TV ads aim to bring back the lapsed

The diocese of Buffalo, New York, became the latest to implement a “Catholics Come Home” programme designed to bring lapsed Catholics back to the practice of the faith. A series of television ads, costing the diocese US$240,000 (£147,106), will begin running in the Advent and Christmas season.

Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone announced the new initiative in a letter to his priests. “In these secular times, the work of evangelisation will be decisive in building vital parishes,” Bishop Malone wrote.

“I know that you share my concern for the many Catholics who are episodic or inactive in the practice of their faith. I am convinced that we can start by welcoming those who are within easy reach. Many who return to a parish report that the reason they returned was simply because they were asked.”

The Catholics Come Home campaign (http://www.catholicscomehome.org) has been tried in 37 dioceses nationwide.

Tom Peterson, president of Catholics Come Home, told The Tablet: “Jesus, the Good Shepherd, said we should seek out even one lost sheep, but it is exciting to know that in the Archdiocese of St Louis, 32,000 Catholics returned to the Church. The number one ­reason people cited for returning? Because they were invited.”