Wanted: Former Catholics by Catechism on Call

Soruce: Catechism On Call - Did you leave the Church because you disagree with or don’t understand its teaching on abortion, birth control or homosexuality? Did the sexual abuse scandals wear you out? Did you feel that your spiritual needs were unmet by Parish life or the Mass as you experienced it? If you describe yourself as a former Catholic or “recovering Catholic,” you should give the Church a second look.

There are a million reasons that Catholics leave, but more often than not, they’ve left because of poor formation (nobody taught them the faith), scandal (seeing or hearing about a priest, sister or some other Catholic do something that was clearly sinful or just plain hurtful) or because they’re living in a way that separates them from God, and don’t care to have the Church remind them of this reality.

It’s true: there are hypocrites and sinners in the Church, but the head of the Church – Jesus Christ – is not a hypocrite nor a sinner. Sinners have been with the Church from day one, the apostle Judas is certainly proof of that.

Judas was hand-chosen by our Lord, yet still gave into the temptation of evil. This is not new – but the sins of Judas, Parish priests, mothers, next door neighbors or your own sins – do not change the reality that Jesus Christ is God.

And God loves you personally; he died on the cross for you – not some abstraction called “humanity.” God is mercy and there is nothing you’ve done that he can’t forgive.

If you feel God pulling you back to the Catholic Church, please visit the site Catholic Come Home and make sure you discover what the Church actually teaches and then learn how you can return – God loves you, and wants you back.

Others things to do on the journey back home:

• Go to the rectory (Church office) of the nearest Catholic Church, ask to see a priest; explain that you’ve been separated from the Church and want to talk about returning
• Pray the Hail Mary, asking Mary to pave the way back home to her son, Jesus Christ; Mary is the mother you can run to no matter what you’ve done 
• If you remember how to make a good confession, make a list of your sins and go to Confession; don’t worry if it’s been many years; you can explain to the Priest that you’ve been away for years and don’t know how to proceed – he will be excited to help reconcile you back to the Lord
• Read about Jesus in the Gospels (New Testament: Gospels according to St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. Mark and St. John); learn what He says about Himself and His mission
• Pray, pray, pray to God. Don’t know how to pray? Tell God you don’t know how to pray, ask for direction, and then let the Holy Spirit show you the way!

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