"I didn’t hear the voice of God, I didn’t see a vision, but in that moment, I remember realizing that God is so, so, so big and all along I have been trying to fit him into my head, but he is infinite, there is no way I am ever going to 100% understand him. I cried and cried, I ran to my brother and told him the good news, that God had given me the gift of faith and for the first time in my life I knew without doubt that God was real, and that He loved me and everyone and wanted to have a relationship with me on earth and in heaven."

Emma Fradd
Catholic turned teenage atheist on her reversion to the faith
Read more about her story here

More and more baptized Catholics have fallen into a category that describes itself as "spiritual, not religious", and shuns institutional religion all together.

The statistics are sobering:  

32.5% of Gen X'ers consider themselves non-religious (unaffiliated, agnostic, or atheist); A whopping 40.6% of Millennials say the same;  40.7% of Gen Z'ers fall into the same category

But what about everyone else who stuck around?  How is it that a core group has remained in the Church (Mass attendance rates have been stable for years), but a larger and larger group has decided to "officially" move on?

It could be that, in the past, those who didn't practice simply didn't want to publicly risk the stigma of calling themselves agnostic or atheist, with generations of relatives inside families steeped in Cathoic identity.

Or, it could be the growing gap between 2000 years of moral doctrine in the Church, and the moral leniency of progressive Western society.

Maybe it was a lousy priest or a bad experience inside a Catholic school or with other members of the parish.  Maybe you just got bored and decided to look elsewhere.  

Whatever the reason, if "unaffiliated, atheist, or agnostic" describes you, as a baptized Catholic, we invite you to prayerfully consider "coming home", and rediscovering the faith you were indelibly graced with through Baptism.  

We invite you to come back to Mass, to listen to the Word of God, behold the miracle of the Eucharist, and take with you the sights and sounds of authentic Catholic tradition and the majesty of Christ crucified for you.  

And don't be afraid to reach out with your questions if you find you might be interested in returning to the Sacraments that promise us eternal life if we become "like children" before the Heavenly Father.  

It's been too long.  Why wait another day?