From the very first email Jim sent out on 7/31/24:
Do you have any loved ones who have fallen away from the Catholic Faith?
I do. And on a recent pilgrimage to the Oratory of St. Joseph and the tomb of St. Andre Bessette in Montreal, those loved ones were on my heart as were those of others I was praying for.
One of the graces I believe I may have received at the Oratory was a call to seek after my lost loved ones and help others to do the same. This is how I expressed it on paper during a time of prayer when I returned home:
"I have many lost loved ones who have fallen away from the Catholic Faith, who are very likely in grave error and mortal sin. While I have tried in the past to reach out to some of them, I didn't have much of a plan, grew discouraged, was confused about what to do, and did not persevere. Instead, I've kind of just been frozen - unsure if other than praying for them, there's anything else I can do or ought to do. And so the days go by and these relationships get more distant. Still, I do love them very much and I have a great desire to help them. But since I don't know what to do, it hurts even to think of them."
Can you relate to any of this?
My hunch is that there are many people who can. And my sense is to take on this mission and build some community around this mission with other like-minded faithful Catholics to bear greater fruit in our efforts.
For the past few weeks I've been waking up extra early and working to follow where these graces lead. In doing so, I have worked out a framework of concrete steps to help bring our loved ones back to the Catholic Faith. I have discussed it all with Bishop Joseph Strickland and he has affirmed the need, likes the concrete steps, and wants to be part of the effort to build an online community around this important mission to bring our our lost loved ones back to the Faith.
We're calling it Doorkeepers and the mission is to help faithful Catholics bring their loved ones back to the Faith (and set them on fire).
