Catholics learn to return to faith, even after lifetime of separation

Published: 2004-07-21

CHICAGO (CNS) -- On six consecutive Thursday nights after Easter, Frank Fink sat at a table at St. Hubert Church in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates where he talked and listened to people who had stopped practicing their Catholic faith. "If you told me a year ago that I'd be welcoming lapsed Catholics back into the church, I'd think you were crazy," said Fink. "For the longest time, I felt the church had let me down." Fink and the 11 people he sat with at St. Hubert are part of an ongoing parish-based program called Catholics Returning Home. Participants come together to discuss church issues, learn about Catholic teachings and doctrine and try to resume active practice of their faith. The program has three major outreaches per year: before Christmas, with sessions starting in January; during Lent, with sessions starting after Easter; and in the late summer, with sessions starting in September. The program began about 15 years ago with Sally Mews, a parishioner at St. Patrick's Parish in Wadsworth, in the Chicago Archdiocese. Today, it has received national recognition.

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