How a 2-Minute Conversation — or a 30-Second Story — Transforms Souls

A few TV commercials changed culture: can one change religion?

Imagine paddling a canoe through tranquil water. Soot-spewing factories and garbage take over so you land. Cars race by and someone throws a fast food bag of garbage at your feet.

Such a canoe ride would be “unthinkable’’ today.

But it perfectly describes the 1971 “Keep America Beautiful’’ ad showing Iron Eyes Cody — shedding tears when garbage hit his feet. Played over and over, the ad transformed American behavior.

Another ad made “drinking and driving’’ intolerable.

Alcohol contributed to more than half of all road fatalities before a 1983 Ad Council campaign called “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk,’’ kicked off a national effort for drinkers to use “designated drivers.’’ Habits changed. Laws changed.

More than 68 percent of Americans report trying to stop someone from driving since the campaign began. The culture changed.

Born to Sell: Adman Tom Peterson knows how to change culture.

Peterson, a Polish-American born outside of Chicago who went on to great success in Arizona and Georgia, was called to be an advertising man. Normal people watch TV shows and walk away when the ads come on.

Peterson does the opposite, staring at and studying the ads.

He loved the show “Bewitched’’ because it was about an advertising man (who married the beautiful Elizabeth Montgomery). Peterson was focused on the stories about ad campaigns and how to sell ideas to people.

He showed us a piece of paper with ink blobs, asking us to stare:

“Now look up at the ceiling,’’ he said and a vivid image of Jesus Christ appeared above us. He asks, “If I can plant the image of Jesus in your head in 30 seconds, imagine what my friends in the advertising business can do.’’

Why not use his advertising talents to bring people back to Church?

The Catholic Church is the largest religion in the world, 1.2 billion strong. But with only a quarter of U.S. Catholics regularly attending Mass, that means just 6 percent of Americans are “faithful practicing Catholics.’’

“There’s a pandemic of faith where people have literally forgotten about God,’’ Peterson says. “God invited me to slow down and simplify my life. God has a unique adventure planned for each one of you based on the talents and charisms and interests he gave you.’’

“The laity has been called to the New Evangelization.’’

I know exactly where I was when Peterson’s ad first grabbed me…

It was fall 2008, near the end of the presidential race where Barack Obama beat John McCain. I was in a hotel in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. On that evening, I saw Peterson’s masterpiece, the 2-minute “Catholics Come Home’’ ad dubbed “Epic’’ and all the pieces clicked for me:

“Our family is made up of every race,’’ the ad begins. “We are young and old, rich and poor, men and women, sinners and saints. Our family has spanned the centuries and the globe.’’

The Church isn’t a business, association or club — it’s a family. Once you’re baptized, you are a brother or sister, connected to One Body. It continues:

“With God’s grace, we started hospitals to care for the sick. We established orphanages — and help the poor. We are the largest charitable organization on the planet bringing relief and comfort to those in need.’’

I’ve worked for hospitals, nonprofits and healthcare institutions. I covered philanthropy as a journalist. But I didn’t know the Church started hospitals until that very moment. The ad moved me again:

“We educate more children than any scholarly or religious institution. We developed the scientific method and laws of evidence. We founded the college system, defend the dignity of all human life and uphold marriage and family.’’

Pow! The University of Michigan I worked for was started by a priest. The first universities and the scientific method were started by the Church to discern God’s Plan. Few know this.

Cities were named after our revered saints who navigated a sacred path before us. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we compiled the Bible. We are transformed by Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, which have consistently guided us for 2,000 years. We are the Catholic Church.’’

I was crying tears of joy, inspired and excited, standing up to get closer to the screen.

The rest of the ad, with moving images, explained:

• More than 1 billion Catholics mean Masses are (and have been) celebrated every hour of every day for more than 2,000 years.
• “Jesus Himself laid the foundation for our faith when He said to Peter, the first pope, ‘You are Rock and upon this rock, I will build my Church.’’
• That unbroken line of popes has continued for more than 2,000 years, offering “love and truth in a confused and hurting world.’’
• “In this world, filled with chaos, hardship and pain, it’s comforting to know that some things remain consistent, true and strong.’’

For me, the Catholic Church is like a swimming pool:

You are dunked into the pool when you are baptized and drawn back to it. Sometimes, we get out of the pool and walk away for days, weeks or years. Many of us are happy to stay in the shallow end, just something they do.

Then something — or many things — pull us deeper and deeper into the water. I vividly remember the first time I saw the Catholics Come Home ad on TV. I’d watch it again online, sharing it with many.

I kept moving into deeper and deeper parts of the pool and signed up to host a life-changing trip to Poland in 2010. I’ve been working for or volunteering to help the Church ever since.

In 2012, a gift came to me in Adoration: Catholics, parishes and Catholic organizations, need to do a better job of offering a “two-minute primer,’’ literally sharing their testimony to help others and “make disciples of all nations’’ as we are called to do by the Church’s founder. Tom’s ads “show the way’’ to tell that story. My many education friends play his videos in religious education classes.

Catholics Come Home may soon be playing in Poland — as it has in nations around the world, bringing more than 500,000 back home.

More than 90 percent of people who “come home” say “somebody invited me,’’ Peterson says. Dr Gloria Sampson went to the University of Michigan (where she got her Ph.D.) in the 1960s, leaving to become an atheist.

She was away from the Church for 53 years before seeing one of Tom’s Catholics Comes Home ads. She wound up in Vancouver, the world’s second most secular city after Berlin. But the ads got to her.

“I was truly shocked,’’ she recalls. She saw them two more times and said “Well, this has to be real’’ so she went to the CatholicsComeHome.org website and looked for the nearest churches. She was later walking her dog and found a neighbor who saw the same ads. The neighbor invited her to a small Catholic seminar and they are now very active Catholics.

A tiny piece of thread tied to a sparrow’s leg will keep the bird from flying, Tom explains.

The same is true about people and sin, he says, asking “What is that compulsion tying you down? What is it that is weighing you down? That pebble you throw in the pond has a domino effect helping others.’’

“Love is everything. They need to know you love them before they listen to you. We have the most effect when we show them authentic love… We have to be authentic Christians cause people are always watching us whether we know it or not.’

“If you remember one thing I said, please remember nobody cares how much we know until they know how much we care.’’