Catholics and Evangelism

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Dave_Bus

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I am sure this will not be new to you seasoned folks. I come from evangelical/fundamentalist roots. Went through a 3 year study of the Catholic Church and converted about 4 years ago. Attend a small Catholic Church in rural Oregon. I can be excited about my faith in God and want to share that excitement with others. Have been on the Parish council. My problem is that after church is over no one seems interested in talking about God. Nine times out of ten if I bring up a discussion about God and suggest that we get out in the community and live our faith and share the beautiful truths of the Catholic Church I see this blank look come over peoples faces. iI could go on but I will stop with that and see if anyone has any insight.
 
How blessed you are to have a vital and enthusiastic faith!
And so you should!
The God of all creation loves us!
God became human and died to save us.
He loves you. He loves me. Each of us!!!
 
A few crumbs to comfort a brother whom I do not yet know! 😃

*Holy Trinity of God please let me be drawn into the infinite possibilities and actualities of Your love. Our God, although I do not, and perhaps cannot comprehend, my soul yearningly and trustingly breathes its ‘yes’ to this, to You—in hope that a flood of Yourself is released upon the earth for souls. *

Infinite Possibilities of God’s love

Our God, Your greatness extends boundlessly beyond created time and matter, as a universe around a pebble. Your realities are infinitely beyond human knowledge, yet You await the willing choice of each person, as prerequisite of the fulfilment of the Son’s redemption within them. Our faculties are instrumental to our choices as informed, conscious, creative and free.

Each person throughout time possesses consciousness created for happiness and love in the communion of saints. Those who live according to Your love and truth enjoy everlasting delight and peace with God. Please grant everyone the graces to accept Your redemption, for many good individuals are unaware of their destiny with our Creator. Yet it is unwise to ignore truths revealed in Scripture, Tradition, and precepts of the Church. It is unwise to reject Sacramental gifts bestowed by the Saviour for nourishment and unity. It is foolish to reject the inspirations and blessings that prepare us for eternal life.

In Your merciful love, our God, please grant increase of faith that joyfully transcends earthly doubts and realities, and that gives us courage to trust our lives faithfully and lovingly to You. Let us be absorbed into the infinite potential and realities of Your infinite love and being that transcends human knowledge and imagination. Where it serves You, please deepen our insight into Your love that holds each creature in such intimate awareness and love that God chose to assume human limitations, in order to redeem us.

Holy Trinity, do not reprimand us for lack of faith. We say with Saint Peter in the frail vessel of ourselves, “Lord, save us lest we perish.” Have compassion upon the difficulty for sentient beings in a material world to maintain focus and faith in divine realities and truths that transcend our experience. Let Your kingdom come amongst us—to destroy the dam of selfishness, sin, injustice and unbelief that, through our tacit or explicit consent, holds back the flood of Yourself from the souls of humankind.
 
Dave_Bus said:
I am sure this will not be new to you seasoned folks. I come from evangelical/fundamentalist roots. Went through a 3 year study of the Catholic Church and converted about 4 years ago. Attend a small Catholic Church in rural Oregon. I can be excited about my faith in God and want to share that excitement with others. Have been on the Parish council. My problem is that after church is over no one seems interested in talking about God. Nine times out of ten if I bring up a discussion about God and suggest that we get out in the community and live our faith and share the beautiful truths of the Catholic Church I see this blank look come over peoples faces. iI could go on but I will stop with that and see if anyone has any insight.
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Bless your heart, Dave. Keep on doing what you’re doing. When the blank looks really get to you, come to the forums and praise God to your heart’s content. In the meantime, I will pray that you find some kindred spirits who are as enthusiastic about their faith as you are. Please don’t ever lose your zeal!
 
Dave_Bus said:
I am sure this will not be new to you seasoned folks. I come from evangelical/fundamentalist roots. Went through a 3 year study of the Catholic Church and converted about 4 years ago. Attend a small Catholic Church in rural Oregon. I can be excited about my faith in God and want to share that excitement with others. Have been on the Parish council. My problem is that after church is over no one seems interested in talking about God. Nine times out of ten if I bring up a discussion about God and suggest that we get out in the community and live our faith and share the beautiful truths of the Catholic Church I see this blank look come over peoples faces. iI could go on but I will stop with that and see if anyone has any insight.
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Hi Dave! Rug1953 here! I know some great Catholics how live southeast of the state capital. I know what is it is like to be unheard! You do no say if you live in a small town or large city! I a large city you can find more Catholics at diocese functions and things like prolife. How about Catholic Charities or ??? Unfortunately, for many they do not understand the right reasons for church. Don’t give up! You may be the one who plants the seeds!!!

