Prodigal People

[ShrekMonster]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I am a man and new here, so please dont hold that against me. A friend of mine said this would be a brill place to get some good thoughts.

I have a couple of questions for your consideration:
Are there people out there in the big wide world who have been hurt by other Christians through , theological differences, gossip, insensitivity or any other way? When I say hurt I mean to such a point that you have turned your back on the church and faith.

Secondly if you have been hurt in such a way have you ever thought about missing the spirituality you had?

Thirdly What would help you recapture the spirituality that was lost through the hurt?

The reason I am asking is simple I believe there are people out there who once knew God in a special vibrant way but have been hurt and turned from God for whatever reason. I feel there should be something to draw them back into the arms of God like in the story of the prodigal. What do people think? Please all thoughts and ideas are good as they may shape something in the future.

I was once chucked out of church because my ds1 (special needs) was making a bit of noise. It upset all the nasty old biddies, so I had to go. I left in tears and the curate's wife followed me out and tried to make all the right noises, but didn't invite me back in That pretty much did it for me in the CofE (coffee club for judgemental pensioners).

I've recently returned to my Catholic roots because my spirituality didn't disappear, I was just angry with the CofE (aka insular Darby & Joan Club). The Catholic church has been far more welcoming and I'm happy now

It took me years to return to my spirituality and nobody ever tried to persuade me to return. I don't know how people can be encouraged to return. From what I've read, once people turn their back on their faith, they don't seem to return I'm not sure how people can be attracted back. Just by engaging with them I guess. I think that people expect too much from fellow Christians and tend to be quite unforgiving once things do go wrong (myself included). We need to remember that we're all human and get things wrong sometimes. More is expected from people of faith and it's difficult to keep to the path sometimes.

I drifted away from church, but was persuaded by a Christian friend to try his church. I did, and was told by a member of the welcoming committee that I was going to hell for marrying a non-Christian! Put me off for years!

Two years ago, I had a bad experience at church, and thankfully it wasn't my own church, but it was a priest who told me that my SN son was "spoiling it for everyone else", and that I should take him into the back room. It took me a long time to forgive that...

I sadly have another "sn not welcome in this church" story.

Our (Catholic) priest said that my sn brother couldn't be given a blessing at the same time as his twin brother's first holy communion because he didn't understand what was happening. He also couldn't be given Holy Communion because he wouldn't swallow the wafers. My mum practised for weeks with him but no persuading would make my brother swallow, or the priest change his mind. My mum was really upset - another example of my brother not being accepted, and not getting to experience the same life events as his twin.

It pretty much exemplifies what I found in the Catholic church. I'm not religious at all now and have no interest in going back to it