Returning to the Church

The Catholic Church is the vibrant, active community of believers that Christ began with the first apostles (see Matthew 16:18). The Church continues to have a powerful, positive impact on the lives of millions of souls and institutions around the world. However, some people stopped actively participating in the life of the Catholic Church and attending Mass for one reason or another. For some, the busy culture placed too many demands on us. For others, they held questions and challenges that gradually made them walk away from the Church. And yet more people are drawn to come back home to the Catholic Church to find healing and purpose through a relationship with God and a more authentic spiritual life.

Perhaps you or someone you know has left the Church and do not know how to become active again. The first thing you need to know is that you are always welcome back. In his first letter to the Church in Corinth, Saint Paul calls us the community the “Mystical Body of Christ… individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). He says that one one member suffers, we all suffer. So the Church will always pray for the missing members of the Body of Christ, and she hopes that each person will choose to come home as an active member.

Catholics Come Home

You may want to spend time looking at Catholics Come Home, a non-profit, independent charity whose purpose is to invite inactive Catholics, and others searching for a faith home, to the Catholic faith. Their informative and interactive website helps to answer questions about Church teachings and gives an overview of the Catholic faith.

You can also learn more about the Catholic Church through the great work of Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire.  See the intricate beauty of the Church, which is the largest among Christian churches in the United States and one of the world's oldest and largest international institutions, with approximately 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide.