Any book suggestions for evangelizing a Buddhist?

[ejlo1]

So, I work for a small firm in a historically Catholic part of town so nearly everyone is a cradle Catholic, including my boss. I believes he goes to Mass at a liberal parrish every week, but he is also into eastern beliefs such as meditating to recordings of chanting Buddhist monks and other things. He just asked me to scan a book with a bunch of Chinese or Japanese writing about some 5 deities. As far as I can tell, this eastern religion bent of his is something he has been dabbling with for the past 15 years or so, mainly through books he has read. I don’t think he realizes the “centering” and type of meditation he does are against Church teaching.

Normally, I just try to live a good example of a Catholic live and don’t pressure any of my co-workers to be better Catholics. But my boss is also my uncle (by marriage) and I know his parents were good Catholics and he was raised that way, so it bothers me to see him moving away from the Catholic beliefs.

Are there any good books I can give him to show why these eastern practices are wrong? He is a very thoughtful reader so it can be a fairly heavy book. I plan to anonymously mail the book to his home.

 

[Quill_and_Sword]

Quite honestly, I didn’t know meditation was against Church teaching. I just thought it was a discipline in strengthening and relaxing the mind often connected to religious practices but not always so.

Perhaps this isn’t what it seems? I personally think there is wisdom in eastern practices, of course, as long as it doesn’t interfere with Catholic teaching and loyalty, which, for your boss, may not be an issue.

 

[Philomeena]

Wow…my diocese has a diocesan-wide Centering Prayer ministry… Our bishop is pretty traditional wtth very traditional roots.

 

[Indigo_Cardinal]

I would advise against this for several reasons.

1.) This is your boss. If you’re found out, you are putting your job at risk depending on how he takes this.

2.) This is an adult who is capable of making his own decisions. It has nothing to do with you, despite your various relationships to the individual in question. Ann Landers would call this MYOB.

3.) If you don’t have the courage to give him such a book to his face, you have no business giving him said book at all.

4.) Mixing family and work is typically not a good idea, for many reasons, and I would put this down as one of them (too much knowledge of the boss/employee’s private lives and risking getting too involved in each other’s personal decisions.) Since you are already demonstrating that you cannot respect the employer/employee boundaries, I would suggest you search for another job.

Regards,
Indigo

 

[christofirst]

I agree with what others have posted here. If you cannot speak openly about it with your boss - and there are plenty of reasons why you might not want to, as has been said here - probably best to let it be; pray over it, and wait for an opportunity. He might bring it up himself someday. It would be wrong to assume that his interest in Buddhism or meditation is necessarily leading him away from his Catholic faith. But maybe it is. Since you asked for a book, you might want to check out The Unexpected Way; On Converting from Buddhism to Catholicism by Paul Williams, a professor and head of the department of theology and religious studies at the University of Bristol. He has an online presence that you can search for as well.