Category Archives: News

CATHOLICS COME HOME® LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE AND CAMPAIGNS

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CATHOLICS COME HOME® LAUNCHES
NEW WEBSITE AND CAMPAIGNS
NEW EVANGELIZATION EFFORTS FOR THE YEAR OF FAITH

December 13, 2012– Atlanta (Roswell), GA —Catholics Come Home® announces the complete graphic and functional overhaul of its interactive website, CatholicsComeHome.org, along with new campaigns for Advent and the Year of Faith. The new site is easier to navigate, more appealing in design, and more robust in content, putting it at the forefront of cutting-edge Catholic websites.

The website launch comes as Catholics Come Home® begins its first international airing of evangomercials™ in the Archdiocese of Vancouver this Advent. A Catholics Come Home® campaign is also underway in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, beginning on Dec. 14.

These diocesan campaigns will air in conjunction with the new Catholics Come Home® “mini campaigns” this Advent and January.  In response to the Vatican announcing the Year of Faith in October, Catholics Come Home® is offering its original diocesan partners the opportunity to continue their momentum of evangelization by airing TV and radio “mini campaigns” featuring its evangomercials™. A number of dioceses are participating, including the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Diocese of Colorado Springs, and the Diocese of Venice, Fla., which means more souls will be reached in regions across the U.S.

“We hope that our updated website, Advent campaigns, and Year of Faith mini-campaigns will contribute to a greater revitalization of the Catholic Faith during this year in the Church,” says Tom Peterson, founder and president of Catholics Come Home®.

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To receive a copy of the ad for media broadcast or to schedule an interview with Tom Peterson, President and Founder of Catholics Come Home®, please contact spokesperson@catholicscomehome.org.

CatholicsComeHome.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media apostolate, dedicated to producing and airing Catholic evangelism television ads on local, national and international television networks.  Catholics Come Home® is guided by a 30 person Advisory Board, including Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Bishop James Conley, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Bishop Michael Sheridan, Bishop Jaime Soto, and other highly respected theologians and Catholic business executives.

Evangomercial™ is a trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc. Catholics Come Home® is a Federally Registered Trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc.

A TRUCE DURING THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS

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A TRUCE DURING THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS
SOME NORTH AMERICAN MEDIA FINALLY COLLABORATING WITH CATHOLICS

December 3, 2012– Atlanta (Roswell), GA—While the “war on Christmas” rears its ugly head once again in our secular culture this Advent, Catholics Come Home® continues to combat the attempts by secular groups to censor and silence the voice of Christians in America.  “CatholicsComeHome.org proclaims the good news of Jesus and His Church, by using mainstream media to remind people of the hope that Christianity offers our wounded world,” said Tom Peterson, Founder and President of Catholics Come Home®.

The mainstream media in Cincinnati, site of the latest Catholics Come Home® diocesan partner initiative, appears to be fully embracing this outreach of the New Evangelization.
With over 3,000 evangomercials™ airing in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Lima covering the tri-state area (Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky) this December and January, it will be hard to miss these inviting messages calling families home to Jesus and His Church.

Catholics Come Home® is simultaneously airing its first international campaign in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, B.C., where 41% of the population has no faith, which is reflected in the following media coverage.
      
This Advent, some CCH diocesan partners (New Orleans, Colorado Springs, Venice FL) will also air a second media campaign to keep up the momentum of the New Evangelization.

CatholicsComeHome.org evangomercials™ represent a proud and significant voice of hope for Catholics and all Christians in the public square. They are messages for the New Evangelization, aimed at a culture in dire need of faith in God. “Catholics Come Home® is  bringing light into the darkness through our evangomercials™ ,” Peterson said. “We will not back away from the public arena.  Now, more than ever, Christians are called to live and share their faith in Jesus Christ.”

A first-time ever national primetime Catholics Come Home® TV ad campaign aired across the United States in English and Spanish (www.CatolicosRegresen.org) during the 2011 Christmas season.  This national campaign reached over 125 million television viewers an average of 9.7 times during the three-week campaign.

