By Michael Motes

Father Daniel O’Connor has completed his annual hunt for “RCRs” -- Retired Roman Catholics -- and is so ecstatic with the results that he is practically shouting from the rooftop of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Alpharetta.

For the second year, the parish sponsored “Operation Homecoming,” a multi-faceted program of special homilies, parish seminars, advertising and doorbell ringing with one goal in mind -- to return alienated Catholics to their Church.

Using approximately 40 per cent of the manpower available in his 750 family parish, Father O’Connor and the Homecoming committee reached more than 400 alienated Catholics during the three months the project flourished.

Following guidelines established for the first successful Homecoming project, Father O’Connor and his workers felt a little more at ease the second time around and chose as their main theme “do it better this time.” The original concept had been a first in the country and drew more than 600 requests from throughout the nation and six foreign countries for copies of guidelines used at St. Thomas Aquinas.

Father O’Connor recalls the Homecoming Breakfast as a real highlight of the final stages of the program.

“We cancelled our religious education classes that morning to use the parish hall for breakfast,” he says. “It made the Sunday what we were trying to make it, a real Homecoming. More than 53 ‘visitors’ (we didn’t count children) were welcomed by about 2,000 of our own parishioners.

“Many of those visitors, I’m sure, had done nothing about returning to the practice of their faith; but at least on that morning, they knew they were wanted and welcomed, perhaps for the first time since they dropped away. They also know that there is a parish for them to return to, when they are ready. And that is a reason I feel I can call the program successful and worth the effort.” One of the negative features of the program, Father O’Connor said, is that very few young people responded.

“I know only three who have returned to the Church from the under age 30 bracket,” he laments. “This despite the fact that many of our parents contacted sons and daughters who are no longer attending Mass. It is obvious to me, after two years of experimenting, that the format we used has little attraction for young people. Something else must be tried.”

Following the Homecoming Breakfast, the parish sponsored a week of evening seminars dealing with topics that it was felt might have been in some way responsible for the alienated Catholics originally abandoning their faith. Subjects included birth control, divorce and ways in which the Church has changed.

The divorce and remarriage seminar was conducted by three priests from the archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal and “was much more explosive” than a similar seminar during the first Homecoming project, says Father O’Connor.

“We were hard pressed to explain the reaction -- bitter in some cases -- to this seminar,” he says. “The subject matter was the same as the first year and in some cases the lecturers were the same. But the feelings of the participants - both RCRs and parishioners - were noticeably higher, and the inability or the unwillingness to accept the Church’s teaching regarding the Eucharist in the case of remarriage without annulment was very pronounced.

“The only explanation I can suggest for the different reaction this year is a widespread misunderstanding of the pronouncement regarding the lifting of the penalty of excommunication for remarriage. This must have raised hopes that all obstacles to the sacraments had been removed. Or perhaps the wording of our advertisements regarding the seminars was at fault. Whatever, the reaction was sufficient notice to us, and should be to all others, that this is probably the most sensitive area in the Church today. Great tact and understanding are required in any outreach to the divorced and remarried. It is an issue that cannot be approached casually.”

Although the number of RCRs who actually returned to the Church is fewer this year, 15 to 20 as compared to 25 to 30 following Homecoming I, Father O’Connor feels that this year’s program was more successful.

“It may sound strange to say that fewer numbers represent greater success,” he explained. “But I measure what Homecoming II did for our parish. It united us in a common effort to appreciate our own faith and to share it with others. I am personally convinced that we are a better parish now than we were and Homecoming II is the reason.”

The success of the Homecoming concept is so great that it will be featured during the First Annual National Catholic Lay Celebration of Evangelization, which is being held in Washington, August 16 to 18. St. Thomas Aquinas parishioner George Clements, a major worker during both local programs, will conduct the seminar in Washington.