Bring a Buddhist friend to Catholic Church

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I was having a discussion with some chaplains about " what is spiritual care?" Is it something more than saying prayers? Is it being a companion to someone at a stressful time? Is it listening to them in a nonjudgmental way so they can verbally work things out, come to their inner peace.?

Can an atheist provide spiritual care? Can a Buddhist providenit to a Catholic? A Catholic to a Buddhist? An answer to these questions involves another question that is related to this thread: Who are we? For that to be universal we need to find common ground that won’t separate according to religious beliefs.

Do you want to respect and journey with your best friend or do you want to try to convert him?
 
twoboys said:
I’m looking for advice. I have a friend who believes and practises Buddhism.
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My wife of 40 years was a non-practicing Buddhist. After 10 years of marriage she went through RCIA (mainly to preserve family harmony). After 35 years of marriage, she suddenly had a “conversion experience(s)” which she defines herself as “when I became a Catholic.”

Her Buddhist sister was dying, and “coincidentally” a friend of hers asked her if she had the “Diary of St. Faustina.” She didn’t, but I did. She began to seriously think about the afterlife, and on her own initiative read random pages from the diary (mainly the ones with BOLDED portions - which was when Christ was speaking to Faustina). The Diary is not something I’d normally recommend to a Buddhist, or a novice Christian of any sort. It’s a difficult read for anybody. But I mention it here because according to my wife, it saved her soul. (or at least was the beginning of saving her soul).
 
My brother-in-law’s wife just died last week after 11 months mostly in a coma. Both her and my BIL were vehemently anti-every-religion, and full of hate for each other. So the questions you ask in your post are the same questions we asked ourselves when we were trying our best to help out.

I think we ended up concluding that “bringing someone to their inner peace” and “going to Heaven” often are at odds with each other. It does no good to give people “peace” if that means confirming their lack of forgiveness to each other (as one example). It might bring peace to say “Yup, everything was all HIS fault!! You didn’t do anything wrong.” It would have been a lie in any case.

We tried hard to help them forgive each other, so at the time of death she would have love instead of hate in her heart. Can you go to Heaven with hate in your heart?

So - bottom line, I vote for the “try to convert” approach. Of course, there can always be some “respect and journey” as well. But don’t let the “convert” part slip away. How many opportunities do we have in life to truly help someone else get to Heaven?
 
Then you would have to have a criteria for what you hope to see so that you are encouraged about the “get to heaven”. I am thinking that the “peace” needs to be deeper and more real than “it was all HiS fault.” My guess is that would be a very unstable and faulty peace.
 
I guess I am a little too objective in my approach to others. I have religious beliefs but that is all they are - beliefs. There is no objective evidence for them. I can share them but I can’t expect others to buy them. Instead lets find the objective common ground. That is where we can start with Buddhism. Life involves suffering. That suffering is due to attachments.

But then who are we? What are we? We know that we are living beings in relationship with others. For me that “living beings” part is the key because it connects us all to some foundational being. That seems to me not belief but logical necessity.
 
Shakuhachi said:
I have religious beliefs but that is all they are - beliefs. There is no objective evidence for them
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There’s quite a bit if you know where to look. Reason, the fact of the Church, the Resurrection as a historical event, the various miracles of the saints, Marian apparitions and miracles, etc.
 
It’s important to note that the purpose of Heaven is not necessarily some physical enjoyment, but the Beautific Vision, complete fulfillment. Not emptiness.
 
What other perspective can one look through? When you try to look from another’s perspective, it is still your own, but merely what you think another’s is like.
You can say, “What if he thinks this” but ultimately it is you doing the saying.

I too like to think that my feet stay on the ground. Yet, all evidence I have of that must be interpreted according to my own purview.
 
What I mean is, the things we might think of as self evident, may not be that at all to someone else. That is just the way it is. Not good or bad. So I think we must respect the perspective and beliefs of others ( within limits) even as we may disagree.
 
I reckon it is pleasing to the Lord if I try to convert him or at least to let him know about the gospel.
 
Simply live it and from time to time share what gives you your joy…
 
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