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To receive a copy of the ad for media broadcast or to schedule an interview with Tom Peterson, President and Founder of Catholics Come Home®, please contact  spokesperson@catholicscomehome.org.

CatholicsComeHome.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media apostolate, dedicated to producing and airing Catholic evangelism television ads on local, national and international television networks.  Catholics Come Home® is guided by a 30 person Advisory Board, including Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Bishop James Conley, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Bishop Michael Sheridan, Bishop Jaime Soto, and other highly respected theologians and Catholic business executives.

Evangomercial™ is a trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc. Catholics Come Home® is a Federally Registered Trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc.

Pope Benedict XVI, You, and Catholics Come Home®!

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Catholics Come Home

A PERFECT TEAM FOR THE YEAR OF FAITH:  POPE BENEDICT XVI, YOU AND CATHOLICS COME HOME®!

Catholics Come Home® is excited to participate—with you —in the Year of Faith, called for by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, which began on October 11!

What is the Year of Faith?
Popes throughout the Church’s history have called upon the faithful to deepen their understanding of a particular aspect of the faith. This coming year, Pope Benedict XVI is calling Catholics to a renewed conversion to the Catholic Faith, asking each one of us to deepen our relationship with Christ this coming year. In addition to the kick-off of the Year of Faith on October 11, the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the Holy Father is convening a Synod on the New Evangelization, where bishops from various countries will gather to discuss the efforts of the New Evangelization in the Catholic Church throughout the world. Catholics Come Home® is one of those efforts of the New Evangelization!

How Catholics Come Home® is helping to bring the Year of Faith into more lives:
The Year of Faith is all about bringing Catholics to conversion and into deeper relationship with Jesus. In Texas, where Catholics Come Home® commercials aired, a 32-year-old gentleman, who hadn’t received Communion since his First Communion at the age of eight, made an appointment with a priest after seeing a commercial, inspiring him to become part of the Church again. Catholics Come Home® is already helping to achieve the goals of the Year of Faith!

  • “It was really wonderful when, after the first day of the program, we were receiving calls…from people who saw the ads on television and said that they used this as a special invitation from the Holy Spirit to return to the Catholic faith.” –Archbishop Carlson, Archdiocese of St. Louis
    (where 37,000 souls returned to the practice of their Catholic Faith!)

How YOU can join Catholics Come Home® to make this Year of Faith even more fruitful!
1.  Conduct a one-day door-to-door evangelization mission with other parishioners.  All you have to do is ask neighbors, “How can we pray for the needs of your family?”  You will be amazed at the tears and requests.

2.  Invite Catholics to go deeper in their Catholic Faith and relationship with God—while on the road! Visit our Catholics Come Home® store to get a Catholics Come Home.org car magnet for your car! Or, get CCH Evangelization cards to distribute.

3.  Finally, to help the Holy Father in his efforts to renew conversion in the faithful starting this October, Catholics Come Home® is producing three INSPIRED new commercials for the Year of Faith, but we can’t do it without your help!

Please consider supporting the production and airing of these new commercials, so more lives can be converted back to Christ and the New Evangelization can bear even more fruit! We need to raise $180,000 in the month of October.  Please help!

 
With the tough economy we need your help more than ever.

Tom PetersonYour brother in Christ,

Tom Peterson and your CatholicsComeHome.org team


CatholicsComeHome.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media apostolate, dedicated to producing and airing Catholic evangelism television ads on local, national and international television networks.  Catholics Come Home® is guided by a 30 person Advisory Board, including Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Bishop Michael Sheridan, Bishop Jaime Soto, Bishop James Conley, and other highly respected theologians and Catholic business executives.

Evangomercial™ is a trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc. Catholics Come Home® is a Federally Registered Trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc.

CATHOLICS COME HOME.ORG RESPONDS TO GROWING HOSTILITY AGAINST CHRISTIAN EXPRESSION IN U.S.

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September 11, 2012– Atlanta (Roswell), GA—While a new report shows rising hostility against Christians in America, CatholicsComeHome.org airs hopeful and faith-filled television messages to combat this increasing prejudice against God and people of faith.

