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Recovering Faith: Stories of Catholics Who Came Home
"I was there physically, but I was mentally and spiritually absent..."
"I had so much hurt and misinformation about what the Church was and wasn't."
Every person's journey of faith is filled with twists and turns. Now, Recovering Faith follows the personal and heartfelt faith journeys of 17 well-known Catholics who have come back to their faith. Some had fallen out of step with the Church through complacency or poor education. Some were sidetracked by the lure of fame and fortune. A few took a turn in various Protestant traditions. Others travelled through the darkness of atheism.
You ll be encouraged by the way Christ touched each of them to bring them home. The compelling stories
---Martin Sheen, actor
---Dean Koontz, best-selling novelist
---Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
---Dr. Francis Beckwith, Former President of the Evangelical Theology Society
---Barbara Curtis, Author
---Leah Darrow, America s Next Top Model Finalist
---Janet Morana, Director of Priests for Life
---Teresa Tomeo, Catholic Radio Personality
...and others
"I had so much hurt and misinformation about what the Church was and wasn't."
Every person's journey of faith is filled with twists and turns. Now, Recovering Faith follows the personal and heartfelt faith journeys of 17 well-known Catholics who have come back to their faith. Some had fallen out of step with the Church through complacency or poor education. Some were sidetracked by the lure of fame and fortune. A few took a turn in various Protestant traditions. Others travelled through the darkness of atheism.
You ll be encouraged by the way Christ touched each of them to bring them home. The compelling stories
---Martin Sheen, actor
---Dean Koontz, best-selling novelist
---Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
---Dr. Francis Beckwith, Former President of the Evangelical Theology Society
---Barbara Curtis, Author
---Leah Darrow, America s Next Top Model Finalist
---Janet Morana, Director of Priests for Life
---Teresa Tomeo, Catholic Radio Personality
...and others
207 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
4 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 13, 2020
So interesting. Martin Sheen, Clarence Thomas, the guy who made the movie Bella. And more.
December 28, 2019
The author has compiled stories of returning to the practice of the Catholic faith. Some stories are those of famous people and some are not. All came back to the beauty of the Catholic faith,
Comment:
This book is useful for Catholics who have never left the Church. It may help then understand why friends and family left the Church and it may open a door to bring them back,
Comment:
This book is useful for Catholics who have never left the Church. It may help then understand why friends and family left the Church and it may open a door to bring them back,
December 17, 2015
This was an incredibly powerful read. 18 Stories of people who wandered away and came back to the church. Their reasons for leaving and also for return were varied and diverse. I actually picked up the book because Martin Sheen on the cover grabbed my attention. But once I started reading it I was familiar with a few of the contributors, specifically Dr. Kevin Vost. I have now read through this collection twice.
The power in these stories is that they are stories, they are peoples personal testimony of what caused them to fall away from the church and what brought them back home. It is a packed little volume.
The Stories are:
Teresa Tomeo - Catholic radio host, author, and motivational speaker
Leo Severino - Award-winning movie producer
Father John Fletcher, C.C. - A priest called to the ongoing renewal of the Church
Veronica Cavan - A coordinator of Annulment Companions
Clarence Thomas - U.S. Supreme Court justice
Amy Betros - Cofounder of St. Luke's Mission of Mercy
Martin Sheen - Award-winning television and motion-picture actor
Dr. Kevin Vost - Clinical psychologist and former atheist
Leah Darrow - Former contestant on the reality show America's Next Top Model
Danny Abramowicz - Author, speaker, and host of Crossing the Goal
Sally Mews - Founder of Catholics Returning Home
Father Eduardo Montemayor, S.O.L.T. - Popular speaker and workshop leader
Dean Koontz - Best-selling suspense novelist
Deacon Waldemar Sandoval - Coordinator of Landings ministry
Janet Morana - Executive director of Priests for Life
Dr. Francis Beckwith - Former president of the Evangelical Theological Society
Barbara Curtis - Author, lecturer, and blogger
Tom Peterson - Advertising executive and founder of Catholics Come Home
Another great feature of the book is the sidebars. These are short interjections, which go deeper into some point of church history, theology or doctrine that is mentioned in the stories. There is some great info for the person being drawn back to the church themselves, or for practicing Catholics as teaching moments, or for non-Catholics to gain knowledge of the truth.
