Finding and welcoming more inquirers

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3 thoughts on “Finding and welcoming more inquirers”

  1. If you’re going to meet and greet people, PLEASE put name-tags on. Ex-atheists, who are at the shopping-around stage, do not like to be “jumped” with invites or welcomes from unidentified persons – we are skittish and skeptical, just looking for a reason not to come back, so please don’t add to it by assuming that we’re weak, needy or lonely. “Community” is usually not the reason that ex-atheists get baptized into Catholicism, many have been alone all their lives and they like it that way, they’re not looking for a field hospital, that’s not the reason we would join up.

  2. Thanks for your insights, Donna. Name tags are a great suggestion. I hear that looking for a field hospital is not the reason you would join a parish. I wonder if you would share a little more about what you *are* looking for. Blessings on your journey.

  3. Ex-atheists get baptized in Catholicism for one reason: truth for eternity. We are actually more behaviourally suited to Quakerism, the trouble is, Quakerism isn’t real to us and Catholicism, the first Church, is.
    Atheists and ex-atheists do not need emotional support or want nosey questions, especially as they get older. It’s not a personal spiritual journey for them. It’s the truth they want to see and experience first hand, and that doesn’t involve group discussions.
    I am still an ex-atheist, I refused to get baptized after finally being told about all the rites, rituals and celebrations, because most of us outright refuse public displays. Once a lady exclaimed to me “Look at them! It’s a cult! If they actually believed it, they wouldn’t act like that, they wouldn’t need all this public reinforcement, I certainly won’t do it, it’s weird!” Unfortunately, that lady’s opinion had more influence on me than anything else, and she said exactly what the typical atheist or ex-atheist thinks of “rituals” and “celebrations”.
    But you will always find some unbaptized ex-atheists at Mass every Sunday, responding and singing along, you can tell who we are because week after week, year after year, we never line up for the Eucharist. We’re not imposters, ex-atheists simply think Catholicism is beautiful and they gain a bit of knowledge or insight every single Sunday, so that’s why we go. The Parish we now visit has a superb Priest, highly conservative and realistic, funny and smart. Anybody would want to go, and they do!
    Losing potential converts is such a shame because the new Pope Leo XIV is perfect and I think with him at the helm, a lot of ex-atheists would join up, but in your pre-interviews, please make sure the OCIA is honest, forthcoming and thorough. Tell people what they have to do to get baptized (at least 6 public procedures, supervision by, and the approval of, a sponsor); make sure pre-inquirers understand about marriage rules, all well in advance of the inquiry period. You will save your own time and their anger. At the RCIA I briefly attended for 4 months (in another town), I saw about 20 inquirers walk out; they felt gypped and misled, myself included. Also importantly, the Priests in that particular Parish were un-energetic mumblers and the music was Josh Groban style, no organ, no chants or hymns, it was so depressing! This is very unfortunate and it all could be avoided.
    There are very few mature ex-atheists who would finish the OCIA, so numbers-wise, it’s probably not worth it to OCIA to kowtow to ex-atheists. We’re much less work to the program providers because we don’t need convincing, ***but*** we also won’t do some of what OCIA requires! And wear name tags, please, in big bold letters. Another thing you could do is have a “visitor pew” at the back *not* at the front, where if visitors don’t already know where they want to sit, there could be little prayer flyers or the format of the Mass at each seating spot in the pew, so each visitor can follow along if s/he wants, without asking anybody. At “our” local Parish, visitors might stand or sit in the Choir Loft, so they can watch the entire service panoramically without being mistaken for an active Catholic. Please be sure everyone speaking at the front can be heard loud and clear, muttering the Mass is a big deterrent. Good luck

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