Father John McCloskey
One of the monumental missions of the Catholic Church in the United States in the next millennium will be to recover our lost sheep and help them to "revert." Recovering Catholics are those who have returned after having fallen away. There are many millions of these prodigal sons. We have to be the merciful father who rushes out to meet them half way and then escorts them back home to the sacramental feast. We are the Emergency Medical Technicians of the faith, called to perform cardiac resuscitation. We must also prepare to be care givers of long-term rehabilitation. Providentially, our fallen-away Catholic relatives, friends, or colleagues are normally only one good confession away from reconciliation with Christ here on earth: one heartbeat away from entrance into the Father's loving embrace. We have to stay with them till the end with our prayer, sacrifice, and friendship. We can worry about Purgatory afterwards. The Church provides the means to help souls even after the particular judgment.
The Lord tells us that "For the Son of Man came to save what was lost. What do you think? If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them stray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go in search of the one that has strayed? And if he happens to find it... he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that a single one of these little ones should perish" (Matthew 18:11-14). The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not address the loss of these Catholics or give any advice as how to win them back. Perhaps it is because the Church must trust in the apostolic spirit of her sons and daughters to catch them again them in our nets before they slip away forever.
We anticipate a re-evangelization in our country; in fact, this movement is already underway . One need only look at the multiplicity of faithful Catholic initiatives in education, journalism, and family life to be convinced of this. Hundreds of thousands are joyfully entering into the barque of Peter as is evidenced by the great growth in recent years in convert Catholics who have been prepared through the diocesan RCIA programs. In addition there are more and more well-known persons from every profession who are embracing the Faith publicly. In the next several decades we will see a large increase of priestly vocations of select young men, reversing thirty-five years of decline in the U.S. The Church in America will belatedly join the rest of the Church which has enjoyed surging vocations during the pontificate of John Paul II. For example, vocations are up 300% in Africa and S.E. Asia. These priests will possess a deep piety, sound doctrine, and zeal for souls and will be imbued with the vision of the Second Vatican Council as implemented by John Paul II. However, as our Lord implies, this future "civilization of love" will not begin to come to fulfillment until the Heavenly Father has received back many, if not the great majority, of the sheep who have strayed. The Father loves them, the Good Shepherd tells us, even more than those of us who have been faithful. How merciful is our God with his children! He is counting on us to be His instruments in this great task and He wants them all back.
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