& What we learned along the way Prodigal Catholics Why we left the Church, Why we came back, & What we learned along the way

Prodigal Catholics

Prodigal Catholics

Don’t forget who you are Lesson 1 Don’t forget who you are

“We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us.” - Pope St. John Paul II

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Cultivating a Sense of the Sacred Lesson 2 Cultivating a Sense of the Sacred

Cheap Grace vs Costly Grace “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” – Dietrich Bonheoffer Stand in Contrast to the World “Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?” – Ronald Reagan

QUESTIONS?

Lesson 3 Unity in Diversity

What Catholics Can Learn Smile Community / Small Groups Read scripture devotionally Ongoing discipleship Share faith Enjoy church

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder The grass isn’t greener Safety in authority Deeper appreciation for the Church

QUESTIONS?

Embracing Personal & Communal Faith Lesson 4 Embracing Personal & Communal Faith

Pope Francis "I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not for him or her.” “Being a Christian means having a living relationship with the person of Jesus; it means putting on Christ, being conformed to him.”

Pope Benedict “Christian faith is not only a matter of believing that certain things are true, but above all a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” “Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we truly become Christians.” “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”

Pope St. John Paul II “It is necessary to awaken again in believers a full relationship with Christ, mankind’s only Savior.” “Conversion means accepting, by a personal decision, the saving sovereignty of Christ and becoming his disciple.” “Sometimes even Catholics have lost or never had the chance to experience Christ personally: not Christ as a mere ‘paradigm’ or ‘value’, but as the living Lord, ‘the way, and the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6).”

The Catechism “This mystery (of faith), then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God.” (#2558)

Two Extremes I love Jesus, but hate religion “There are those who believe they can maintain a personal, direct and immediate relationship with Jesus Christ outside the communion and the mediation of the Church. These are dangerous and harmful temptations.” - Pope Francis I love religion, but don’t know Jesus 2 Timothy 3:5, Paul warns against those who “make a pretense of religion but deny its power.”

QUESTIONS?

Being Naturally Supernatural Lesson 5 Being Naturally Supernatural

Supernatural Catholicism “African Christianity puts a powerful stress on the miraculous, on eternal life, on the active providence of God, on healing grace, and on the divinity of Jesus… The reason a supernaturally oriented Christianity grows is that it is congruent with the purposes of the Holy Spirit, and also that it presents something that the world cannot…When Christianity collapses into purely this-worldly preoccupations…it rapidly dries up.”

“Hence the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit maybe produced in them.” – Lumen Gentium #34 We are called to participate in Christ’s ministry as Priest, Prophet, and King

QUESTIONS?

TRUTH, BEAUTY & WORSHIP TUESDAY, JANUARY 31ST 7:00-8:30 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS ROOM TRUTH, BEAUTY & WORSHIP