How Can I Help My Family and Friends Come
Home to the Catholic Church?

It can be very painful  when a loved one leaves the Catholic Church.  Many parents are grieved that their children, whom they raised in the Faith, left the Church when they became adults. Some leave as young as their high school or college years. These parents want to know what they can do to help their now-grown children come home to the Church.


Whether it is a friend, a relative, a co-worker, or even a total stranger whom you meet who has left the Church, there are some effective things you can say and do to help them come home. This section is dedicated to providing you with resources that will help you help them. And best of all, you don't need to “reinvent the wheel.” We'll show you here, from the wisdom of the saints and those who have successfully been able, by God's grace, to reach out with the truth of the Catholic Faith in a respectful, appealing, effective manner that changes negative attitudes toward the Catholic Church.


Listen to Song 'Stand on the Rooftop' by Chris MugliaThere are many excellent resources to help you share the truths of the Catholic Faith with others in a charitable and helpful way. Keep in mind that the Bible tells us a lot about how we should (and shouldn't) share our Faith:

2 Timothy 2:23-25: “Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.  And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, forbearing, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth.”

1 Peter 3:15-16: “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-7: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.  Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

One Catholic author, writing about how best to reach out to former Catholics, wrote that you need to have the “heart of an apostle” if you want to be effective:



“God wants to work through you, regardless of your circumstances — in your office, your home, your social circles, your parish — to search for and rescue those who have drifted or are starting to drift away from the Faith. You can reach people in your own daily life who have been put there by God's mysterious providence. Though your own personal temperament, abilities, and circumstances are unique and differ from those of others, God wants to make you His coworker in the vast drama of salvation. He has a vital role for you. . . . (keep reading “The Heart of An Apostle”)

Now explore the ways you can help people come home!


We All Make Excuses for not Sharing the Faith (Don't do that)


“It's a fact. The single biggest impediment to sharing the Faith is the excuse we conjure up at the moment to avoid doing it. Let's say a situation arises where you can open your mouth and talk about Christ and the Catholic Church, but instead, the flashing red "excuse meter" goes off in the back of your mind. A bumbling string of reasons why you can't say or do anything floods out. Sound familiar? It's happened to me many times” . . . (read more!)

Apologetics Tools for Sharing, Proclaiming, and Defending the Faith

To-Do List:

  • Pray
  • Love
  • Forgive
  • Be a good example
  • Be bold
  • Be charitable and patient
  • Trust in the Lord

 

Consider these words of Christ:

 "A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.  Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away.  Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears, let him hear. . . . When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path.  As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.  As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13: 2-9, 19-23).