Bring ‘Em Back! Part 1

Do you have a Catholic loved one or friend who is no longer a ‘practicing’ Catholic?  This is the first in a series of 15 articles aimed at helping you to get your lapsed Catholic loved going to Church again and once again practicing his or her Catholic Faith.

In 2017, according to various surveys, some 56 million out of 70 million Catholics in the U.S. were not going to Mass every week.  And this was prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Flip those numbers.  Just 14 million out of 70 million U.S. Catholics were regularly attending Mass on Saturday/Sunday prior to COVID.

Thanks to the outbreak, however, our churches were pretty much closed and our Bishops dispensed Catholics from attending Mass altogether.  The more devout Catholics took to watching live streamed Masses online during the outbreak.  But for the millions of ‘lapsed Catholics,’ the other activities they had already chosen over keeping the Lord’s Day holy just continued as usual.

So what happened post-COVID?

Villanova University’s Center for Church Management, projected that post-Covid regular attendance at Saturday/Sunday Mass could fall to just 12 percent of U.S. Catholics.  So instead of 14 million U.S. Catholics regularly going to Mass each week, just 8.4 million U.S. Catholics would be going to Mass every week.

More Lapsed Catholics

The Archdiocese of Detroit lifted Mass dispensations on March 13, 2021.  Yet from what I’ve seen in my parish, a sizeable number of Catholics still have not returned to Mass.  I estimate that Mass attendance at the Saturday evening and Sunday Masses in my parish is easily off by at least one-third, post-Covid.

If the Villanova projections are correct, and it looks like they may be, this would mean 61.6 million out of 70 million Catholics in the U.S. are no longer going to Mass on Saturday/Sunday. (So instead of 14 million Catholics regularly attending Mass on Saturday/Sunday, only 8.4 million may now be regularly attending Mass.)

And if 61.6 million Catholics are voluntarily breaking the Third Commandment every week, it’s a pretty safe bet that that are no longer practicing other tenets of their Faith.  The devil must be doing handsprings and jumping for joy.

We need to get our lapsed Catholic friends and loved ones going to Mass again as the first step in bringing them back into the Church.  Their immortal souls are in jeopardy.

We need to help all the lapsed Catholics out there to realize that going to Mass every week is not just a suggestion.  It is how we keep the third Commandment.  It is how we keep the Lord’s day Holy.

But what these lapsed Catholics may not realize is that by not going to Mass they may also be breaking the first Commandment.  When someone chooses to sleep in, go golfing, go shopping, etc., instead of going to Mass they may be creating a false god.  They are making that activity (or their own desires) more important than worshipping God.

Bring ‘Em Back

The chances are pretty good that you have a Catholic friend or family member (probably more than one) who has stopped going to Mass on Sunday.  Perhaps you have a son or daughter who has stopped going to Mass.  You may even have aunts, uncles, cousins, daughters-in-law or sons-in-law who no longer go to Mass.  You may be praying for them, but you may also be wondering if there is anything you can do to get them to go to Mass again.  There is.

Prayer and setting a good example are always good practices.  But a talk, or even a series of talks with your lapsed Catholic loved one may be just the ticket to getting them turned around.

An old truism is ‘never discuss religion or politics at family gatherings.’  And there’s a good reason for this.  Such discussions at family  gatherings can easily turn into heated disagreements.  People take sides, feelings get hurt, and family members sometimes end up not talking to one another.  But this does not mean ‘never discuss religion or politics one-on-one.’

Some people, however, may stress over the thought of having a one-on-one talk with a lapsed Catholic loved one or friend.  But it does not have to be a stressful experience.  All it takes is preparation.  Preparation enables charitable responses to the different excuses offered up as ‘reasons’ why your friend or loved one has stopped going to Mass.

A Plan

This article is the first in a series of 15 articles.  The goal of the articles is to help you have a discussion, or a series of discussions with your lapsed Catholic loved one(s) and friends.  The articles will offer a strategy – a plan for making the conversations non-stressful, non-threatening conversations.  Hopefully the conversations will result in your friend or loved one deciding to start going to Mass regularly and living his or her faith once more.

This series of articles will run every Monday for the next 14 weeks.  Copying and pasting the articles will give you a free eBook that just may be the roadmap for helping your lapsed-Catholic friends and loved ones find their way back to practicing their faith.

Next Monday, Part 2: What caused them to lapse? 

Part 2 is here; Part 3 here; Part 4 here; Part 5 here; Part 6 here; Part 7 here; Part 8 here; Part 9 here; Part 10 here; Part 11 here; Part 12 here; Part 13 here; Part 14 here; Part 15 here.