Being the only Catholic in your family

[ByzCath2019]

One the hardest thing being Catholic, especially Byzantine Catholic, is being the only Byzantine Catholic in my family. It’s hard! Whenever I try to explain my faith, and give good, factual evidence of the Faith and the Church, it’s as if my family isn’t interested or I’m attacked because of it. Just the other day, my dad and I were talking about the Free Masons. I had made the comment, that the Free Masons were and are the organization who’s sole purpose was to undermine the Church. As you might imagine, he wasn’t too pleased about that. Yes! He’s a former Free Mason.

And mom, bless her heart, she grew up in a time, when the Church was only chanting and singing in Latin, and was given poor education on the faith.

My question is: what are the challenges being the only Catholic in your family, and how do you overcome those challenges and where do you draw the line within reason as far theological differences?

 

[Clare]

I’m the only Catholic in my family, and I just avoid the topic of it whenever possible. My family don’t do church or religion at all, and I’m not even sure if they are aware that I got baptised last year, I didn’t invite them to the Easter Vigil Mass.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

There’s a certain amount you can control and a certain amount you can’t control.

You can control being provocative. Telling a Mason that the Masons are bad in any way isn’t likely to lead to a happy conversation. (And that would be true of any organization someone belongs to.)

At the same time, you have to know where to draw boundaries. For example, I’ve made it clear when visiting people that I attend Mass on Sundays. They don’t have to come with me, but the schedule will have to accommodate some church time if I’m going to be there. Beyond that, I don’t see much need to bring up religion with them. I’m happy to answer questions and I let them know when they are being offensive and it’s time to change the subject. But it’s not like that’s the only thing we can talk about.

 

[QwertyGirl]

My situation is a little different, in that I have a lot of Catholics in my family but I am agnostic. I think the solution is the same, though.

Love your family members, each and every one of them, but don’t bring up hot button topics that you know are going to cause discontent before you even do it. It sounds like religion would be one of those issues from what you describe.

Be a leader on this front, and the others may follow your lead. It is fine to set up boundaries.

In all truthfulness, the remark you made about the Free Masons sounded antagonistic to me, as a reader. I can only imagine how it made your dad feel, if it is something he believes in. Not nice for anyone involved in the discussion!