This was an excellent homily and true for both cradle Catholics and RCIA. While I never truly "left" the Church, I was Catholic in name only for many years. I fulfilled the minimum of obligations...Reconciliation once or twice a year...Mass when my husband's fire department schedule allowed for it...Holy Days of Obligation if I remembered. Then a crisis occurred and I needed to make a decision...shop around and find a new denomination (as my Protestant girlfriends do when they no longer "like" the church they attend) or research, study, and learn why the Catholic Church believes what she believes. And the truth is so freeing! The hardest part for me truly was saying, "it has been _______years since my last confession." But Father was so gracious and when he said "welcome back" I was moved to tears. Thank goodness he had a kleenex box in the confessional. Now, I go every 2 weeks or so...attend Mass with 3 kiddos in tow whether the fire department schedule allows for daddy to attend or not...and love to celebrate the Saints and Holy Days of Obligation...not b/c we have to, but b/c we want to. And yes, in our small-town, country parish, I would most definitely say that 7% of us do most of the upkeep of the Parish, but I see more and more families getting involved as our tiny parish grows here in east central Kansas.
This was an excellent homily and true for both cradle Catholics and RCIA. While I never truly "left" the Church, I was Catholic in name only for many years. I fulfilled the minimum of obligations...Reconciliation once or twice a year...Mass when my husband's fire department schedule allowed for it...Holy Days of Obligation if I remembered. Then a crisis occurred and I needed to make a decision...shop around and find a new denomination (as my Protestant girlfriends do when they no longer "like" the church they attend) or research, study, and learn why the Catholic Church believes what she believes. And the truth is so freeing! The hardest part for me truly was saying, "it has been _______years since my last confession." But Father was so gracious and when he said "welcome back" I was moved to tears. Thank goodness he had a kleenex box in the confessional. Now, I go every 2 weeks or so...attend Mass with 3 kiddos in tow whether the fire department schedule allows for daddy to attend or not...and love to celebrate the Saints and Holy Days of Obligation...not b/c we have to, but b/c we want to. And yes, in our small-town, country parish, I would most definitely say that 7% of us do most of the upkeep of the Parish, but I see more and more families getting involved as our tiny parish grows here in east central Kansas.
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