Catholic Reconciliation > Programs
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 and See (John 1:46)
c/o St. Benedict Church
1317 Eggert Road
Buffalo, New York 14226
716-565-2525 |
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Lorie Duquin, Coordinator
Tel: 716-632-0369
Fax: 716-6327851
email: LDuquinj@adelphia.net |
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.
Tim Clarke
Assistant Director of Evangelization
Archdiocese of Cincinnati
266 Bainbridge St. |
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phone: 937-223-4075
fax: 937-223-5167
e-mail: TJClarke@juno.com |
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.
Fr. Flavian Walsh, OFM
Franciscan Friary Angels Parish
437 Main Street
Little Falls, NJ 07424
phone: 973-256-5200 |
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Fr. Ronald Stark, OFM
Franciscan Friars
135 West 31st Street
New York, NY 10001
phone: 212-736-8500 |
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.
Sally Mews
Chicago, IL
phone: 847-855-0629
e-mail: ssmews@msn.com |
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.
Fr. Jac Campbell, CSP
Director
5 Park Street
Boston, MA 02108-4897
Tel: 617-720-5986
Fax: 617-723-2170
jacsp@aol.com |
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Ms. Joan Horn
National Coordinator
3311 Big Bend Drive
Austin, TX 78731
Tel: 512-452-7566 |
Fr. Charles Burnick, CSP
Mid-West Regional Coordinator
21 E. Van Buren Street
Chicago, IL 60605
Tel: 312-922-3444
Fax: 312-922-3447
email: eburnick@aol.com |
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.
Contacts: Fr. Pat McCloskey, OFM
St. Anthony Messanger
513 241-5615, ext. 116 or
www.OnceCatholic.org |
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Mr. Chris Heffron, ext. 209 |
For Organization Information refer to North American Forum on the Cathechumenate
Sr. Sheila O'Dea, RSM
Associate Director
Washington, DC 20017-1102
Tel: 202-529-9493
Fax: 202-529-9497 |
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Fr. Robert Kennedy
Chairperson, Board of Dir.
Rochester, NY 14620
Tel: 716-271-3657 X284 |
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.
Return to the Church Program
St. Augustine's Parish
1419 V Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009 |
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phone: 202.265.1470
fax: 202.234.1787 |
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.
Karen Miller
St. Augustine Church and
St. Elizabeth Seton Mission
P.O. Box 817
Pleasanton, CA 94566 |
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phone: 510-846-4489 |
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.
Sheed and Ward
7373 Lovers Land Road
Franklin, WI 53132 |
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phone: 800-558-0850
fax: 800-369-4448 |
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.
Dr. Jack Buchner
Director of Evangelization
St. Joseph Parish
100 Church Lane
Cockeysville, MD |
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phone: 410-683-0600
email:jbuchner@stjostex.com |