Index of Sidebars
What Does God Want?
What Is a Conversion?
Secular vs. Spiritual
What Is Relativism?
The Power of Prayer
What Is the Purpose of Life?
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Another Look at the Mass
What Catholics Believe About Marian Apparitions
What Is Grace?
What the Church Believes About Divorce and Annulment
Having a Marriage Blessed
The Facts About Divorce and Annulment
The Sin of Racism
When Bad Things Happen
When Someone Is Hurt by the Church
How Faith Develops
Marian Apparitions in Medjugorje
The Desire to Help Others
The Catholic Worker
How to Go to Confession
What Is a Consistent Life Ethic?
St. Thomas Aquinas
Who Are the Church Fathers?
St. Albert the Great
When Childhood Memories Surface
Overcoming a Fear of Confession
How Addictions Affect Faith
What Is a Life in the Spirit Seminar?
A Spiritual Longing
Children of Alcoholics
What Is Evangelization?
Catholics Returning Home
Does God Answer Prayers?
Where Is God Leading Me?
When People Get Angry at God
Changes in the Church
Keeping Secrets
The Hole in Our Souls
The Healing Power of Forgiveness
The Permanent Diaconate
What Is "Landings"?
When People Disagree With the Church
Post-Abortion Syndrome
What Is Apologetics?
What Catholics Believe
What Are Creeds?
Who Is Saved?
Catechism of the Catholic Church
When Children Grow Up With Bad Role Models
Breaking the Cycle of Addiction
What Is New Age Spirituality?
What Does the Church Teach About Birth Control?
What Is a Cursillo Retreat?
Learning More About Your Faith
What's Great About the Catholic Church
This was a great little read. It is powerful, motivating and challenging. It will move you, motivate you to step up your spiritual game and challenge you to go deeper in your own faith. It was also so well written that I have already picked up another book by Lorene and have started reading it.
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More.
The power in these stories is that they are stories, they are peoples personal testimony of what caused them to fall away from the church and what brought them back home. It is a packed little volume.
The Stories are:
Teresa Tomeo - Catholic radio host, author, and motivational speaker
Leo Severino - Award-winning movie producer
Father John Fletcher, C.C. - A priest called to the ongoing renewal of the Church
Veronica Cavan - A coordinator of Annulment Companions
Clarence Thomas - U.S. Supreme Court justice
Amy Betros - Cofounder of St. Luke's Mission of Mercy
Martin Sheen - Award-winning television and motion-picture actor
Dr. Kevin Vost - Clinical psychologist and former atheist
Leah Darrow - Former contestant on the reality show America's Next Top Model
Danny Abramowicz - Author, speaker, and host of Crossing the Goal
Sally Mews - Founder of Catholics Returning Home
Father Eduardo Montemayor, S.O.L.T. - Popular speaker and workshop leader
Dean Koontz - Best-selling suspense novelist
Deacon Waldemar Sandoval - Coordinator of Landings ministry
Janet Morana - Executive director of Priests for Life
Dr. Francis Beckwith - Former president of the Evangelical Theological Society
Barbara Curtis - Author, lecturer, and blogger
Tom Peterson - Advertising executive and founder of Catholics Come Home
Another great feature of the book is the sidebars. These are short interjections, which go deeper into some point of church history, theology or doctrine that is mentioned in the stories. There is some great info for the person being drawn back to the church themselves, or for practicing Catholics as teaching moments, or for non-Catholics to gain knowledge of the truth.
Index of Sidebars
What Does God Want?
What Is a Conversion?
Secular vs. Spiritual
What Is Relativism?
The Power of Prayer
What Is the Purpose of Life?
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Another Look at the Mass
What Catholics Believe About Marian Apparitions
What Is Grace?
