Catholics are a distinct minority in Alabama, but a paper there reports on some of the efforts underway to find and bring back lapsed members of the flock:

Churches grow and shrink. That’s something that has al­ways happened in the religious community, including the Cath­olic Church. But when the Cath­olic Church starts shrinking, it does what some other churches do not: It asks why.

Catholicism in the United States has grown dramatically throughout the country’s histo­ry. In fact, the third-largest Catholic population in the world is in the United States, with 76.9 million residents professing faith as of 2003.

The state of Alabama con­tains approximately 140,000 Catholics and as with many oth­er church denominations across the country, the Catholic Church has been losing mem­bers. And St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, the only Catholic church in Prattville, wants to know why.

Father Philip McKenna has been a priest for 46 years, nine of those being at St. Joseph’s, and he believes that the decline in church membership includes several factors.

“The marriage issue is the biggest reason,” said McKenna.

McKenna said that those who divorce and then remarry non-Catholics tend to leave the church. The Catholic Church is very strict on the issue of di­vorce and with so many mar­riages ending in divorce, many feel uncomfortable returning to the church after such a situa­tion.

McKenna also says that secu­larism has kept people from ei­ther becoming Catholics or com­ing back to the church once they’ve left.

“Young people are being brought up with secular val­ues,” he said. “Society says mak­ing a profit makes you a success, but success is in your personal life and your family.”

McKenna believes that peo­ple in the United States treat re­ligion as if it’s there in case they need it, instead of being a way of life. He also believes that society is focused on what people can get, instead of what they can give.

“We expect to be enter­tained,” he said.

McKenna has seen people leave the church also because of a lack of information and ru­mors about what the church teaches.

“There are a lot of miscon­ceptions about the church as well,” McKenna said.

Jacque Ellison is the director of religious education at St. Jo­seph’s. She has helped the church address this situation by planning four classes that are designed to give those who have left the Catholic Church, a chance to talk about why they left and to hopefully resolve their issues.

“There’s one class on why they left,” said Ellison. “There’s also one on the changes that have happened in the church, and one on reconciliation with the church, and one on marriage and annulment.”

“We want people to tell their story,” said Ellison.

There’s more at the link. It sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it?