Catholicism equal Westernization?

[UnityofTrinity]

Having to live the most part of my life in Vietnam, most of the people whom I met was really reluctant when they heard about the Catholic Church(or any other forms of Christianity) and sometimes even hostile toward it. Not just that many Vietnamese who are loyal to the Communist government have the prevalent belief that Catholicism was the tool used by the Western countries to rule Vietnam, but they also fear of the foreignness of our church, which seemingly sweep away the ancient Asian traditions. How can you convince them that the Church is the truth and help them get through westophobia?

 

[Carlan]

Having to live the most part of my life in Vietnam, most of the people whom I met was really reluctant when they heard about the Catholic Church(or any other forms of Christianity) and sometimes even hostile toward it. Not just that many Vietnamese who are loyal to the Communist government have the prevalent belief that Catholicism was the tool used by the Western countries to rule Vietnam, but they also fear of the foreignness of our church, which seemingly sweep away the ancient Asian traditions. How can you convince them that the Church is the truth and help them get through westophobia?

Hello Unity,here is an easy read, which I think will help you greatly.
How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization.
Thomas E, Woods, Jr., Ph.D.
God bless, Peace, Carlan

 

[po18guy]

Asian traditions which are built on love are good traditions to keep. Those traditions, in many cases, are founded on men - men who have no power or ability to save the soul. You can appeal to their hearts through the power of prayer and of love. Through your apparent joy and peace, their hearts will be motivated to explore what it is that you have. What many Viet Namese fear and hate is being exploited - which is not God’s aim, but man’s. The fulness of their humanity cannot be realized apart from God. Thus, they have gone from being servants of oppressive secular capitalists, to being the servants of oppressive godless communists. Neither system offers them eternal security, but at least the increasing capitalism, which now allows prosperity to grow in Viet Nam, does not banish God, or make itself higher than Him.

Their hearts will be converted only by the Holy Spirit, and so it is proper to deny yourself with prayer, fasting and abstinence on their behalf. This, they may find appealing through its similarity to some Asian traditions. It has parallels and is not opposed to their way of thinking. Try to stress the separation of the faith from the horrible behavior of the men who arrived from Christian nations. That is not the Gospel message.

 

[fhansen]

Cultural traditions don’t need to be touched at all, let alone eliminated, unless they somehow come into conflict with the truth, which is that God exists, God is love, and God desires us to love also and live in eternal happiness in the midst of Love. We’re all asked to give up harmful attachments that interfere with His will.

 

[kentuckyliz]

The communion of saints and sacramentals should inculturate nicely.

The Catholic faith started in the Middle East and spread to Africa and Asia just as fast or faster than it got to Europe.

Catholicism…it’s not just for pink people!

 

[UnityofTrinity]

But as the Church spread the messages of Jesus Christ to these Eastern countries that already possess such complex religious system, wouldn’t Christianity seem as if a foreign force trying to invade their traditions? When the Jesuits came to China, syncretism seem to be working until the Dominicans came and imposed the Latin rites and the European cultures on these Asian countries, it is no wonder that there was and still so much tensions from Asian countries toward Christianity. Not even to mention how the art depicted in Catholic churches depict people that are starkly European, the saint’s name are also Europeans, and everything seem to be so European.

 

[JimG]

Hello Unity,here is an easy read, which I think will help you greatly.
How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization.
Thomas E, Woods, Jr., Ph.D.
God bless, Peace, Carlan

It’s a good book. But of course, that may be exactly the thing that the non-Catholic Vietnamese are worried about–Western Civilization!

There are a great many Vietnamese who immigrated to the U.S. in refuge from the Communist takeover. Communism is no friend to indigenous culture, whereas Catholicism accepts all cultures.

Certainly the Catholic Church saved and built western civilization after the collapse of the Roman empire. But Catholicism is not simply a western phenomenon. The most ancient Catholic churches are in Iraq, where they are currently under attack by Islamic extremists. There is a long history of eastern Catholic churches.

 

[kentuckyliz]

Read about the martyrdom of St Paul Miki & companions–he died heroically like a samurai warrior, joyfully, for Christ.

One of the most beautiful Marian images I’ve ever seen is a Korean Madonna & child.

 

[UnityofTrinity]

I think the picture of our Lady of Lavang is pretty beautiful too. But to my understand, the people in Asia still very much feel the foreigness of Catholicism due to our rite, the cassocks, the names, and the arts.

 

[kentuckyliz]

It’s an Eastern religion that inculturates wherever it goes.

Ever see an African rosary? It’s danced!