What We Do

A Crisis of Faith in our World

It is clear that our society is in the midst of a culture war. More than ever, people need God, but sadly, many have lost sight of the treasures of the Catholic faith. We can see the reality of our fallen-away brothers and sisters not only in our nation as a whole, but even in our own families and neighborhoods. The evidence is shocking:

• Only 33 percent of U.S. Catholics attend Mass on a weekly basis. That means approximately 42.7 million U.S. Catholics are not practicing Catholics.¹
• The number of Americans identifying themselves as non-religious/secular increased 110 percent from 1990 to 2000! It is now 13.2 percent of the total population.² Comparing this statistic with the previous one, non-religious, secular individuals outnumber active, Mass-attending Catholics by 58 percent.
• As many as 100,000 baptized Catholics in the U.S. drift away from Church each year.³

Evangelization is critically needed, now!

The "New Evangelization" Plan

Pope John Paul II continually exhorted the Church to begin a “new evangelization.” Furthermore, he realized that the old methods from the past needed refreshing, stating, "This vital field of action for the Church requires a radical change of mentality, an authentic new awakening of conscience in everyone. New methods are needed, as are new expressions and new courage."⁴

Inspired by the Holy Father’s call to a new evangelization, Catholics Come Home reaches out to inactive Catholics with inspiring TV commercials and an interactive Web site. Here are a few reasons why we use television to invite our brothers and sisters home to the Catholic Church:

• The average American watches more than four hours of television each day and 98.2 percent of all U.S. households own at least one television.⁵
• A 2006 study shows that students recalled two-minute ads better than a full length news story.⁶
• No other single advertising medium has the reach and impact of television, combined with the fulfillment of the Internet.

Each of our television commercials invites people to come to Catholics Come Home.org, where they are given the opportunity to learn (or relearn) the truth about the Catholic faith, find their local parish and return home. As our site says, coming home to the Catholic Church has never been easier!

CCH is Bringing Hundreds of Thousands Home

Catholics Come Home, Inc. combines the effectiveness of mass media outreach, with the ease of Web-based fulfillment, to create a highly effective Catholic evangelism effort never before seen…and the results are astonishing:

"Six months after the CatholicsComeHome.org media campaign ended, a comprehensive analysis was conducted, which revealed the average increase in Mass attendance (returned Catholics, new converts) was 12 percent, even though population growth in the Diocese of Phoenix was flat during that period. This equates to an increase of as many as 92,000 souls who came home!"

Ryan Hanning
Director of Adult Evangelization, Diocese of Phoenix

Based on these 2009 statistics calculated by the Controller’s Office at the Diocese of Phoenix, with the guidance of statisticians from Arizona State University, it appears that for every $1.63 invested in television media, Catholics Come Home was able to help a soul back to their home in the Catholic Church.

The Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, experienced similar results in Lent 2009, showing a 17.7 percent increase in Mass attendance as a result of their bilingual Catholics Come Home/Catolicos Regresen campaign.

These results show the powerful impact of the Catholics Come Home television campaign in these initial dioceses. Imagine the thousands of Catholics in dioceses around the country, waiting for their invitation to come home if we are able to spread this “Good News” nationwide!

Why we need your help now

It is our job as faithful followers of Christ to invite our fellow brothers and sisters home to the Church. But as a Catholic family, we have been failing to maintain and build our family of faith:

• 72 percent of Catholics have not tried to win a convert to Christ.3
• For every four Protestants, there is one convert. For Catholics, the numbers were 250 to one. That is about one convert for every 807 Catholics.3

Catholics Come Home wants to partner with Catholics like you to evangelize our fallen-away brothers and sisters, the un-churched and the under-churched. Campaigns are launching in numerous archdioceses and dioceses across the United States. With your help, Catholics Come Home plans to air nationally on mainstream television networks, during the top TV programs in 2010.

After the U.S. airings are underway, plans are slated for international airings–to help fill empty churches across the globe, and re-evangelize our culture worldwide.

1. CARA Catholic Poll (CCP)
2. World Christian Encylopedia's Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World
3. Claveau, Victor The 7% Solution, A Guide to Evangelization at the Parish, Community or Diocesan Level
4. Cf. John Paul II, Discourse to the 19th General Assembly of CELAM, March 9, 1983, Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo VI, 1 (1983) pp660-699
5. AC Nielsen Co.
6. Johnson, Carla, Study: Pupils recall ads more than news Associated Press, Chicago, March 6, 2006.