{"id":227,"date":"2009-09-06T08:35:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-06T08:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html"},"modified":"2009-09-06T08:35:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-06T08:35:00","slug":"catholics-are-coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html","title":{"rendered":"Catholics are coming home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378334426750723778\"<\/a>And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads<\/a> produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working<\/a>. And spreading. <\/p>\n

From the Los Angeles Times<\/a>: <\/p>\n

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can be found in church.<\/p>\n

Now, using a strategy straight from the secular playbook, its leaders hope to lure back those who have drifted.<\/p>\n

The diocese and nearly a dozen others across the country are preparing to air several thousand prime-time TV commercials in English and Spanish, inviting inactive Catholics to return to their religious roots.<\/p>\n

In addition to Sacramento, dioceses in Chicago, Omaha, Providence, R.I., and four other cities will launch the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Catholics Come Home\u00e2\u20ac\u009d advertising blitz during Advent, the period before Christmas.<\/p>\n

Four more dioceses will follow during Lent next spring. Los Angeles is not among the initial group but could be part of a nationwide campaign slated for December 2010.<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping that a significant number of people will give us another look,” Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said of the campaign. “Many Catholics have a sense of believing but not always a sense of belonging.”<\/p>\n

The potential audience is huge.<\/p>\n

Only about one-quarter of U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass every week, and a majority go to religious services a few times a year or less, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, which conducts social science research about the Catholic church.<\/p>\n

Researchers there also found that two-thirds of Catholics believe they can be good members of their faith without attending Mass regularly.<\/p>\n

Inactive Catholics cite a number of reasons for their absence. Many do not believe that missing Mass is a sin, the center reported. Others say they are too busy with family or work, or, as other analysts point out, are more interested in material happiness than spiritual fulfillment.<\/p>\n

“There is a strange pattern of people who aren’t practicing but still have beliefs and pick up parts of the faith,” said Mark Gray, a research associate with the center. “They may give up meat on Fridays during Lent or attend Ash Wednesday services.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Curious to see what all the fuss is about? Check out the videos below. And you can find more at the Catholics Come Home link<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/center><\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working. And spreading. From the Los Angeles Times: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-converts","category-the-new-evangelization"],"yoast_head":"\nCatholics are coming home - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Catholics are coming home - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working. And spreading. From the Los Angeles Times: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-06T08:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SqOuql27JsI\/AAAAAAAAGIU\/KgIpuGM_4xE\/s400\/vaticanscene.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"deacon greg kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Catholics are coming home - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Catholics are coming home - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working. And spreading. From the Los Angeles Times: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2009-09-06T08:35:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SqOuql27JsI\/AAAAAAAAGIU\/KgIpuGM_4xE\/s400\/vaticanscene.jpg"}],"author":"deacon greg kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html","name":"Catholics are coming home - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SqOuql27JsI\/AAAAAAAAGIU\/KgIpuGM_4xE\/s400\/vaticanscene.jpg","datePublished":"2009-09-06T08:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-06T08:35:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/052b8cd86cc713feaccdc8282b03cf10"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SqOuql27JsI\/AAAAAAAAGIU\/KgIpuGM_4xE\/s400\/vaticanscene.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SqOuql27JsI\/AAAAAAAAGIU\/KgIpuGM_4xE\/s400\/vaticanscene.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/catholics-are-coming-home.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Catholics are coming home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/052b8cd86cc713feaccdc8282b03cf10","name":"deacon greg kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a4e\/a4e07ce6fde3f10d4d9753243fd48d45x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a4e\/a4e07ce6fde3f10d4d9753243fd48d45x96.jpg","caption":"deacon greg kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/365"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}