people who aren't practicing but still have beliefs and pick up parts of the faith," said Mark Gray, a research associate with the center. "They may give up meat on Fridays during Lent or attend Ash Wednesday services."
Scriptural enough to know that Jesus is the source of salvation, not the church.
Scriptural enough to know that the Father has given all judgment to Jesus, not the church.
Scriptural enough to know that the church is fallible, that men are fallible, and that we - individually and corporately - must ask for forgiveness from those we offend.
Scriptural enough to know that the words of Christ are the final Word, and that no man or institution has the power or authority to limit the expression of Christ through the Bible.
How does your little bingo parlor stack up against that?
But why listen to me, I'm just that bastard son of Satan in your eyes...
I am honestly happy for you folks. I hope everything works out.
My home. Couldn’t afford it anyway.
And to you. From another venial critter.
You never had done so; you haven't shown the Biblical stance of purgatory. Or how about the Biblical stance that says Muslims will worship before the Throne of God (Catechism 841)? What's the Biblical stance for that?
At a rather significant distance, it would seem.
I figured you'd say as much. Catholics are so used to be judge, jury, and executioner of all that it just comes natural to attack another person's relationship with Christ.
Go ahead, now tell me I am evil, that I do not know the Savior. I will not counter. I know you have called me an illegitimate son of evil. Jesus told me to turn the other cheek, for it shall heap coals upon the head of my enemies.
Scalp getting a little warm?
After all of our discussions, do you not comprehend the role of the Pope yet?
A man who leads the church, who can make a pronouncement that must be accepted as the Gospel truth. That about sum it up?
I have. The Catholic Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, which includes the Orthodox and the Latin branches
Not according to the Orthodox. They have some pretty serious issues with your "claims" in many areas of theology, and do not consider any "reunification" with your offshoot a possibility.
So you are admitting that you intentionally are out in the cold?
The Orthodox do not state I will never be saved for being a Protestant. I am not condemned to Hell, as you Catholics are so willing to do.
If that is being out in the cold, then I welcome the snow!
I concur.
That's OK. If you haven't got the constitution to fight the fight, then you'd just get in the way.
yeah.
willful ignorance and prejudice never ceases to amaze me.
Few people are so easily tweaked as those who oppose the Catholic church. They say the goofiest things.
“God leaves nothing to chance.”
He didn’t. His Word has all the basics made plain. You don’t need to read 20 church fathers and guess which ones were right and which were wrong on any given issue. Nor do you need to read the catechism to find out which scriptures to ignore...
Purgatory denies the power of God and completeness of the sacrifice of Jesus by suggesting that, having been forgiven, we still need to be punished. And while scripture plainly says our forgiveness is complete, Purgatory says no.
“1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death...If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword...37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
There are too many scriptures contradicting the very premise Purgatory is built on - I’d have to quote the entire NT and most of the Old.
Obscene: “1. offensive to morality or decency; indecent; depraved...3. abominable; disgusting; repulsive.” Those fit Purgatory, to anyone who has seen the glory of the Gospel.
“Do you know what Mariology consists of?”
I quoted a blasphemous passage declaring Mary’s feast day. “Let all, therefore, try to approach with greater trust the throne of grace and mercy of our Queen and Mother, and beg for strength in adversity, light in darkness, consolation in sorrow; above all let them strive to free themselves from the slavery of sin and offer an unceasing homage, filled with filial loyalty, to their Queenly Mother. Let her churches be thronged by the faithful, her feast-days honored; may the beads of the Rosary be in the hands of all; may Christians gather, in small numbers and large, to sing her praises in churches, in homes...”
“The Bible is created; if I recall correctly from your posts, you come very close to worshiping the Bible...”
Really? I consider it the word of God - “God-breathed”, to quote the scriptures. I therefor take it seriously, but you have never and will never see me write about the Bible the way the Pope wrote about Mary.
So - why does the Catholic Church fear scripture? Why did God “breath” words so clumsily that only the Catholic Church can know their meaning? Why are Catholics taught to read Scripture by the light of the Catechism, rather than the Catechism by the light of God’s Word?
If the plain meaning of God’s word didn’t contradict Catholic teaching, then Catholics could interpret scripture with the Holy Spirit to lead them. If the Word of God isn’t authoritative, how can the word of the church be?
As you say I am not much of a find. Have a good Labor Day.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. After all, I was told point-blank in this thread that I - as a Protestant - will never be saved. No condemnation or judgment there!
And I have been called in another thread an illegitimate Christian, and a follower of evil because I am a Protestant. No hatred or contempt at all.
