Inactive Catholics in America are those who have not attended church more than 2 times within the past six months other than high holy days, Christmas, Easter, weddings or funerals.  There are about 17-18 million inactive Catholics in the United States. 

How do we reach out to these inactive Catholics? We do not have to look far to find “non-practicing Catholics” in our families, friends, and in our parishes?  How do we invite them to return “home” to the Church and resume an active practice of the faith? 

This link will offer some resources to access more information.

Why Do Some Inactive Catholics Return - Exercise - click here

Why Catholics Become Inactive  - click here

Inactive Catholic Evangelization Resources - click here

Parish Hospitality Survey and Debriefing - click here

Catholic Reconciliation Programs

Come and See (John 1:46) -- Diocese of Buffalo

Come and See is offered on the first Thursday of every month (except July) and draws 80-150 people. Advertising is diocesan-wide. There is a general theme or each evening (forgiveness, God's will, reconciliation, prayer, guilt, anger, etc.) A guest host or hostess opens with a prayer and a short witness talk. A guest priest gives a 30-minute talk on the theme. After a short break, there is "table talk" (facilitated by team members), which allows participants to choose a specific topic for information or small group discussion. Topics include divorce and separation, annulments, confession, prayer, coping with cancer, when someone dies, interfaith marriage, answering fundamentalist questions, bible basics, Catholic singles, etc. Referrals are made to priests, parishes, diocesan departments and Catholic organizations. The Come and See information line can be accessed 24 hours a day: 716-565-2525.

Come Home Program—Archdiocese of Cincinnati, OH

Come Home sessions are offered in parishes throughout the diocese annually, during the months of February and March. Some parishes invite people at Christmas and Easter. Parishes provide support by financial contributions, personnel, space for the sessions, or some combination of all three.

Come Home Program—A New York Franciscan Ministry

The New York Franciscan Pastoral Plan was born long before ads were actually placed in New York and New Jersey newspapers. What does the pastoral plan offer to those who might come in dialogue? What does it mean for inactive Catholics to "Come Home," and what are they coming to do? This is not an easy dialogue, and it reaches an intense level of sharing that can become emotional and theological.

Catholics Returning Home

Catholics Returning Home is an RCIA-like process for reaching out and inviting inactive Catholics to return "home" to the Church and resume an active practice of their faith. It is conducted in a non-judgmental support-group format. However, a sequence of topics on the basics of Catholicism is covered during the six-week series so that attendees are updated. The process is both formational and informational.

Landings

Landings was designed and developed with an awareness of the very real demands and pressures on present day parish leadership. It is a proven Paulist program specifically designed to welcome those who wish to investigate returning. Landings will evangelize active Catholics who help in the welcoming and can operate in any parish of any size.

Once Catholic via Internet

This Franciscan Friars program, at St. Anthony Messenger, seeks to help people reconnect with a local Catholic faith community. WWW.OnceCatholic.org does this by offering: information, opportunities for interaction with others, personal responses and referral to "Come Home" programs within the Catholic Church in the US.

Eight chat rooms offers a cyber but personal connection with a "companion," a pastoral minister in the Church. The eight areas are: marriage issues, not being fed spiritually, just drifted away, quarrel with a Church representative, feeling excluded from the Church, abortion and or post-abortion issues, difficulty with a Church teaching and an general area where those not represented above can add their own story or issue. OnceCatholic has received the enthusiastic endorsement of Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati.

ReMembering Church
For Organization Information refer to North American Forum on the Cathechumenate.

Return to the Church Program

St. Augustine Parish in downtown Washington, D.C., is a vibrant community of faith serving primarily African American Catholics. Hospitality is the thread that weaves its many ministries into and evangelizing and reconciling community. As an early pioneer in implementing RCIA, St. Augustine developed its Return to the Church Program with the catechumenal model in mind.

Take Another Look

At its center, the experience of groups for alienated Catholics is an expanded celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation. The hope is that through this healing, re-initiation into the community of faith, worship, and service, the celebration of the sacrament will be possible.

We Miss You

The We Miss You program is an outreach program to inactive Catholics developed by the Omaha Archdiocesan Commission on Evangelization. It combines the faith journey of the RCIA process with a modern media campaign of invitation. What makes this program unique is the fact that it is a "complete process." The We Miss You program is documented in book form under the same name. The authors are Gary Petri, Nancy Koley, and Sr. Marian Klostermann, OSF.

Welcome Back

How to WELCOME BACK Inactive Catholics to your parish…is a resource designed for parishes who have a heart for ministry with inactive members, but aren't sure how to go about it, or feel that they need a staff member to run the ministry. With this tool, any interested group of people from any parish, can run a Christ-centered ministry to inactive Catholics whenever they want with no staff required. Working in concert with the pastor is essential especially when the sacraments may need to be celebrated.

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Secretariat for Evangelization
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000

April 24, 2003 Copyright © by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

All rights reserved.