I’d be hesitant to try something like this.  I’d worry that it’d tick people off.  “Capturing” people’s emails and cell phones without their direct permission strikes me as sneaky. 
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In our church, we put papers, pencils and envelopes in the pews welcoming people back.  And then we ask them if they’d like to get to know us and what the reason(s) is they’ve stayed away most days.    Then we give them different ways they might want to be contacted OR if they’d prefer, they can just contact us if the mood strikes them.  Mostly we just stress how happy we are to see them.

Oops.  I forgot to say they can drop the envelopes in the collection basket.

Eileen - Without direct permission? But that’s precisely what you’re getting when you ask them to text in. There’s nothing sneaky about it. You tell them exactly what you’re doing when you ask them if they’d like to text in. Just nice to give them some motivation and a thank you for connecting. We certainly don’t advocate being sneaky about anything. It’s not ethical, nor is it an effective way to reach people.

But actually, using something like Flocknote is really much “safer” in that sense when connecting with a parish, as you can withdraw your information, stop all notifications (or completely customize them per each ministry) as you please and with a simple text/click/etc.

I think having the paper forms out like you all are doing is great! And extremely important that you have that option. However, I think a lot of visitors maybe wouldn’t mind a free talk and getting on a text/email list for updates (that they can unsubscribe to at anytime)...but many probably won’t take the time to fill out a paper form by itself. So this is an attempt to make it easier for such folks and hopefully connect with more of them.

I think it’s a good idea, but I don’t like the tone, with the hook that there will be more money coming into the collection plate. And that phrase about “capturing email addresses,” and so forth turned me off, and I’m not someone who is protective of my personal information. I hoped this article would be about having a sermon that presents the faith as compelling, like St. Ambrose, who skill as an orator drew St. Augustine to the faith. How about this for a topic: Making it clear that going to Mass once a year leaves people in danger of eternal damnation? Explaining that it is still considered to be a mortal sin if you miss Mass without a good reason.  Or preaching with great joy and love what a miracle it is that God became man, and when He did, He was born into poverty, to serve us and save us. Something like that!

I think this is an absolutely awesome idea. Not only is it offering an easy way for people to learn more about our Faith (and we’re all always learning more), but it’s also so easy—just texting in and bam, I’m connected. I’m sending this on to all of my pastor friends. Love it, love it, love it.

Roseanne - that’s the point. The whole reason to give them a great catholic book, or faith inspiring talk, or to invite them to a powerful event is to teach them precisely what you are recommending.

And the reason you’d want to “capture” (not a dirty word I promise) their contact info (with their full and total permission and full disclosure) is so you can start and continue a relationship with them. If they don’t show up next Sunday, you have a way to reach out and make an important connection that may lead to the things you are advocating for.

And perhaps you didn’t read the post fully, but it clearly explained why money was mentioned and it was clearly explained that “more money coming into the collection plate” was not the point at all. So I’m not sure where you got that from.

Evangelization programs sometimes take money/resources. And when they do, parishes need confidence that such an investment (when it’s smart) is not only a great (and responsible) use of their limited budgets, but is a sustainable approach that leads to more and more evangelization resources. It’s smart stewardship and parishioners deserve such careful analysis by those spending parish money. If parish leaders aren’t considering such financial numbers, it’s not only irresponsible stewardship, but it’s missing some great investment opportunities to evangelize more and to do more with less.

@Matthew - I didn’t understand - so long as it’s clear that if they text in, they’re opting in to ongoing contact, it’s absolutely worth a shot.

I am just curious to know where you got the ~$1000 / year figure. Just wondering.

Last Sunday our administrative pastor talked about having a welcoming mindset towards those aren’t regulars to the parish at Christmas Masses.  He mentioned how when he included a theme of welcome and “come home to the church” in his homily during the Christmas Mass over the years, those came irregularly came back some time afterwards.

Oh, to those who ushers, encourage folks to move towards the middle of the pews to free up space so others can sit.

I think that C & E parishioners are people who hold the core beliefs of the Catholic Church, but not necessarily everything that the Pope says or that you find in the catechism. If they believe in mortal sin at all, they don’t believe that it would include missing mass on Sunday. For the short time that they are in the church, this seems to be little opportunity to convince them to come more often. Usually, they have heard it all before and have become turned off. They probably point to the scandals in the church as one of the reasons for not attending more often.

The best thing to do is probably to just accept them for what they are and not try to change them. They might experience something that could induce them to go to church more often.  Scolding them for not coming more often will definitely not work.

Love the idea of trying to gather in the lost sheep. Trying something is better than nothing. EWTN has great talks via the Journey Home on fallen away Catholics or converts from Protestantism. We need a sheet with quick bullet points like “10 Reasons to Re-Consider regular Mass attendance”. I totally disagree with an above comment pointing to damnation as motivation. That’s too old school. Part of the problem is that even regular mass goers are luke warm about evangelizing mostly because they aren’t well equipped. So we need to re-energize both regulars and the C and E’ers - tough task, but we must try.

Our parish has adopted the Paulist Ministries “Landings” program for returning Catholics and is using Advent to reach out to those who might be moved by the Holy Spirit to return to regular practice of the faith. Our Advent “campaign” includes: pastor’s message in the bulletin (asking regular mass attenders to be open and welcoming to those joining us this season), pulpit messages (both to regulars and returnees), pew cards and pocket cards, commentator message of welcome and Landings promotion, bulletin notices (regulars and returnees), welcome message front and centre on parish home page, inviting regulars to create a “throng” of welcomers in the foyer, personal invitation to Landings at Jan 5 weekend masses,and more. The goal is to engage the whole community (we have 4500 registered families/about 1200 who are “regulars”) in welcoming people home to the Church.