God bless

RJ
 
I’ve always found the best way to evangelize, for me, is to live the life that God wants me to live, and to befriend as many people as I can. If I am truly friends with someone, and not just looking for a “soul to save” then I’m probably doing more good than harm.

St. Francis: “Preach the Gospel always; when necessary, use words.”

-Jim
 
Thanks everyone for all the responses and I do agree with living the gospel and if you have to use words. I hope I am not being judgmental here but it is just hard not to have someone to talk to about the exciting things I find in the Catholic Faith. I still have a lot of protestant friends who enjoy talking about God and how we can serve him in our communities not just during the Mass. Now don’t you guys come out and shoot more for what I am about to say, but I do believe in the teaching on the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, but at times when I see the blank looks on the faces of my Catholic friends and I compare that to the enthusiasm of my Protestant friends I do wonder. If we are actually partaking of the body and blood of Christ during the Mass, and that partaking of his body is to strengthen us to go out in the world and serve him, why are we not doing better. Hope I didn’t step on any toes. It is encouraging to read your responses and to see that their are some fired up Catholics out there. By the way I live in a small community west of Salem, Oregon called Willamina. We are a timber industry town and are fortunate to have the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde reservation as a neighbor.
 
Dave, may I suggest you to try to join a parish group? Your parish should have a faith based, small faith sharing group where you can grow your faith with fellow Catholics. Or a prayer group, or maybe a bible study group. In my parish we have plenty of “ministries” that we can join and practice our faith. I know what you mean regarding a group such as the Parish Council or some social justice groups, they are great but they do not necessarily feed the spirit in a direct way.

Another suggestion for you is to look at some of the Catholic movements or secular institutes that may be present in your diocese. There are plenty of them, and some are very strong in terms of having a community of fellow brothers and sisters working for the church. Check the website of your diocese and you may ind some info about these groups. In case that you join one of them, Just remember that we are still part of a bigger Church and just a movement.

Keep the faith,
 
Try looking into being a leader in RCIA, or CCD, or Bible Studies. People in these groups, in my experience, are the ones who know the faith, like to talk about the faith, and like to share the faith with others.

I know the difference you’re feeling. Plenty of protestants will talk about God with each other, but Catholics often don’t, and as a new Catholic, everything is amazing! Everything makes so much sense! You want to tell everyone about this! Sometimes it feels like nobody wants to listen.
 
You know, Protestants are Christians too. It sounds like you’re able to be close friends with Protestants despite your differences; if these are your Christian friends doing evangelism, you should do evangelism with them. Nothing wrong with a little ecumenical interaction, right? As long as you can do it without anyone compromising themselves in any way, a group of people including both Protestants and Catholics that evangelizes and disciples people would be awesome if you could get it to work. And you know something? Whether it works long-term or not, the quickest way to get your Catholic friends to do something with you is to casually mention that you’re getting together with some Protestant friends to go evangelize because- oh, well, you couldn’t get anyone from your Catholic church to do something like that with you (so far…). I think that would get a response. At the very least, something besides blank looks. Maybe they won’t be ok with ecumenical efforts, but at least they’ll do something with you in order to get you away from the Protestants.

Side note, though- if the Gospel by itself isn’t enough to motivate you and instead it’s anti-Protestant sentiment that really gets you going…this might be the first part of a question to ask some of your Catholic friends. I’m not sure how you’d finish it. It is kind of a guilt trip, but then again the simple direct approach hasn’t worked so far. And maybe there really is something there worth thinking about.

I like how you want to share the Gospel, and it’s great that you’re trying to get others involved too. You probably have quite a few Catholic friends that will love doing it too, once they finally start. Just remember that there’s lots of things you can do in order to convince someone to give it a try, but if they stick around, try to make sure it’s for the right reasons. Good luck and God bless!
 
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