As the Year of Faith is set to begin in the Catholic Church, CatholicsComeHome.org continues to combat the attempts by secular groups to censor and silence the voice of Christians in America.   “CatholicsComeHome.org proclaims the good news of Jesus and His Church, by using mainstream media to remind people of the hope that Christianity offers our wounded world,” said Tom Peterson, Founder and President of Catholics Come Home®.

A new report by the Family Research Council and the Liberty Institute describes a growing display of hostility against Christians in the U.S. over the last decade, with secular groups trying to force Christians to leave their faith out of the public square.

The recent surveys from Family Research Council and Liberty Institute cited specific occurrences of Christian persecution.  Instances included:  A public school forcing a valedictorian in Iowa to edit out his thanks to God for his academic success;  A Boys and Girls Club in Florida telling an 8-year-old girl she could not sing “Kum Ba Yah” because it contained the lyrics “Oh, Lord;” and a Manhattan Hospital forcing a nurse to participate in a late-term abortion procedure against her religious beliefs, threatening her with job termination and loss of license.

CatholicsComeHome.org evangelization commercials represent a proud and significant voice of hope for Catholics and all Christians in the public square. They are messages for the New Evangelization, aimed at a culture in dire need of faith in God. “Catholics Come Home® is  bringing light into the darkness through our evangomercialsTM,” Peterson said. “We will not back away from the public arena.  Now, more than ever, Christians are called to live and share their faith in Jesus Christ.”

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To receive a copy of the ad for media broadcast or to schedule an interview with Tom Peterson, President and Founder of Catholics Come Home®, please contact Susan Parkin, Program Director, at 678-585-7886 x106, or by e-mail to susan@catholicscomehome.org.

CatholicsComeHome.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media apostolate, dedicated to producing and airing Catholic evangelism television ads on local, national and international television networks.  Catholics Come Home® is guided by a 30 person Advisory Board, including Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Bishop James Conley, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Bishop Michael Sheridan, Bishop Jaime Soto, and other highly respected theologians and Catholic business executives.

Evangomercial™ is a trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc. Catholics Come Home® is a Federally Registered Trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc.

They're sending them away…But we're bringing them home

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Catholics Come Home
Your prayers and support for Catholics Come Home® are needed more than ever! Here are some updates on religion in our country and on the work Catholics Come Home® is doing to bring more people into the practice of the Faith:

Religiosity declines?
Man watching TVA recent article in the Huffington Post claimed that the “U.S., France and Canada joined Ireland on the top-10 list of countries to have experienced a ‘notable decline in religiosity’ since 2005.” It also mentioned that the number of people in the U.S. who claim to be religious dropped to 60 percent in less than a decade, down from 73 percent just a few years ago. Is religiosity declining in America and around the world? Not if we can help it!

  • Catholics Come Home® to launch in Cincinnati and Vancouver!

    In an effort to evangelize all nations, we are excited to announce the launch of Catholics Come Home® in the Archdiocese of Vancouver—our first international diocesan partner! In addition to Vancouver, Cincinnati will also simultaneously launch Catholics Come Home® in Advent 2012, with commercials airing Dec 13, 2012 – January 20, 2013. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, with the Church’s “Year of Faith” kicking off this November, right before the Advent campaigns! We ask you to please pray for the success of these evangelization campaigns, so more people can return to the practice of Catholicism in the Year of Faith!

  • More Inspiring Testimonials:
    Fallen-away Catholics return to Church in St. Louis!

    “I really came home, and I just love it…I returned because I saw those ads. It was like the ads were talking to me. Now every time I do receive communion, I come back to the pew and tears just flow; I feel so good. It’s like a burden has been lifted off me.” –Madge (Madge’s husband, a non-Catholic, will also be entering the Church!)

