Customer Reviews

While You Were Gone: A Handbook for Returning Catholics, and Those Thinking about It

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Bausch has written a book that invites non-practicing Catholics back to the Church, an admirable reason to write, but it is full of opinion and dissent.

Bausch basically steers clear of the "controversial" subjects by merely introducing them as controversial and then leaves for the reader to make up their own mind on the matter. There is no attempt to explain the doctrines (unless it is to explain them away) and while some may view this as a "compassionate" thing to do, allowing someone to live in error is never compassionate when we just put blinders on.

Bausch also fails to make proper distinctions. He talks about "women's issues" as if the Church despises women. He calls the Church dysfunctional and says that to come back into the Church you merely need to heal your negative perceptions. Note: there is no discussion on personal repentance.

After giving a long explanation about how authority in the Church really doesn't mean much anymore and how it is all continuing to change anyway he writes, "you can dissent and remain a faithful Catholic". (page 65)

Of course his authority for such a statement is himself and he fails to back it up or explain it. He gives reasons why contraception can be used by Catholics (rather statistics why it can be used), he supports female priests, active homosexuality and calls the Church's teachings on the matter "the tradition is ambivalent and often hurtful" (page 91).

Steer clear of this book unless you want to try and whitewash the Church's teachings and ignore that we are called to obedience in any sense of the word. Grausch's book isn't for those wishing to return to the Church, it is for those who want to change it into their own image and likeness.

I was given this book by the Benedictine nun in charge of my parish's religious education program. As a returning Catholic, I found this book to be exhilarating in its honesty about the Church's flawed history and the changes it has undergone in recent years. Like the book says, "Eccesia semper reformanda": The Church is always in need of reform. We must always strive for perfection. This book does a great job of explaining why certain changes have been and are being made. Contrary to popular belief, many changes are being made not for the sake of modernity, but with an eye to recreating the ancient church as it existed during the time of Christ. Other changes reflect new insights that have been introduced as the Church evolves. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is curious about what's going on in the Church these days.

I got this book because I was exploring whether or not I was going to come back into the church. I was looking for some guidance around the changes that have occurred. The author continuously makes the assumption that the reader has already decided to come back and is enthusiastically ready to begin. This was frustrating to me as I was not in that category. It is also quite judgemental on a lot of levels, making a lot of assumptions about people that are quite disrespectful and not very catholic (excuse the pun). On the whole, while I learned a bit about some of the changes in the church while I've been gone, mostly this book convinced me that coming back would be the wrong choice for me at this time. So, I guess, in some ways, it was helpful after all.

The is a fabulous little book for those Catholics who are thinking of returning to worship. It is especially for all of those pre-Vatican II people who want to check out what's happening now in the Church. It's written with love and care and has a wonderful list of resource books at the end of each chapter.

This book was purchased to give to a sibling that has been away from the church for years. Fortunately it was read before, and promply trashed. This book has nothing to do with authentic catholic teaching. It has quite a bit to do with discent. This book was purchased from a "catholic" book store, which I no longer patronize. There are a number of good Catholic authors, Scott Hahn, Karl Keating, Frank Sheed, to name a few. I now investigate the author prior to purchasing Catholic material. I wish I had prior to wasting money on trash.

Perhaps in an attempt to make fallen-away Catholics feel better - or sway them into returning - Fr. Bausch presents a strangely anti-Catholic come-back-to-the-Church book. His choice of words paint a very dim view of the Church and carries a "come back, we're all fixed now" connotation - that somehow the Church has been wrong all along, but we're finally getting better.

Fr. Bausch refers to "frightened Rome" starting a "reign of terror", "censoring" and "tightening control". It "scoffs at" and "makes fun" of psychologists and scientists, in Father's opinion.

When you come home to the Catholic Church, you should be able to come home to the 2000-year old pillar and bulwark of the Truth.

(Also, Mark Shea wrote an article on some examples from this book, calling them Junk Catechesis: [...].)

This book is so far to the left that it falls off the table. It is short on Catholic Church doctrine and strong on the extreme liberal opinions and even herecy.

I would highly recomend "Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic" by Patrick Madrid.

This book is an excellent review of the history of the Catholic Church, and it explains why some of us feel so out of sync with the present church. It is written in a very inviting manner. I recommend this book for every Catholic, as well as anyone who is considering joining the Church.

As a parish lay minister involved in Adult Faith Formation, I have found this book without equal in "reintroducing" Catholic faith to people who have been away from active practice, or who have never been properly catechized in Catholic teaching. Fr. Bausch writes with honesty, humor and compassion. It is particulaly helpful to Catholics raised in the church before Vatican II, but I have found that younger Catholics also enjoy reading it and benefit from a view of the church that is both accurate and contemporary. This book makes it easier for people to return to an active practice of their faith. I give a copy of this book to anyone who expresses a desire to return to the church, or (as the title says) is thinking about it.

Mr. Bausch's 'handbook for returning catholics' does not do justice to the authoritative voice of the Catholic Church; the book takes a very skewed look at the history of the Church, specifically the 16th century & the time of the Reformation; the book seeks to make the 'spirit of Vatican II' the underlying emphasis of the 'new church', when Vatican II actually did nothing less than seek to strengthen the faith of traditional Catholics by affirming all the teachings & anathema's announced at the Council of Trent! This book seeks to paint the heresy of Modernism in a new light, with statements such as "In the early 20th century, there was a so-called heresy called Modernism which was trying to come to terms with new discoveries (such as we mentioned in the first chapter) and biblical and liturgical insights, but this frightened Rome and so it started a reign of teror by dismissing or suppressing Catholic teachers..." pg. 23,24. The author also includes 'laundry lists', reminiscent of Lorraie Boetners anti-catholic classic 'Roman Catholicism', which list certain traditions or practices as not having been instituted until such and such a date; this is the faith Mr. Bausch seeks to see re-established, a faith without all this 'exterior pomp and ritual', as he might say; a faith centered around 'community' and 'empowerment'. This is not the Catholic Faith...never has been, never will be.