So don’t worry, you’re not judgmental, and you’re not taking on the role of Christ. You’re not the sole arbiter of who shall be saved, you don’t have the final say on what the Bible “really means”. Right?
Cry me a river, guys.
Thanks!
***How many times on how many threads do you need this answered?
Considering I’ve yet to receive a straight answer, I’d say it has not been answered. Although the most direct so far was post 74 that stated unequivocally:
Absolutely, positively, nobody will be saved outside the Catholic Church. Not Muslims, not Protestants, nobody.***
You’ve claimed to have read the Catechism; what is so difficult about this? To be saved one must fit all the requirements of being Catholic. That is the authority that Jesus gave to the Church. Have you missed this in your perusal of Scripture?
***Of course, Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the light, and that no one can come to the Father but through Him. And that Jesus was the seat of judgment.
I guess someone forgot to tell you Catholics that, huh? ***
We include all of Jesus’ commandments, we don’t substitute misunderstandings of Paul or edit the Bible to whatever our particular cult happens to believe.
***Since you now decide who can be saved, and just who can dispense judgment (like that 13 person robed, incantation-laden ritual you explained called ex-communication). ***
Once again, I must tell you that the Church does not dispense Judgement. What other anti Catholic venom do you need to spew?
***Is it Biblical for an institution of man to supercede the role and words of Christ?***
Well, here it is. No. The Church does not supercede Christ; we cannot. It is the heresies of the men of the Reformation that try to.
On the contrary, you’re a Catholic, you can decide who lives and dies! Such power you and yours have... Power that was the envy of princes and kings for ages, and power wielded to bend the will of those same rulers to the ego of Rome.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. A little humility would go a LONG way.
Just the rantings of an illegitimate son of Satan who shall never be saved...
***How Scriptural is the organization that you belong to?
Scriptural enough to know that Jesus is the source of salvation, not the church. ***
Yet not Scriptural enough to understand the role of the Church.
***Scriptural enough to know that the church is fallible, that men are fallible, and that we - individually and corporately - must ask for forgiveness from those we offend.***
Really? I am offended.
***Scriptural enough to know that the words of Christ are the final Word, and that no man or institution has the power or authority to limit the expression of Christ through the Bible.***
Then why do you guys do it?
***How does your little bingo parlor stack up against that? ***
What does this mean?
***But why listen to me, I’m just that bastard son of Satan in your eyes...***
Are you attributing things to me? I have never called you a bastard, nor a son of Satan and I will thank you for a public apology.
ACTUAL worship.
Nonscientific baloney.
...when the majority of Catholics vote for a President who holds clearly anti-Christian viewpoints...
If that ever happens, non-scientific exit polling will still not be proof of anything.
Non-scientific hogwash.
Simple. The Catechism is in direct opposition to the Bible on many points. Thus the Catechism is in error, and should not be the "authority" you turn to.
To be saved one must fit all the requirements of being Catholic.
Does that include your mariology? If so, that rules out the Orthodox as well...
That is the authority that Jesus gave to the Church.
Unfortunately, the church let Him down. Just like Peter - the rock on which He built His church - let Him down. Thankfully we still have the ultimate authority of Jesus - His Word in the Bible, and we can use that to determine when and where the church has failed Him.
Have you missed this in your perusal of Scripture?
On the contrary, I am daily reminded of the errors of the ways of churches, and the errors of the Catechism. But when you place the Catechism above the Bible, it makes sense that you cannot see the plain errors of your way.
We include all of Jesus’ commandments, we don’t substitute misunderstandings of Paul or edit the Bible to whatever our particular cult happens to believe.
Then explain how your ex-communication ritual fits in with the Words of Christ. Christ is the sole arbiter of man's fate; judgment rests with Him and Him alone. How can a Pope and 12 priests condemn a man to Hell?
Once again, I must tell you that the Church does not dispense Judgement. What other anti Catholic venom do you need to spew?
Excuse me, you JUST got done telling me that only Catholics can be saved. How is that not judgment? How is saying "unless you do this and this and this, you cannot be saved" not passing judgment?
The Church does not supercede Christ; we cannot.
GREAT! Then when will the church repent for its failings in the past? Start with the sex scandals of the last few decades. Any repentance from Rome? You know, the Biblical type where you go to the offended and ask them for forgiveness?
It is the heresies of the men of the Reformation that try to.
On the contrary, the "heresies" you like to rail against were trying to call the church back to a Christian, Biblical existence, where humility, servanthood, and obedience were the rule. Where offenses are forgiven, where restitution and restoration are sought.
But that would mean Rome would have to bend its knee to others it grieved, and we can't have that, can we?
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