    “As time went by, we got kind of lax (about going to Mass) and it became easier
    and easier (not to go) … (The Catholics Come Home® commer    cials) caught my eye. I thought they were informative and encouraging to bring me back…I didn’t need to worry. (Coming home) has been great.” –Shirley

    “I will start RCIA next month.  I was baptized a Christian as a young boy in my parents’ church, but I never joined the Catholic Church when we were married 45 years ago.” –Tom (Shirley’s husband)

    “We have seen an increase in Mass attendance and in stewardship numbers.” –Fr. Siefert

Your generosity continues to reverse the trend of religious decline in our country and worldwide, so that more Catholics like Madge, Shirley, and Tom can be welcomed home. Thank you for your support and prayers, and for answering Christ’s call to evangelize all souls: those nearby, and around the world!

    With the tough economy we need your help more than ever.

Tom PetersonYour brother in Christ,

Tom Peterson and your CatholicsComeHome.org team

CatholicsComeHome.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media apostolate, dedicated to producing and airing Catholic evangelism television ads on local, national and international television networks.  Catholics Come Home® is guided by a 26 person Advisory Board, including Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Bishop Michael Sheridan, Bishop Jaime Soto, Bishop James Conley, and other highly respected theologians and Catholic business executives.

Evangomercial™ and Catolicos Regresen™ are trademarks of Catholics Come Home, Inc. Catholics Come Home® is a Federally Registered Trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc.

Catholics Come Home® Partner, Archdiocese of Boston, Establishes New Evangelization Office

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The impact of the Archdiocese of Boston’s 2011 Catholics Come Home® initiative played a part in inspiring Cardinal Seán to establish an Office of New Evangelization.  Read the excerpt from Boston’s The Pilot, below:


Archdiocese has a new tool for the new evangelization
By Christopher S. Pineo

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley is pictured with Michael M. Lavigne and Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization Bishop Arthur Kennedy outside their new Pastoral Center offices Aug. 1. Pilot photo/courtesy CardinalSeansBlog.org

Posted: 8/10/2012

BRAINTREE — After concluding his tenure as rector at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Bishop Arthur L. Kennedy took up his duties as Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization with his new assistant Michael M. Lavigne on July 1.

The new office will follow the mandate set by Pope Benedict XVI when he appointed Archbishop Rino Fisichella to head the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. Bishop Kennedy said the new evangelization in the archdiocese will extend programs meant to get Catholics back to Church and regular faith life such as Catholics Come Home® and Why Catholic?

“Our task now is to really begin to address the questions more methodologically, that have been identified in large measure by Pope Benedict and by this new council,” he said.

Bishop Kennedy said Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley spurred the creation of the office out of concern for the need for a new evangelization, a concern that extends well beyond the archdiocese.

“This concern that he has, is a concern of basically the whole Church in the West,” Bishop Kennedy said.

The bishop described the difference between “the old” evangelization, undertaken as the Gospel spread through a world unfamiliar with early Christianity, and the new evangelization, called for in the face of waning support in previously established strongholds of Christianity.

He said the two evangelizations exist alongside each other as some parts of the world find the message anew and some need the message renewed.

Click here to read the entire The Pilot article

"The Best People We Know" Radio Show Interviews CCH Founder & President, Tom Peterson

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“The Best People We Know” radio show, hosted by Deb Scott, recently interviewed Catholics Come Home® Founder and President, Tom Peterson. The show’s mission is to motivate and encourage listeners with the best experts and celebrities across the country, sharing fresh, fun, and practical tools to inspire listeners to be their best.

Click here to listen to Tom Peterson’s interview.

 

Young Adults Return to Church

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Catholics Come Home
Your prayers and support for Catholics Come Home® continue to touch souls and spread the Good News around the U.S. and throughout the world!  Here is some exciting news about two young adults that I recently met in Houston.

Daniel’s Journey Home
“I came from an Evangelical Protestant background. In the summer after my junior year in college, I was already feeling the tug toward the Catholic Church. Through many conversations and hours of reading, I found myself drawn more closely to the Catholic Church. In the summer of 2008, some Catholics shared with me your commercial, Epic. I also read Scott Hahn’s book, Rome Sweet Home, and thought over the doctrines that divide Catholics and Protestants today. August 2008, I resolved to be received into the Catholic Church.  Many other friends and your commercial helped me come into the Church.”

