Inviting people back is a great act of love!
This is an invitation for parishes to organize a basic initiative to welcome individual lapsed members back to the parish(es). Just like the Good Shepherd, we need to call each of the lost sheep home. This is a powerful way to ensure every member of your flock feels known and welcomed as an individual member of your parish family.
Our Parish Family Needs to be Re-United
It’s a familiar story: the family you used to see at Mass every week slowly stopped showing up when “life got busy.” Or maybe there’s an elderly parishioner you haven’t seen since the COVID-19 pandemic a few years ago. Noticeable or not, there are empty places in our pews.
It’s Time to Invite People to Return Home.
An essential aspect of this initiative is praying for lapsed members of the parish to return home. Further, inviting people back is a great act of love, which includes identifying who no longer participates in parish life.
The goal of this initiative is to provide occasions for people to feel welcomed and to encounter Jesus Christ and His Church, allowing them to experience God’s love, mercy, and goodness. To do that, we all need to invite back everyone who has left. Who is the parish called to invite home?
Let us pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and fortitude to carry out this sacred mission. Let us embrace each soul with open arms, rejoicing as they return to the embrace of the Church and our parish communities through the gift of the Eucharist.
Scroll down on this page for resources and information about how you can get started!
Whom to Invite
Before you begin outreach, the clergy, staff, and leadership team at your parish will need to discern the following:
- Who will receive these invitations? Make a list of parishioners you haven’t seen in a while or people who used to be members of your parish, and start praying for them now. Discern how you can best reach each person, and make a plan to contact each one of them in whatever way would be most meaningful.
- Who will intercede for this initiative? Put together a team of prayer warriors dedicated to covering every fallen-away member of your parish in prayer. This is a great way to involve the whole parish in this meaningful renewal!
Parish Resources
Once you’ve enlisted intercessors for this effort of parish renewal, and discerned the people that you want to contact, it’s time to contact those who are not participating in parish life! Below are a variety of resources you can use to re-engage lapsed members of your parish. Each community is a little different, so choose the methods of communication you believe will be the most personal and effective for the people you serve. If you feel inspired to “invite one back” in a different way, that works too! There is plenty of room for creativity in this effort. A Rosary is being prayed each Wednesday by the Diocesan Curia for this effort.
To print, choose fit to paper and flip on long edge.
Letters
One of the best ways to reach lapsed parishioners is with a direct, personal invitation in the form of a letter. Below, you’ll find a few options for letters you can use as a template.
Choose the letter that will best resonate with your community, and copy the text of that document onto your parish letterhead. Feel free to personalize the content, and be sure to edit the custom fields so they contain the correct information!
Mail a letter to each person on the outreach list you discerned above. These invitations can also be sent via email, but in general, a physical letter will be most impactful.
Phone Calling
Having a conversation on the phone with each invitee will take time, but it is by far the most personal way to engage your fallen-away parishioners. This is because it creates the opportunity for two-way communication. On a call, you can find out why they haven’t been active at the parish and how they might need your prayers or other support. You may then respond appropriately to what they share, making them feel heard and welcomed as a member of your parish community.
Below, you’ll find a suggested call script to use as a starting point for this outreach as well as some useful tips for this sort of call. Don’t let these confine your conversations, but rather use them for inspiration as you speak with and listen to parishioners!
Phone Calling
Best Practices
Here are some useful tips for engaging people over the phone:
Prepare with Prayer
Before you pick up the phone, ask Jesus to give you His Heart for this person. Invite the Holy Spirit into the conversation as He knows exactly what this person needs to hear. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide the exchange and to speak through you.
Keep Voicemails Short
Many people subconsciously associate the length of the voicemail with the amount of effort necessary to call back. Keep your first voicemail short and sweet. You can give more detail in the next voicemail if they miss your call a second time.
Don’t Monologue
Give the other person a chance to speak within the first 15 seconds. Asking something simple like “How have you been?” before launching into the reason for your call is a great way to get the other person more invested in the conversation.
Project Familiarity
Even if you don’t personally know the recipient of your call, they were/are a valued member of your parish family. On behalf of your parish, speak with the warmth that comes with that connection.
Use Your History
If you DID personally interact with the parishioner when they were active at the parish, include a few details as you can into the conversation.
Assume the Best
The goal of every call is to make the person on the other end feel seen, heard, valued, and welcomed as a member of your community. They should hear genuine concern in your voice, never accusation or judgment.
Ask Open Questions
If you leave them room to answer with a yes or no, chances are they will choose to do so. These one-word responses won’t allow you to truly connect with the person on the other end of the call, and you won’t gain any insight into why they stopped coming to Mass or where they could use support from the parish community. Open ended questions allow you to encounter more of their heart and mind in their answers.
Respond Appropriately
Their responses might pull you “off script”—and that’s ok! The most important thing is that you connect with them, wherever they’re at.
Take Notes
When making a lot of calls, it can be easy to forget the details of each conversation. Have a pen and paper handy so you can remember what they shared with you. That way you can reference what you discussed next time you speak (e.g., “How’s your nephew feeling after his surgery?”).
Attempt to make a simple plan
If they have questions about Catholicism, have you set up a time for them to come speak with the pastor? If they’re homebound, are you going to send an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion to their home to bring them the Holy Eucharist? Or are they going to say hello to you after Mass this Sunday to continue your conversation? Do your best to get their verbal agreement to a specific action and timeline, without being pushy. The more specific the commitment, the more likely people are to follow through. If it seems appropriate, reiterate these agreements at the end of the conversation so they’re fresh in both your minds, and then make a note. To close out the conversation, it would be helpful to say, for example, “I’ll see you at 11am Mass on Sunday!” This makes it even more likely they will follow through.
Follow Up
Every person is different and so determine what is best in following up with each individual.
Invite One Back
“Though there are many reasons why Catholics stop
attending Mass, it is safe to assume the majority
will only come back if personally invited.”
KNOWING JESUS IN A DEEPER WAY
RESOURCES TO LEAD OTHERS TO JESUS CHRIST
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