photo © 2009 budget travel accommodation | more info (via: Wylio)As I mentioned the campaign has been going on for some time, here's an article written by Christianity Today (it's actually an opinion article) you may want to read regarding this Catholic evangelization campaign.
In looking through the website I found interesting their top 10 reasons Catholics come back (or should come back) particularly numbers 5 & 1 here's is what each says as taken from the website:
5. Many of us who leave the Catholic Church are blessed by the experience of worshiping for awhile in various Christian denominations. But some people come back when they realize that Catholicism has the fullness of truth and grace. The Catholic Church was not founded by a single reformer or historical movement. It is not fragmented by individual interpretations of Scripture. There are thousands of Christian denominations, but only one Catholic Church. This Church has been guided by the Holy Spirit and protected from teaching error on issues of faith and morals from generation to generation for some two thousand years, as Our Lord Jesus promised: (foretold Isaiah 22:15-25) Matt 16:13-20; Matthew 18:15-18 (in this verse the word is church, not community); 1 Tim 3:15.
In their evangelization it's interesting to note that nothing is held back. The comments above clearly state the position of the Catholic church which claims to have the 'fullness of truth and grace', it's not 'fragmented', and 'protected from teaching error on issues of faith and morals from generation to generation...' really? Again, it's interesting to see that they are straight forward with their claims. I found personally interesting the aspect of having the 'fullness of truth and grace.'
Here's their stated number 1 reason:
1. Many people come back to the Catholic Church because they feel an intense longing for the Eucharist...They describe it as a deep hunger for the spiritual nourishment that comes when they receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
The number one reason given is that former Catholics long for transubstantiation, the belief that in taking the bread and wine it changes into the substance of the blood and body of Jesus in the Eucharist.
The site goes on to even talk about the sexual abuse issues the church has and is facing, stating that it shouldn't be an excuse for anyone not to rejoin. Here's what the site says:
We do have problems, but using the crisis in the Church as an excuse for not being a practicing Catholic or, for non-Catholic Christians, not becoming a Catholic, is no excuse.
I don't know about you but that's pretty bold (go to the site and read the rest!) they are really trying to bring them back into the church.
The message, mission, and intention of the website is certainly to be respected. They are doing it seems everything they can to either bring former Catholics back 'home' or to evangelize new Catholics into the fold.
For some who read this, it may not be 'new' news, perhaps you had heard about this initiative but with this post you've become more aware of what it actually is. Either way it should spark something in all of us who are a product of the Reformation.
What it should spark (maybe you're already lit up:-) is a continued desire to evangelize all those around with the truth, grace, and fullness of scripture. We should always remain respectful and loving to all to whom we disagree, and as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian I obviously disagree with a lot of the beliefs of the Catholic church, nonetheless as I stated above I respect their evangelization efforts.
So I will conclude this post by saying that, we who call ourselves Christian need to know what we stand on, being ready in season and out of season, to spread the truth as it is in Jesus. Isn't this what Jesus called us to do first and foremost? Go ye therefore...
What do you think of this ongoing Catholic Come Home campaign? What are you doing to evangelize those around you?
Javi
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