Brenda’s Return to the Catholic Church
“I ended up going through two marriages, two relationships, and many jobs…I forgot all about God. I desperately was searching in the wrong places to feel ‘at home’.  I felt in my heart that I needed to give the Catholic Church another try, but I kept fighting it. On Pentecost 2011, I asked in prayer for Jesus to help me. My friend Karla invited me to attend Mass that afternoon, and I did. I went home, and later saw a TV commercial for CatholicsComeHome.org and I went on the website. I then decided to let God lead me, and signed up for RCIA.  I am finally Home, and wouldn’t go anywhere else.”

Your generosity continues to evangelize and change lives (of all ages)!  We are blessed by any support from your heart, to help love more souls to Heaven.

 With the tough economy we need your help more than ever.

Tom PetersonYour brother in Christ,

Tom Peterson and your CatholicsComeHome.org team

CatholicsComeHome.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media apostolate, dedicated to producing and airing Catholic evangelism television ads on local, national and international television networks.  Catholics Come Home® is guided by a 26 person Advisory Board, including Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Bishop Michael Sheridan, Bishop Jaime Soto, Bishop James Conley, and other highly respected theologians and Catholic business executives.

Evangomercial™ and Catolicos Regresen™ are trademarks of Catholics Come Home, Inc. Catholics Come Home® is a Federally Registered Trademark of Catholics Come Home, Inc.

"The Catholic Beat" Announces Archdiocese of Cincinnati To Air Catholics Come Home® Commercials

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See the excerpt below from “The Catholic Beat,” July 24 feature story, announcing the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s “A.C.E project”, which includes airing Catholics Come Home® commercials this Advent:

Archdiocese Introduces the A.C.E. Project


A still from Catholics Come Home’s most famous commercial, “Epic.” Used with permission.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati announces a new initiative for all its 200+ parishes: The A.C.E. (“Advent, Christmas and Easter”) Project. Designed to bring Catholics back to the Church on more than those three occasions, the A.C.E. Project will bring two programs used successfully throughout the country to the Archdiocese.

A joint program of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis and the Office of Stewardship, the program is a “direct response to the call for New Evangelization in the Year of Faith called by to Pope Benedict XVI beginning in October,” say the organizers.

The first program, Catholics Come Home®, allows parishes and dioceses to create advertising campaigns inviting Catholics who have left the church to “come home.” It includes a website, professionally create commercials and advertisements, and other resources geared toward fallen-away Catholics and people who are interested in joining the Church.

“Jesus wants to invite you back into His big, warm and loving Catholic family in the Church He founded 2,000 years ago,” The Catholics Come Home® web site says to first-time readers.”He’s calling you home, but the choice is yours… We are family. We’ve missed you. Welcome home!”

click here to read entire article

Want to bring a Catholics Come Home® evangelization initiative to your diocese?  Click here to learn more.

Tom Peterson Inspires Young Adults at Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston's "Cafe' Catholica"

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Catholics Come Home® Founder and President, Tom Peterson, traveled to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston this week to speak to over 600 young adults attending a vibrant summer series called “Cafe’ Catholica.”   Peterson’s talk, entitled, “ChristVille (Calling Catholics Home, Calling Catholic Heroes)” encouraged attendees to confidently live out the unique and specific “mission” to which Christ is calling him/her.  “By living out Christ’s calling for your life, you become a Catholic hero in a time when our world desperately needs Catholic heroes to lead the way.”  Peterson shared his personal testimony of how God called him to “downsize and simplify” his life from his secular media career which had lead him down the road of materialism.  Once Peterson responded in obedience, God called him to a great adventure using his background and experience in media to evangelize the culture through founding CatholicsComeHome.org and VirtueMedia.org not-for-profit media apostolates.

A young adult gentleman in attendance, Daniel, shared at the event that the Catholics Come Home® “Epic” commercial played a part in his faith journey, ultimately which lead to his converting from his Evangelical Protestant background to becoming Catholic.

Welcome Home, Daniel!