Tuesday, November 17, 2015

How to draw your child back to the Church!


This is the coolest thing. I've been waiting for this.

My friend Brandon Vogt, who works for Bishop Robert Barron and Word on Fire, has done something extraordinary and so very needed in our Church today. He has put together a game plan for how to help our lost children come home to the Church.

Brandon is a social media expert and a holy, brilliant evangelist (as well as a longtime friend of the Bubble!), and he has spoken at numerous Catholic conferences over the past years. The most common question he hears at these gatherings, numbering hundreds of times, is some version of, “My son/daughter has left the faith and I’m devastated. What should I do?” His other Catholic speaker friends confirm the same thing, and I can confirm it, too; it’s a huge problem, weighing heavily on Catholic parents and grandparents everywhere.

This is so near and dear to my own heart, because as you know from my own story, I was one of those lost Catholics who drifted far from the practice of the Faith, starting in high school, but really kicking in at my (Catholic) university. My drifting led me to all but leave Catholicism by the time I was a wife and mother. Brandon knows well that it's a "drifting", and not some dramatic break, that is the mode of separation for most of us who stop practicing.

God used my mother -- and her strategic, powerful, and yet deceptively simple words -- to set me on the path back to the Church and into a life of grace and a zeal for evangelism. It's crazy when I think about it, and I shudder to think where I would be if my mom had never said those simple words or followed up with one easy resource to set me on my course back to Christ and His Church. (And if you haven't read how that happened, the full story is here.)

So when Brandon told me a couple of months ago that he had designed a whole program to help parents draw their children back to the Church, I was so thrilled! I was able to read the Return book (simple, clear, systematic, tactical), and I knew he had something special.



For free resources, go to returnresources.com


Even more special to me and to my husband personally, Brandon had (unknown to us!) included my mother-in-law's conversion story in the book! We are coming upon the one-year anniversary of her holy death, and I can't think of a more fitting tribute than to have her story told as a help in bringing others to the Church. Carol would have been blown away, and so pleased.

Cutting to the chase: If you have a child or grandchild who has left the Church, please consider what Brandon has to offer. There is so much wisdom in this program, and a lineup of amazing Catholics -- including Dr. Ralph Martin, Dr. Scott Hahn, Trent Horn, Jennifer Fulwiler, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Matthew Kelly, Msgr. Charles Pope, Leah Darrow, Mark Shea, Bishop Barron (of course!) and many more who are in the trenches -- have wholeheartedly endorsed and contributed to RETURN.

You may be someone who can relate to the heartache of the woman and her son in this one-minute video:





(C'mon, you weren't expecting that twist, were you? I wasn't!)

For more information on Brandon's great work to bring your fallen-away children home, click here:



You'll have the opportunity to access oodles of resources, speakers, strategies, a FAQs page, and Brandon's direct email for any questions you have. One thing I love about Brandon is that he understands the power of clarity and practicality when trying to reach the lost sheep. Clarity, truth, love, and simple steps -- practical steps, not just theory or generalizing -- are the key.

I can't wait to see the fruits of this project, in the gathering of many souls back to the bosom of Holy Mother Church.

Brandon, I can't thank you enough, my friend! My mom was instrumental in bringing me back home, and now it's time for other moms and dads to learn how to do what my mom did for me.









6 comments:

  1. Hi Leila,

    Michael Voris has a good segment today titled "Feeling Good." As you may know, Voris and Bishop Baron do not see eye-to-eye but maybe with "Return" there maybe some agreement.

    Keep up the good work Leila.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds like an interesting book; I'll get it.

    Last week on Al Kresta's radio program (Ave Maria Catholic Radio) he had a call-in listener who said her re-version to the faith was the result of her mother praying a novena to St. Monica for over 20 years. I found a link to that prayer, and just today sent it to some friends with concerns over their children. The link is: http://www.cantius.org/go/liturgy_devotions/devotional_life/st_monicas_novena/

    And now I'll send these people a link to this blog post. This topic is such a huge concern to so many Catholic parents.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Luis and DNBA, thank you so much! I think mothers (and fathers) are so powerful with their prayers for returning children. St. Monica and St. Augustine, pray for us!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this. I wonder if it would apply to the droves of 'Catholics' whose only contact with the church includes dropping their children off once a week to Religious Education and picking them up. Our parish would be so much more vibrant if that 70% attended mass. We have begun an adult faith program during RE to help pull these people back into the parish. While the program had a better attendance than expected, you can feel the anxiety of those trying to run out before you can ask them to stay. Maybe this book could help us with our program.

    ReplyDelete
  5. sissybee, I think it can't hurt!!!!! A parish could purchase the whole program and then folks could have access to it as needed! And, I hear ya... it's sad, isn't it??

    I just spoke at a parish women's group this morning and it was so wonderful, all that faith and joy and energy, but the same sadness: Children who have left the Church. The hemorrhaging must stop!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It looks good. I'll pass on this information to a few people I know with fallen away adult children.

    ReplyDelete

PLEASE, when commenting, do not hit "reply" (which is the thread option). Instead, please put your comment at the bottom of the others.

To ensure that you don't miss any comments, click the "subscribe by email" link, above. If you do not subscribe and a post exceeds 200 comments, you must hit "load more" to get to the rest.