What the Church Believes About Divorce and Annulment
Having a Marriage Blessed
The Facts About Divorce and Annulment
The Sin of Racism
When Bad Things Happen
When Someone Is Hurt by the Church
How Faith Develops
Marian Apparitions in Medjugorje
The Desire to Help Others
The Catholic Worker
How to Go to Confession
What Is a Consistent Life Ethic?
St. Thomas Aquinas
Who Are the Church Fathers?
St. Albert the Great
When Childhood Memories Surface
Overcoming a Fear of Confession
How Addictions Affect Faith
What Is a Life in the Spirit Seminar?
A Spiritual Longing
Children of Alcoholics
What Is Evangelization?
Catholics Returning Home
Does God Answer Prayers?
Where Is God Leading Me?
When People Get Angry at God
Changes in the Church
Keeping Secrets
The Hole in Our Souls
The Healing Power of Forgiveness
The Permanent Diaconate
What Is "Landings"?
When People Disagree With the Church
Post-Abortion Syndrome
What Is Apologetics?
What Catholics Believe
What Are Creeds?
Who Is Saved?
Catechism of the Catholic Church
When Children Grow Up With Bad Role Models
Breaking the Cycle of Addiction
What Is New Age Spirituality?
What Does the Church Teach About Birth Control?
What Is a Cursillo Retreat?
Learning More About Your Faith
What's Great About the Catholic Church
This was a great little read. It is powerful, motivating and challenging. It will move you, motivate you to step up your spiritual game and challenge you to go deeper in your own faith. It was also so well written that I have already picked up another book by Lorene and have started reading it.
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More.
August 27, 2016
Profiles of 18 people who returned to the Catholic Church. Some famous (Martin Sheen, Clarence Thomas, Dean Koontz), some not.
Minus one star for being reported in the third person, instead of first person accounts. Also, the sidebars are sometimes helpful, but other times patronizing.
Written by an Our Sunday Visitor reporter, it has a bit of a "secular Catholic" feel. To be fair, since the book was aimed at fallen away Catholics, perhaps it has to adopt this tone. It is an appetizer to get people interested in the Catholic church, but does not contain the full banquet of church traditions and teachings. Or the excitement and fire of being in love with Christ. But it does have some interesting stories.
Martin Sheen's profile talks approvingly about Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement. :( But other profiles talk about the Life in the Spirit seminars and the Catholic Charismatic movement. :) Many solid Catholics are profiled or referenced. I enjoyed learning about the spiritual side of some of the famous people for the first time, especially Martin Sheen, Clarence Thomas and Dean Koontz. Teresa Tomeo and some of her radio friends are also profiled or referenced.
This book was also interesting as a human interest study of why people leave the Catholic Church. Those reasons seem general in nature and I have heard them in secular culture many times! Conversely, each person's come-back seems highly personal to them. This book was written for people considering coming back to the Church and I think it could be effective in that capacity.
Come home, Catholics!
Minus one star for being reported in the third person, instead of first person accounts. Also, the sidebars are sometimes helpful, but other times patronizing.
Written by an Our Sunday Visitor reporter, it has a bit of a "secular Catholic" feel. To be fair, since the book was aimed at fallen away Catholics, perhaps it has to adopt this tone. It is an appetizer to get people interested in the Catholic church, but does not contain the full banquet of church traditions and teachings. Or the excitement and fire of being in love with Christ. But it does have some interesting stories.
Martin Sheen's profile talks approvingly about Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement. :( But other profiles talk about the Life in the Spirit seminars and the Catholic Charismatic movement. :) Many solid Catholics are profiled or referenced. I enjoyed learning about the spiritual side of some of the famous people for the first time, especially Martin Sheen, Clarence Thomas and Dean Koontz. Teresa Tomeo and some of her radio friends are also profiled or referenced.
This book was also interesting as a human interest study of why people leave the Catholic Church. Those reasons seem general in nature and I have heard them in secular culture many times! Conversely, each person's come-back seems highly personal to them. This book was written for people considering coming back to the Church and I think it could be effective in that capacity.
Come home, Catholics!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews