A buddhist attended a Catholic mass and a Baptist's service

[water]

A friend of mine who is a Buddhist, attended both at Catholic and Baptist churches.

He came back home and told me he did not like the one at the Baptist church. I asked him why? he said he did not like the pastor who said stuff about “his belief”. He had so much against Buddhism.

He went on and said the Catholic one he attended never once the priest said about his religion, and he would prefer to listen to the priest’s homily.

This could give some of us somewhat a good idea how to evangelize.

 

[Mordocai]

The idea in evangelizing is never to offend.
To speak boldly in the truth with charity.
To deride another relgion because it’s another religion is not of Christ.

 

[Church_Militant]

And one of the things that I most love about being Catholic.

Our homilies are almost never a “compare & contrast” with what the guys down the street believe but a simple presentation of the Gospel and how to live out the following of Our Lord.

Very rarely are Mass homiletics ever anything else and I read of one case where the pastor got permission from the Bishop to deal with apologetic issues because of an anti-Catholic crusade in his relatively small Catholic town.

HOW MY PARISH FOUGHT OFF AN INVASION (LINK)

Rev. Edward C. Petty

We decided that we had three choices in dealing with this challenge. We could do nothing, ignoring the interlopers, or we could try to be “nice” and go out of our way to be ecumenical. With either of these choices we could envision the Fundamentalists taking many of our cultural Catholics away from the faith. The third choice was to be real leaders and pastors of our parish and take on this challenge. We chose the third option and decided to act quickly, before the denomination could get a foothold in the community.

Establishing more Scripture study groups and more adult catechesis groups were options as to “how,” but the main way to reach the majority of parishioners was still through the pulpit. We decided to use that route primarily. While the Church’s liturgical instructions state that on Sundays and holy days a homily on the Scripture readings is to be preached, for good pastoral reasons (and ours was pastoral) a sermon not directly connected with the readings could be preached. A sermon series seemed to be the most effective way to go.

We also—and this is most important—let the chief pastor of the diocese, our archbishop, know about the new Fundamentalist challenge in our community and what we intended to do about it. He supported us fully.

 

[water]

Thanks for the link Church Militant. I’ve read the whole story.

When I was still back in my country, I hardly knew anything about other non-Catholic. My priest never mentioned a thing about them. The only group I knew back then that was against the Catholics was Communist.

 

[Ahimsa]

I usually attend a Catholic Mass and a Baptist service each Sunday.

 

[LilyM]

I usually attend a Catholic Mass and a Baptist service each Sunday.

And what’s your take on each of them, and what do you see as the differences between them?

Could you tell us what it is about each that appeals to you, and why you feel the desire to attend both?

 

[Ahimsa]

And what’s your take on each of them, and what do you see as the differences between them?

Could you tell us what it is about each that appeals to you, and why you feel the desire to attend both?

I’m “genetically” Baptist. (That is, I grew up Baptist.) Baptist know how to sing.

But Catholics know how to party. But seriously, there’s a sense of ‘mystery’ I get in a Catholic Church.

 

[water]

I’m “genetically” Baptist. (That is, I grew up Baptist.) Baptist know how to sing.

But Catholics know how to party. But seriously, there’s a sense of ‘mystery’ I get in a Catholic Church.

If you happen to be in my town, I would love to invite you to my church, you probably want to choir our professional singing

Yes, we can not understand everything about God - there are so much that we don’t understand yet. For instance, the real presence of Jesus in Eucharist.

 

[seremina]

A friend of mine who is a Buddhist, attended both at Catholic and Baptist churches.

He came back home and told me he did not like the one at the Baptist church. I asked him why? he said he did not like the pastor who said stuff about “his belief”. He had so much against Buddhism.

He went on and said the Catholic one he attended never once the priest said about his religion, and he would prefer to listen to the priest’s homily.

This could give some of us somewhat a good idea how to evangelize.

Definitely! This is one of the things that drew me to Catholicism. They’re so nice, it’s uncannily Christ-like! You won’t find them insulting other religions. Buddhists don’t insult other religions either, so I can easily talk with Buddhists, not just other Catholics.

I have to ask, though. What’s with the Protestants that believe the view that Christ would freely and willingly smack other-religionists with a hammer? They justify it as “Jesus didn’t come here to die for us to be NICE. He came here to die for us so we’d stop being stupid pansies and be as militant as he was. You won’t get more Christians in the world any other way. God’s hardened their hearts.” All I can think of is…“I don’t think this person knows Christ’s love.” Their train of thought just seems really ludicrous.

 

[Other_Eric]

Timidity in evangelization is simply not a virtue. Christ Himself did not walk upon eggshells around the Pharisees, the Samaritans nor the tax collectors. In bringing Christ into people’s lives, we need to remember that Christ is the Truth and that sometimes, truth is going to hurt. Christ died to save us from sin, not wounded emotions.

 

[scylla]

Charity, love and manners should never deteriorate into timidity and compromise.

We should preach the faith in love, but sometimes stating the truth means offense especially when someone has submitted their will to evil.
Lets say someone states that sin doesn’t matter and they are saved anyways. No real Christian would say that, but people who sincerely think they are doing good might say that and they need to be corrected.
Don’t beat them over the head but charitable correct them by stating that sin does matter. Who is the father of lies? If I have a habit of lying am I doing God’s will or satan’s.
Examine their belief but with charity to keep them from going to hell.

Now this doesn’t mean preaching that non-catholics are going to hell, this means charitable talking about the love of Christ and the necessity to do His will. This is what needs to be preached. Knocking someones religion will just turn them off and not let them open their ears or hearts, then their stubborness will send them to hell, and your pride will endanger your salvation. Preach in love and charity, correcting the sinner is an act of charity.

God Bless
Scylla

 

[colliric]

Definitely! This is one of the things that drew me to Catholicism. They’re so nice, it’s uncannily Christ-like! You won’t find them insulting other religions. Buddhists don’t insult other religions either, so I can easily talk with Buddhists, not just other Catholics.

I have to ask, though. What’s with the Protestants that believe the view that Christ would freely and willingly smack other-religionists with a hammer? They justify it as “Jesus didn’t come here to die for us to be NICE. He came here to die for us so we’d stop being stupid pansies and be as militant as he was. You won’t get more Christians in the world any other way. God’s hardened their hearts.” All I can think of is…“I don’t think this person knows Christ’s love.” Their train of thought just seems really ludicrous.

Too right, they claim to be “Sola Scriptura” yet for some reason they ignore “The Good Samaritan” parable…

As far as I can tell, wasn’t that story about helping others of different races and beliefs, instead of passing them by, or worse insulting them?

Catholics have far more tolerance of differing religions, Heck Pope Benedict visited his Muslim equivalent and prayed with him!

 

[seremina]

Colliric, exactly. That IS what that parable was about. Even if the person is an injured Satanist laying on the sidewalk, we must help him.

Ditto on your points!

The two others that responded… umm… I see nothing wrong with timidity. Some people are just naturally timid.