A Call to Catholics to Come Home Again, by Lisa Wangsness, Boston Globe, July 21, 2010

A Call to Catholics to 'Come Home' Again

By Lisa Wangsness
Boston Globe
July 21, 2010

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/07/21/archdiocesan_ads_will_ask_catholics_to_come_home/

The Archdiocese of Boston, in an effort to bring lapsed Catholics back to church, is planning a major public relations campaign in the coming year that will use television ads, parish events, and personal invitations to urge inactive Catholics to "come home" to their faith.

The campaign is planned as the Catholic Church faces huge challenges. Nationally, 10 percent of all American adults are former Catholics, according to a recent study. In the Boston Archdiocese, weekly Mass attendance has plunged from 376,383 in 2000 to 286,951 last year, according to the church's own annual count.

"Each time we go to Mass. . . . the pews seem emptier and emptier," said Janet Benestad, secretary for faith formation and evangelization at the archdiocese. The goal of the campaign, she said, "is to say to folks, 'We are diminished by your absence . . . and we want to issue a genuine invitation to return to the practice of the faith.' "

The campaign is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, a significant expenditure when the archdiocese is suffering from serious financial problems, and after about one-third of all parishes finished the 2009 fiscal year in the red. The archdiocese is planning a special fund-raising effort to pay for the television spots, which would run during Lent next year; church officials said the archdiocese would spend only those dedicated funds on the campaign.

Evangelization is a major priority for Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, who has already launched programs intended to bring Catholics back to confession and spur small group meetings among Catholics. Now the archdiocese is planning to join with "Catholics Come Home," a national nonprofit organization of Catholic laypeople that says it has helped bring 200,000 people back to church in a dozen US dioceses over the last three years.

Elements of its video campaign were featured in a guest post on Cardinal O'Malley's blog last week; one spot highlights images of Catholic cathedrals, rituals, and social service work around the world. Another ad shows a dreamlike sequence of people watching movie scenes from their lives, weeping over their sins and rejoicing over their kindnesses.

"When our transition to eternity begins, there won't be a chance for any do-overs," a narrator warns.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found in 2007 that Catholics are leaving their church four times as fast as people are joining it. The overall size of the Catholic population has remained constant in the last few decades, because immigrants coming into the United States are disproportionately Catholic, said Greg Smith, a senior researcher at the forum.

Interviews with lapsed Catholics in Boston yesterday suggest that the archdiocese faces some significant hurdles in bringing many people back. Some cited serious disagreements with church teachings; others said they were unhappy with the church's handling of clergy sexual abuse.

"Outreach on their part is a great thing to do, but I've seen too many times them say one thing and do another," said Neal Correia, 45, a property management worker from Boston, who said he had once been a regular churchgoer, but lost faith during the abuse crisis. "It's hard because all my family and friends are Catholic; you want to be a part of it."

Marie Calo, 84, said she did not find the sense of community she sought in Catholicism, so she has begun attending services at a Baptist church. She and her daughter, Virginia, who is also a lapsed Catholic, said organizing get-togethers to bring inactive Catholics back to the fold sounded like a step in the right direction.

"If the church would offer more social events and show that they actually care about one another, I would check it out," Virginia Calo said.

But Sandra Correia, 26, is more skeptical. Correia, who is not related to Neal Correia, was interviewed while sunbathing with a 16-year-old cousin who is preparing for her confirmation. But Sandra Correia said she has rarely gone to church herself since her own confirmation.

"I go to church, I want to talk about Jesus, and all they seem to talk about is money, money, money," she said. "Every person does what they can. That should be enough."

Patricia Maher, 62, of South Boston, said the church's opposition to abortion rights, as well as the abuse scandal, are obstacles for her. She said she grew up going to church and still considers herself a Catholic, but stopped attending Mass 15 years ago.

"At this point in my life, I've already made up my mind," she said.

(CatholicsComeHome.org)

The Boston Archdiocese plans to deploy a variety of strategies to reach people who have left the church, including doorbelling, hosting events, and publishing literature in print and online, said David Thorp, who will run the program. The archdiocese will also field phone calls and online inquiries about the teachings of the faith, including about remarriage and the sexual abuse crisis, two subjects that often prompt questions from Catholics.

The "Catholics Come Home" program has won praise elsewhere in the country. The Diocese of Phoenix reported a 12 percent increase in Mass attendance six months after implementing the program; according to the diocese's calculations, it spent $1.63 on television ads for each person brought back to church.

In Texas, the Diocese of Corpus Christi ran about 2,500 commercials during Lent this year; parishes reported a 17 percent increase in English-speaking Mass attendance and 16 percent in Spanish-speaking Masses.

"It sure did stir things up here," said Marty Wind, communications director for the Corpus Christi Diocese.

Other Christian denominations have long used such efforts to win converts and reengage inactive members. The United Methodist Church launched a multimedia campaign last year, emphasizing the church's social justice work and urging people to "rethink church." The United Church of Christ recently ran an ad campaign highlighting the church's inclusiveness.

"They can be very effective," said Mara Einstein, a professor of media studies at Queen's College at the City University of New York and author of "Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age."

"Whether or not people stay is another issue," Einstein said.

Einstein was skeptical, however, about the "Catholics Come Home" campaign's potential effectiveness because of the damage the church suffered from the sexual abuse crisis.

"This feels like gloss, like putting a coat of paint on a house that has fallen apart," she said. "You have got to start with the very basics, rebuilding the trust with people."

Thomas Groome, director of the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College, praised the initiative, but he said that to succeed, the archdiocese will have to be willing to take back people who have concerns or disagreements with the church.

"I'm delighted that the Archdiocese of Boston is doing this; I do think we need to reach out to alienated Catholics," he said. "But they have to be like the forgiving father in the story of the Prodigal Son and welcome them home unconditionally."

Contact: lwangsness@globe.com