Great article…Hope this starts a real movement within the Catholic Church…So many Catholics need to re-learn their Faith and maybe this will be the thing tht enkindles within them the real Joy, Love, and Mercy of God and His Divine Love…O Sacred Heart of Jesus, burning with Love for your every person on earth, please Bless this movement and send the Holy Spirit to light the flame of Love for You that this world needs so much..

Thank you, Douglas for this Article.  From it I learn that Catholicism in America is at an all-time low.  Why????  Are there no Cradle Catholics like me in America, who learned our Bible before we could read it for ourselves???? Where are they???  I am now 72, and I was taught my Catechism for Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation from year 6 and before I was 8 years old!!!!!! Well, let me admit - I was blessed that the II World War forced my Father to be left in Charge of our Parish when all the Italian Catholic Priests were arrested.  Here he was in charge of the School, the Sisters running the Parish, the School and the Dispensary and other Staff members and all Church property. He ensured we got an Irish Priest from other Dioceses to celebrate the Holy Mass and conduct the Sacraments regularly. So I grew up under the mentorship of Consolata Sisters, was educated by them and the Loreto Sisters in High School.  By the time I was 16 years old, my Catholic Faith was “me” and I was the “Catholic Faith”. In my adult life I endeavoured to learn more about the Holy History of my Church. This special Grace from God always makes me feel very humbled that God decreed my life in the Catholic Faith to be what it is. I have been so saddened in these Catholic Websites because I find very little contributions from Cradle Catholics.  It would appear, the converted Catholics are more “Catholics” than all of us!!!!  That is very, very sad. They seem to have become the ones to teach about the Catholic Faith, yet one senses the empty spaces and the shallowness of their understanding of our Faith and Her History and Holiness.  No one knows the sacred moments, the deep Spiritual nuances and historical moments of a household unless they were born there Yet, I know out there there are very, very many Cradle Catholics like me who know and understand our One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church very well.  We know the meaning of - and fully understand - all the Liturgical Mysteries and the Lubrics of the Catholic Worship.  Our Hymns are especially composed to correspond with the Liturgical Seasons, the Three main Liturgy of the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, and we are saddened when Protestant Hymns tend to intrude and confuse the meaning of the particular Liturgical Season or the particular Liturgy during the Holy Mass as it is celebrated.  These are - the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of Offertory and the Liturgy of Consecration which includes the final Liturgy during and after the Holy Communion followed by the Final Blessing and Exit Hymns.  All Cradle Catholics know the Sacrifice of the Eucharist is the Centre and the Apex of Catholic Worship and Jesus Christ Himself becomes present during Consecration, is present in all the Blessed Hosts in all the Catholic Church Tabernacles and Adoration Chapels worldwide.  All the other Six Sacraments revolve around this Holy Mystery of the Eucharist and the Real Presence.  We have grown up physically aware of this Real Presence each time one steps into the Church or Adoration Chapel and we feel His Presence in us when we receive the Holy Communion.  No genuine Catholic would dare to receive Holy Communion if they are aware they have an unconfessed mortal sin - that is, they are not in a State of Sanctifying Grace.  We know the consequences of that - a Sacrilegious Sin added on top of a Mortal Sin/s. A desecration of Christ Himself.  I look forward to reading responses from Cradle Catholics in these Websites in order that we may impart the deep knowledge and understanding of our Faith which God has in His Mercy and Love granted to us to share with our brothers and sisters - the Body of Christ - and enrich Her as Her Spouse demands.

