Catholics see many benefits from latest outreach program

Last year at this time, the Diocese of Winona, which includes the 20 southernmost counties in Minnesota and 114 parishes, launched its Catholics Come Home program. The effort was geared toward bringing Catholics who had strayed from the church back to Mass.

“It’s to welcome Catholics back home,” said Father Jim Steffes of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Austin. “Those who have fallen away from the faith for whatever reason.”

A year later, members of the Catholic Church said the program’s impact was significant.

“There were quite a few people who came back to the church,” Steffes said.

Joel Hennessy, director of mission advancement at the Diocese of Winona, said the Diocese saw results across the board.

“We noticed about a 10 percent increase in our attendance during that time,” he said. He added that while he does not know whether those people continued attending church after the program ended, some did give testimonies saying they would.

Nationally, there was a huge impact, Steffes said. The Diocese’s program stemmed from the Catholics Come Home organization, a nationwide effort that gets parishes involved in running programs. The organization cites the high need for dioceses to launch programs with their parishes.

According to the CCH website, as many as 100,000 baptized Catholics in the U.S. drift away from the church each year. The site also states concerns about a high number of Catholics who do not regularly practice their faith and a low conversion rate in terms of Catholics spreading their faith to others.

While some people cite specific reasons that they have left the church, a lot of it is society in general, Hennessy said.

“[It’s] the de-Christianization of the United States,” he said. “People put less priority on church in general.”

Hennessy added he didn’t think there was any real, significant reason. Steffes agreed.

“Most people just drift away,” he said. “They get involved in so many things demanding their time.”

The Diocese unleashed a series of print ads and TV commercials to get the word out, and started a collection. But what was most valuable, Steffes said, was doing things locally. People considering returning wanted to speak with priests and other members of the church to hash out any issues they faced.

In addition to Lent simply being a significant time in the church, it was a fitting season for the Catholics Come Home program, Hennessy said.

“Lent is traditionally a time for Christians to reflect on their faith and to look at ways that we can grow in our faith,” he said.

The Diocese set up a second round of the program through the Advent season leading up to Christmas last year. Currently, it does not have any ads running, because the program was not scheduled for this year.

But while the program officially only ran last year in the Diocese, Steffes said that doesn’t limit the church’s desire to welcome someone back.

“If there’s something we can do to help them, we’re willing,” said Steffes.