Search and Rescue: How to Bring Your Family and Friends Into or Back Into the Catholic Church [Paperback]

Patrick Madrid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001

You don’t have to become a biblical scholar or a theologian to be an effective spokesman for the Catholic Faith. In fact, even though you don’t know all the answers and can’t explain every aspect of the Faith, you can begin winning souls to the Church right now . . . using prayer, friendship, and common sense.

It sounds almost too good to be true, but in Search and Rescue Patrick Madrid explains why these are among the most effective, time-tested methods for bringing family and friends into — or back into — the Church. As the publisher of Envoy magazine, author of many apologetics books (including Surprised by Truth 2), and a veteran defender of the Faith, Madrid himself has used these methods successfully for years.

But Madrid doesn’t give you only the benefit of his own considerable experience: in Search and Rescue he also includes simple and genial advice from St. Francis of Assisi, St. Augustine, and other great lovers of God. Get Search and Rescue — the book that shows you how you can start winning souls for Christ today!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A most welcome addition to the resources in evangelization and apologetics, so essential in this new millennium." -- The Very Rev. Peter Stravinskas, author, The Catholic Response

"An excellent source to help concerned Catholics reach their loved ones. I highly recommend this book." -- Steven K. Ray, author, Upon This Rock

"This is necessary spiritual reading for Catholic apologists." -- Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago

Even St. Monica would've benefited from reading this book in her effort to bring her son, Augustine, into the Church!” -- Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR, author, The Gift of God: The Holy Spirit

How do you bring someone back into the Church? First, you pray. Then, you follow Madrid's advice. -- Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York

About the Author

Patrick Madrid is the founder and publisher of the award-winning Envoy Magazine, a Catholic journal of apologetics and evangelization.

His books include Surprised by Truth, Surprised by Truth 2 (Sophia Institute Press), Pope Fiction, Any Friend of God's Is a Friend of Mine, Where Is That In the Bible?, and Search and Rescue (Sophia Institute Press). He's a contributor to the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Apologetics and is a co-author of Not by Scripture Alone.

He is the host of the popular EWTN television and radio series "Pope Fiction" and is the co-host of "The Truth About Scripture and Tradition", a new EWTN apologetics television series.

Patrick has published articles and essays on apologetics in Catholic and Protestant journals such as Catholic Dossier, New Covenant, This Rock, New Oxford Review, Regeneration Quarterly, Sacerdos, Catholic Extension, Credenda/Agenda, and Lay Witness. In addition to his writing projects, he has conducted hundreds of apologetics and evangelization conferences in English and Spanish across the U.S., as well as throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

He is a veteran of numerous formal public debates with Protestant ministers, Mormon leaders, and other non-Catholic spokesmen.

Patrick and his wife Nancy live with their eleven children and two black Labradors in the countryside of central Ohio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sophia Institute Press (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 192883227X
• ISBN-13: 978-1928832270
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Harvest is Great... Why are You Waiting?, November 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Search and Rescue: How to Bring Your Family and Friends Into or Back Into the Catholic Church (Paperback)

Absolutely phenomenal work. Patrick Madrid gently takes you by the hand and shares his experience and wisdom in sharing the Gospel. Addressing the unique scenarios of people who 1) have never been in any church, 2) are in a Protestant Church and are hostile to the Catholic Church, and 3) used to be in the Church, but are now "ex-catholics" who fall into either category (1) or (2) above, Madrid equips you to handle almost any situation, to be able to interact with almost any person.

In each chapter, Madrid looks in depth at each unique situation, shares his experiences, practical wisdom, suggested reading, and a few spiritual exercises to boot. Each chapter ends with a time of reflection for you, a time of prayer (with specific printed prayers at the end of each chapter), and a list of "next steps," which cover such things as "pray the rosary once a day for a month for the person you're witnessing to," or "spend one hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament, praying for your potential convert." He also provides examples from saints, such as St. Francis DeSales, who were successful in the work of evangelization.

Madrid places the focus where it should be: not on impressing your potential convert with head-knowledge, but on personal holiness that will allow you to exhibit a loving, caring attitude towards this individual, so that your very life, not just your words, will be an invitation to join the Church.

However, Madrid does not forget the intellectual side of the preperation, and he gives a very helpful step-program, with a list of books at the end of his book that you should read for further study. He breaks this up into several phases, reading lighter material in the early phases, moving into heavier theology in the later phases.

All in all, a very practical, very helpful book. All it needs is a support group for people using Madrid's methods... (...)

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The How-To of Evangelizing, Not a Theology, December 22, 2004

By 

Tammy L. Schilling "tammyl84" (MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Search and Rescue: How to Bring Your Family and Friends Into or Back Into the Catholic Church (Paperback)

Search and Rescue is a practical, hands-on style, guide to evangelizing. Patrick Madrid takes the reader into the specific steps that they need in learning how to DO evangelization. He deals with using opportunities to talk to strangers, friends, family, door-to-door evangelists, and especially the bitter ex-Catholic person that most will deal with eventually. Madrid shows you that in order to evangelize you needn't be a theological expert, but that you MUST have a proper mindset towards evangelization and the people that you are trying to evangelize. He warns that our pride and arrogance can get in the way of the best laid arguements. In fact, there are entire chapters of this book dedicated to: making sure that we are doing it for God and not for glory, not treating people like scalps to be won for the faith, making sure that we ARE sincerely friendly and loving to people (and not just trying to come across that way), and recognizing that the Holy Spirit does the true converting and that we are but tools of that conversion.

Useful ideas that will be especially gleaned by the reader of this book: making sure that you talk more to God about the person you are trying to convert than you talk to the person about God, be constantly aware of the tendancy to pride and the subsequent need for consist visits to the sacrament of confession, and being reasonably prepared to deal with common arguements.

Search and Rescue is NOT an apologetic or theological work. It is a how-to manual for APPLYING apologetic and thoelogical studies. The author gives lots of great references for where to find good study guides for the faith and apologetics, including a strong emphasis on person daily prayer and scripture reading.

This is an awesome work that will teach people how to evangelize those around us in the world, as well as how to deal with the painful situation of a close friend or family member who leaves the Church over 'issues' or because of a conversion to protestantism. Those looking to become serious about evangelizing people in the world, or those confused about what to do about the family member being wooed by charismatic protestant church members NEED this book.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good practical advice., June 19, 2001

By 

Chris in Maine (Portland, ME United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Search and Rescue: How to Bring Your Family and Friends Into or Back Into the Catholic Church (Paperback)

In this, Patrick Madrid's newest book, the author gives some practical advice from personal experience, the wisdom of the saints, and the Word of God itself.

Some of the things which are dealt with are preperation, examination of personal motives and conscience, and different situations one will deal with in the field of apologetics. Moreover, Madrid instructs the reader in dealing with frustrations, remind them always that it is the Holy Spirit, not the evangelist, who does the actual conversions, and therefore trust must be put first and foremost not in self, but in Him.

One of the better features of the book is the recommended reading list at the end. Divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced, it should prove to be very useful to budding apologists and those who simply have a desire to learn.

My only gripe is this: the text is poorly formatted. The right-hand columns are not justified, which makes the book look unprofessional, and this is really unheard of from professional publishing houses. Hopefully they will fix this for the next printing.