I have never heard of this group and your report is very sad but obvious to me when I attend Mass every day. Hard to understand since one of the documents from the council read as follows:  Lumen Gentium 14. This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism(124) and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved…
seems to be very clear on all of your points, the problem was and still is the gift of Freedom that Our Blessed Lord has bestowed on us…most will choose to be invincibly ignorant and die in their sin…so we pray constantly and without ceasing.
+JMJ

It is a challenging fact that the Catholic Church in America is desperately in need, not only of a re-evangelizing program, but a basic catechetical outreach to nominal Catholics who know almost nothing about their faith.  It is sadly true that someone could have had years of “Catholic” education and still learned no content. Then nuns didn’t teach and too many priests didn’t preach.  And there are the academics who eviscerated the faith in the misguided belief that the more secularized the church, the more appealing it would be.  We’ve seen where that got us! People need to know the basic teachings and they also need to be formed in Catholic spirituality so that they can recognize and respond to the promptings of grace.  Rather than be depressed and overwhelmed by this, it should be an exciting challenge to embrace.  If you are a committed and knowledgeable Catholic, seize every opportunity to explain and defend the faith when someone expresses interest.  We can’t leave it all up to the priests, who are too few and over-stretched as it is.  They need our warm and loving support.  The nuns, too, if we can find any to support.  They have become invisible.  We lay folk need to take more courage from our beliefs and set about sharing the Good News.

Aftyer reading the article I feel that more evangelisation is needed for the existing catholic population than for the non christians. It is sheer shame that very basic teaching like the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist or the authors of the Gospel is not known to catholics. Where does the fault lie ? Parents and the Parish are responsible. The parish priest should try to have maximum contact with all the families. Only really dedicated priests can doit. Only priests who do not desire luxury can do it Only those who lead a simple life and a life of prayer can do it

Doug,

This sounds like a great program.  I live in Kansas City, MO and am not aware of it being available here.  Do you have any information on where it is offered in this area? 

Thanks,

KCHawk

I am always looking for resources for renewal and growth of my/our faith. I have found it difficult to assume that something can just be taken for granted as a good solid program.  Over thirty years ago I worked as a secretary in a Diocesan Religious Education Office and watched my supervisor, a Masters Degree level religious walk along the book shelves with a trash can and pick out books and throw them into the trash can. Being an avid book lover, and thinking of the cost of books, and how some churches don’t have a budget for books, I was naturally aghast and inquired as to why she was doing that? She remarked, “These books are out of date and no longer applicable.”  I retrieved those books and kept them knowing that – ‘some things don’t change’ and used them as guides to teach my own children (who have retained their faith) along with a few other books I came across through the years.  I didn’t realize, but was alerted that something was afoot. There was a subtle agenda being pushed- I heard conversations (not OVERheard-they took place in front of me), that ‘things were going to change’ and there would only be ‘certain kinds of publications’ available for the parishes to look over as resources.  I was told to stop the subscriptions for what turned out to be, I found out later, more conservative publications, taking away a more rounded and sometimes totally opposite view of the publications that remained.  I bring this up because of what I witnessed time and again, more conservative books (samples, etc) being dropped in the trash.  I recommend people thoroughly research any parish program that comes along, even from the Diocesan Office to check the background, who the professionals are writing the program, what theologians are saying about the program, especially theologians who are known to be loyal to the Magisterium of the Church.  In the present computer day and age this is much easier to do than it was back then… but even if I knew then what I know now, I watched other equally degreed and concerned individuals complain about the agenda driven materials being put forth- but to no avail. What can we ‘little’ people do? Pray and watch. Research. Don’t be lead by the nose. Learn your faith, but REALLY learn it.  Please see this article with links on the program: Why Catholic : Remember that the greatest saints like, St. Faustina, Mother Terese, etc.  maintained obedience to the Church, not blindly, but humbly. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=3605&CFID=77684800&CFTOKEN=85283094

It seems odd to me that recent converts would be taking a Why Catholic class ... Maybe this is just an outsider’s perspective, but why would someone convert to a religion without having learned all that it teaches?  (For instance, I wouldn’t say I’m a Republican or Democrat without at least having read and agreed with all of the party platform.)

Its simple, read The Early Church Fathers, you’ll come sprinting to Church and the Confessional.