The latest edition of the prestigious CARA Report highlights research conducted by Dr. Michael Cieslak, a Fellow of the Yeshua Institute, on why people both leave and return to the Catholic Church.
Dr. Cieslak's paper, Why People Leave the Catholic Church and Why They Return: Data from the 'Catholics Come Home' Online Survey, was presented at the annual meeting of the Religious Research Association/Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in October, 2011.
His research found that many people leave for no specific reason -- they just drift away. And most of those who later return fall into this category rather than having left for a more specific reason. Among reasons people return: a desire to return to the faith of their childhood (58%), have a deeper desire to know God (49%), miss the Catholic Church in general (49%) and just decided it was time to return (47%). Answers total more than 100% because people could select more than one answer.
For more information about his research, you can reach Dr. Cieslak atMCieslak@YeshuaLeader.com orMCieslak@RockfordDiocese.org.
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