A catholic newspaper man ignored me at the same church

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Rutherford2

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The story is like this. One day this newspaper man asked whether I want to buy his newspaper. I said no thank you gently because I only read from internet. Then when i met him in church, he kind of ignored me. He continues to ignore me in every mass. What will you do in situation like this?
 
Continue to be friendly and kind to him. Say to him, “Hello, how are you?” with a big smile when you meet. Then just go on about your business. Don’t worry if he ignores you, that’s his problem.
 
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He might not be ignoring you. He might not recognize you out of context.

There’s a sweet lady at my parish and she normally says hello. She works in a coffee shop, and I’ve been seeing her at the coffee shop occasionally, and just recently realized she was the same lady. Sometimes people are distracted and focusing on other things.
 
How many people did he see when he was working, trying to sell his newspapers? You were just one of the many people who chose not to buy a paper. His ignoring you is not personal.
Business and Church are two separate places.
There have been many times when a person told me that I failed to acknowledge him/her while I was walking or riding my bicycle. I was focused on what ever I was doing at the time, or where I was going and never saw the good friend of mine.
As a reader, there have been times when I have been so focused in prayer that I have needed to be nudged to go to the altar to read the Prayers of Petition.
One complaint that people have about the Catholic Church is that people are unfriendly. Is that really true? Why are we at Church if not to give worship to God? In some parishes, individuals are reserved and it takes time to develop lifetime relationships. The person go to Mass, and then immediately home to other obligations.
I currently belong to a small parish that serves donuts after Mass. There is the opportunity in this gregarious parish to know each other, and friendships develop quickly.
The same was true in my last large overseas parish with its large Filipino community.

As others have already stated, it is a different place and setting. It just may take time to become acquainted if that is what you want.
 
He definitely recognises me to the point that he wants to walk away from me or avoid eye contact.
 
Rutherford, not everyone we come into contact is meant to be our friend or even acquaintance. Do not concern yourself with him any longer. Be at peace.
 
I was under the impression that since we are body of Christ, we must act like a united family.
 
Do you know every other person in your church? I certainly don’t, and I have been in my parish for over 20 years. It isn’t possible.
 
Some people “didn’t get the memo”, or they may have problems with socializing with others. Just be kind and patient with everyone you meet, and you’ll have done your part, even if they don’t respond.

Catholic parishes, unlike some other denominations, don’t tend to force anyone to interact. Some people will be standoffish and that’s okay as long as like I said you are being kind and patient and not totally ignoring them.
 
In principle I agree with you, but the reality is that
  1. we don’t always behave like it
  2. in the end I can’t control other people’s behavior, only my own
You can’t force someone to acknowledge you and have that acknowledgement endure in any meaningful way.

Since you asked what we “will” do in this situation, I’ll tell you what I have done in similar circumstances in the past: interact with others instead. For every parishioner who avoids me, there are 25 who don’t. I’m not going to chase down those who don’t want to be caught.

That said, if an avoider later has a change of heart I won’t turn him/her away. My door is always open, so to speak.
 
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Who knows his story?
He could be depressed, anxious, or just not wanting to be conversive.
We can all still be a big family even if we don’t open up and talk with everyone we meet.
Just a thought
 
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I had a chap who wasn’t at all friendly to me at church, it troubled me but I realised that he didn’t know me. I persistantly smiled and said hello to him almost every time I was in close proximity. He’s fine now.

Sometimes the people who test us the most do us the most good. In fact we can always learn from these kinds of situations, patience, understanding and a good test of how magnanimously* we can show love. He does Gods work I think.

*magnanimous after victory, victory over our own tendency to discriminate against those who do not show us positive regard.
 
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