Welcome Home!: Fallen Away Catholics Who Came Back

by Victor R. Claveau

Here are the compelling stories of eleven "reverts", Catholics who fell away from the Church and eventually came back home. Some of the people are very well-known, like Fr. John Corapi, Rick Strom and Jesse Romero, and others are known only in their smaller circles. But each person's story of why he left the Catholic Church and why he returned is a unique and moving tale of God's mercy, love and grace. There is one common denominator, though, among the writers of Welcome Home! To parapharse Archbishop Fulton Sheen, few hate the Catholic Chruch for what she teaches, but millions hate it for what they think she teaches. The defining moment of illuminating grace almost always came when our storytellers began to examine Catholic teaching for themselves.

318 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A COLLECTION OF TESTIMONIES OF CATHOLICS WHO "RETURNED" TO THE CHURCH

The Preface (written by the President of St. Joseph Communications) to this 2000 collection of testimonies states, "Many of our customers have written or called us, telling us how these tapes, as well as our family and parish conferences, have changed their lives... Some of these communications are truly remarkable. They describe how the Lord has been able to inspire fallen-away Catholics to return to the Faith of their childhood---and return with fervor... Several years ago it occurred to me in prayer that others would benefit from knowing these stories. Thus began the process that led to this book...

"I believe if you have Welcome Home in your hands right now you have been brought to this point by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps you have left the Church of your youth and are contemplating returning... All I would suggest is that you ask the Holy Spirit to guide you at this point... Maybe you will recognize your story; maybe not. Nonetheless grace has brought you here."

One writer recalls how a friend told him, "'Most people will mess heaven by about twelve inches.' I asked him, 'How so?' He said the distance between the head and the heart is about twelve inches; saving faith needs to travel from the head to the heart. That analogy hit me like a ton of bricks." (Pg. 45)

Another writer states, "Encouraging this attraction to rock music was a priest who taught at the school. My friends and I hung on his every word, and he steered us toward progressive rock artists such as Genesis and Yes. Relatively speaking, this was better than Van Halen and AC/DC. But his own admiration of the members of these bands fostered in us an almost god-like reverence for them, and the surreal lyrics wandered close to New Age notions and occultism. Years later this priest became involved in a sex scandal that received national attention. He had never 'approached' my friends or me, but his crude jokes and lack of priestly piety made it difficult to deny that he could have been guilty." (Pg. 101)

Another notes, "after my conversion, when I went back and read John 6:48-71... It was as if i had been reading the Bible with blinders on. Here Christ repeated over and over again, 'Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you,' and I had ignored Him. I remember Scott Hahn saying that after his conversion to Catholicism he went back and read his old Bible, and there between the highlighted portions was the Catholic Church. It was the same for me." (Pg. 176)

Catholics of a conservative bent, who have either returned to the church, or are thinking of doing so, will enjoy this book.