Returning Catholics FAQs: Recurring Sins

O n Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics , a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.

If I know I’m going to go home and do the same thing that I just confessed, what’s the point?

What’s the point, indeed?

If we’re talking about a venial sin, a slight to God, part...