Non-profit hopes to bring Catholics back to the fold

Tom Peterson, president and founder of Catholics Come Home, is determined to bring Catholics who have left the church back into the fold.So determined, in fact, that the non-profit has raised more than $600,000 to pay to air a series of television commercials in the Boston and New Hampshire markets aimed at convincing Catholics to return to the church if they’ve stopped attending Mass.Peterson said the commercials will air 2,500 times during the next six to seven weeks so the average person will see them 20 times.And Peterson said the group doesn’t shy away from controversial issues.”We deal with all the tough issues,” Peterson said during a recent phone interview.He also said the website, www.catholicscomehome.org addresses the priest sex scandal, while stressing that the relatively small percentage of priests who abused children don’t represent the majority of Catholic priests.”We need to focus on Jesus and we can’t look to the Judases who have betrayed the teaching of the church,” Peterson said.He believes a growing amount of people want to return to traditional values.”I think what has happened is the negative media culture that has existed for the past 40 years has grown and desensitized us to what we hear and see on television,” Peterson said. “I think people have said enough is enough and because our world has spun out of control, we need to go back to basics.”He said the television commercials and the website encourage people to return to the Catholic church as a way to find inspiration and guidance during tough times.”Catholics Come Home started when the economy was good, but now that economy is not good and there’s more strife in the world, people are more willing to come back to God,” he said.Peterson also urges people to come back to the church even if they disagree with church policy on birth control or premarital sex.”The best thing that can happen is to create a dialogue,” he said. “I know before I had a spiritual awakening that I felt very strongly about certain things too, and I know how they feel,” he said. “The more I talked to Catholics who knew their faith, the better I felt.”Peterson also stressed that most people who return to the church didn’t leave because of major differences with church doctrine or the priest sex abuse scandal.”Ninety percent of the people don’t have an issue with the church,” he said. “They simply drifted away, just started missing Mass. And got out of the habit of going.”Father Brian Flynn of St. Mary’s Church in Lynn welcomes the advertisement campaign and hopes it will encourage lapsed Catholics to return to Mass.”I think it’s a great imitative. I find the ads _ the ads I’ve seen _ very interesting,” he said. “I think it’s great the church is reaching out to people who may have left the church, because many of them have a great relationship with God and have a lot to offer the church.”Flynn also stressed that St. Mary’s Church wants to “open up a dialogue” with returning parishioners or new members, even if they disagree with church doctrine.”St. Mary’s is a welcoming community. We don’t judge anybody,” he said about the church.Flynn also likes the fact that the group is using both television ads and its to reach people.”We care about traditions, but we’re not ignorant to what else is going on the world and that (the Internet) is the way to communicate with people,” Flynn said. “We even have a Facebook page.”Father Gregory Mercurio of Holy Family Church in Lynn said he too welcomes the effort to get Catholics back to church.”The Archbishop sent out a DVD to show at church and we played the commercial at Mass.” Mercurio said. “I’m hoping that people will feel free to give the church a second look. I think a lot of people left the church when there was a reconfiguration of parishes or because of the sex abuse scandal and the church wants to get those people back.”Peterson, who formerly ran an ad agency before creating Catholics Come Home after experiencing a spiritual reawakening w