Abstract
The Archdiocese of Chicago, the Diocese of Joliet, and the Diocese of Rockford jointly funded the media initiative Catholics Come Home (CCH) for the purposes of evangelization. This initiative featured high quality television commercials about the Catholic Church during a six-week period in December 2009 and January 2010. The commercials saturated local stations and cable systems across the 20 counties that make up the three entities. Each diocese included local training for parish staffs on becoming more welcoming and integrating newcomers into parish life. This report discusses the effects of CCH in the Diocese of Rockford. The evaluative data was of two types: (1) qualitative data from parish staffs, including pastors and parochial vicars; and (2) quantitative data on Mass attendance. The staffs were surveyed immediately after the commercials ran to determine their expectations, and then 1 year later to measure the realities they observed. In only one measurement did the reality exceed expectations. As the commercials were ending 44% had positive expectations regarding estranged Catholics somehow reconnecting with the Church; 1 year later 58% reported positive changes in this area. The reality did not meet the expectations in three other areas: strengthening the Catholic identity of current parishioners (77% expected positive changes but only 37% observed them); experiencing a new energy in the parish (57% vis-a-vis 31%); and having parishioners invite non-attending Catholics to Mass (68% vis-a-vis 34%). Priests were also surveyed 1 year after CCH about other practices of faith. One-half (50%) reported seeing a positive change in parishioner fervor or devotion at Sunday Mass; 61% perceived an increase in people using the Sacrament of Penance; and 44% reported an increase in people inquiring about marriage validations. Mass attendance was measured in January 2010, shortly after the commercials ended. The attendance was 10.5% higher than the Mass count taken in October
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