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	Diocese Aims to Lure Back Catholics By Albert McKeon Nashua Telegraph March 7, 2011 https://home.nashuatelegraph.com/clickshare/authenticateUserSubscription.do?CSAuthReq=1234&CSProduct=nashua-metered&CSTargetURL=http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/911472-196/diocese-aims-to-lure-back It is believed that the television set has become the pulpit of choice for many lapsed Catholics. Now, the television set has become the pulpit of choice for the Catholic Church as it tries to lure back the thousands of people who have stopped celebrating Mass and participating in parish life. Starting Wednesday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester will launch a television advertisement campaign targeting those who have left the church as well as those outside the faith. The campaign will run the entire 40-day Lenten season, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. "We have seen for a long time a decrease in attendance among Catholics throughout the country and throughout the world," said Kevin Donovan, spokesman for the diocese. "The purpose of the campaign is to extend a welcoming hand to those not regularly attending and those who are not even Catholic." The clergy sexual abuse crisis, the appeal of other religions and religious apathy have peeled Catholics away from the church. A 2009 Pew study showed that since the 1960s, four American-born Catholics have left the church for every one who has converted. And in 2008 alone, Catholic membership declined by 400,000. Membership has grown in Africa and Asia, but in other continents, the shrinking parishioner base and a dwindling number of new priests has led to the closures of churches. The ad campaign – known as Catholics Come Home – is part of an effort to reverse that trend. The campaign was used previously by dioceses in several states, including Rhode Island, Arizona and Illinois. The Manchester diocese and the Archdiocese of Boston will participate this Lenten season. Advertisements will appear as many as 1,000 times on WMUR-TV in Manchester and during broadcasts on national networks such as ESPN, TBS and Fox News. Two advertisements each run two minutes; two others last about a minute each. One of the ads has a sweeping narrative: As images show Catholics around the world, the narrator lists the physical and spiritual accomplishments of the church. The Catholic Church has built hospitals and orphanages, and is "the largest charitable organization on the planet," the narrator says. It founded the college system and developed the scientific method and law of evidence, the narrator says. The advertisement also reminds viewers of the church's stance on issues such as abortion and marriage between a man and a woman. And it illustrates the 2,000-year history of religious teaching found in the Catholic Church. "In this world filed with chaos, hardship and pain, it's comforting to know some things remain consistent, true and strong," the narrator says. The other two-minute ad shows people sitting down to watch a movie that is a video replay of their lives, highlighting moments of kindness and unkindness. The narrator speaks of the spiritual redemption offered in the church and that "Jesus can heal your memories." The television ad campaign isn't the only effort by the diocese to attract lapsed Catholics and those considering a religious institution, Donovan said. "Evangelization is not something we're starting on Wednesday. We're looking at all mediums," he said. That effort includes Parable, the diocese's magazine that is published every other month, he said. The organization Catholics Come Home created the television advertisements. Donovan said parishioners across the diocese raised $56,000 to pay for the cost of airing the ads. The campaign has helped increase church attendance where the ads have already run, Donovan said. Mass attendance has increased on average 10 percent, and as much as 18 percent, in areas where the ads have been aired, he said. More information is available on the diocesan website, CatholicNH.org. Albert McKeon can be reached at 594-5832 or amckeon@nashuatelegraph.com.
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