Co-worker interested in church

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Hi all - this is certainly a new experience for me!

A co-worker, who is from another country and new to the U.S., asked me whether or not I attended a church and when I responded enthusiastically “Yes!”, he asked if he could go with me and my husband once or twice to see what it’s like. It was such an honest, open, childlike request that it melted my heart.

But I was completely caught off-guard by anyone asking about my faith / church. I didn’t know what to say other than “Yes, of course, we’d love you to sit with us.” I gave him my church’s web address and told him which Mass I would be attending and if he needed directions, etc.

Later, I had to resist the temptation to bombard him with everything-Catholic. I prayed for him that my enthusiasm wouldn’t scare him off, that the Holy Spirit take over the situation, and that the Lord keep my co-worker in the palm of his hand.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? At the very least I want my co-worker’s first experience with the Catholic church to be positive.

Thanks all!
 
I think you are doing the right thing to take it easy and not rush, let the spirit guide you and him to the best.

Maybe he will need some explanations, or most certainly he will, then you will be there to provide him that.

God bless
 
Just wanted to add a thought here after the reading I have done on some other threads here about Mass. I understand that non catholics can not recieve communion in the catholic church, and this may be confusing to a person who may not know that. I don’t know what to suggest about how to handle that potentially akward situation beforehand, but I just thought that may be the only thorny issue that could arise in this.

Hope it works out for you all

SJ
 
The idea that your co-worker wants to attend Mass with you is wonderful! I’d suggest trying to make him as welcome as possible – for example, meet him outside the church and show him where to sit, make sure he has a missalette so he can follow along, help him out if he gets lost at any point, etc. After Mass you might introduce him to the priest and if you have coffee and doughnuts invite him to join you and introduce him to anyone you know. Basically, really show hospitality.

You might tell him up front that something that sometimes causes confusion is that communion in the Catholic church is limited to Catholics. I don’t know if your parish does blessings during communion. If so, you might want to tell him that he can come up for a blessing if he wishes. And whether or not you give blessings you could print out the prayer of spiritual communion and tell him that when you can’t receive communion you offer this prayer while staying in the pew.
 
Thank you, SJ - I thought about that, of course. What I’ve decided to do is to show him the inside cover of the misselette that has the blurbs about “For Catholics”, “For Other Christian demoninations”, and “For Non-Christians”. I’ll let whoever wrote those do the talking for me. 😉

I like that the paragraph instructions for non-Christian is to pray for peace rather than go up for Communion. Seems totally appropriate and lovely.
 
This is the wording I’m referring to:

For non-Christians
We also welcome to this celebration those who do not share our faith in Jesus Christ. While we cannot admit them to Holy Communion, we ask them to offer their prayers for the peace and the unity of the human family.
 
It is wonderful that your co-worker has an interest in going to your church. I have prayed for him and think that showing him the guidelines for non-Catholics is a good idea. It might also be a good idea to explain how important the Eucharist is and that he does not have to kneel if he does not believe in the true presence to further get the point across (if you think it is needed).
 
An update:

I gave my co-worker a few days to think it over, mostly so I wouldn’t push too many Catholic things on him at once.

I gathered a few things to bring to him today: A copy of Magnificat from a few months ago, the printout of Sunday’s readings so he’ll see what he’ll be hearing at Mass if he joins us this Sunday, and a photocopy of the inside cover wording I mentioned above about who can receive Holy Communion. For some odd reason, I received two copies of July’s Catholic Digest, so I brought him my extra copy.

I ran into him about an hour ago and gave him these things and he seemed really happy to receive them, not only polite. I can tell if someone is being only nice/polite and I believe he was truly touched that I would give him some things to read beforehand. I assured him it was fine if he couldn’t make it this Sunday, that anytme he wanted to come with us to Mass we would welcome him.

Thank you all for your prayers about this!
 
=tinalewis;5335721]Hi all - this is certainly a new experience for me!
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A co-worker, who is from another country and new to the U.S., asked me whether or not I attended a church and when I responded enthusiastically “Yes!”, he asked if he could go with me and my husband once or twice to see what it’s like. It was such an honest, open, childlike request that it melted my heart.
Click to expand...
But I was completely caught off-guard by anyone asking about my faith / church. I didn’t know what to say other than “Yes, of course, we’d love you to sit with us.” I gave him my church’s web address and told him which Mass I would be attending and if he needed directions, etc.
Click to expand...
Later, I had to resist the temptation to bombard him with everything-Catholic. I prayed for him that my enthusiasm wouldn’t scare him off, that the Holy Spirit take over the situation, and that the Lord keep my co-worker in the palm of his hand.
Click to expand...
Does anyone have any other suggestions? At the very least I want my co-worker’s first experience with the Catholic church to be positive.
Click to expand...
Thanks all!
Click to expand...
Like a beacon on the hillside, let this person see how you live your faith. It’s been said that “the only bible most people read is how we live and demonistrate our faith in action.”

Don’t push, keep inviting to Mass and to sit with you. Questions are bound to occur. When they do answer fully and carefully; ask to see if your explaination was actually understood? If you do not know the answer, smile and say I’m not sure, please allow me to get the answer for you. Never pretend to know.

Pray to the Holy Spirit for both of you.

Love and prayers,
 
Update!!!

My co-worker showed-up for Mass! I was almost counting on his “opting out”, so he surprised me. He told me that he thought about not showing up,but then decided on Saturday night to go ahead and get up early and try it. Turns out he lives 30 miles away! :eek: So he really, really wanted to see what our church was like.

I introduced him to some enthusastic folks from past RCIA classes, which worked out great, since they were closer to his age. I think I achieved my task of making his first encounter with a Catholic church a positive one.

The rest is up to the Holy Spirit! 😃
 
Isn’t it great to feel like you could be God’s instrument to reach this man? And yes, now it’s up to the Holy Spirit.
 
I just got curious.
How did it go with the co-worker?

Is he/she stiii interessted in the church?
 
Wow, no wonder you were shocked. The Holy Spirit must be at work with these people.

Keep praying for them and be a good friend first and foremost.

With your enthusiasm, the rest should happen pretty naturally. You can find out whether their readers or not too. And in a little time suggest a couple of good books depending on where they came from.

That’s what I would do anyway. And enjoy it!
 
Wow - I’d forgotten I posted this. Old age creeping up!

Thanks, everyone, for all your posts. The update is good: My co-worker found a Catholic parish nearer to where he’s living than my parish is. He told me he went to Mass on Christmas Day and loved it so much that he’s gone to Mass on a couple of Sundays since.

I’m holding my breath and saying my prayers that he’ll be in RCIA this year or the next!

😃
 
What a great thread.

It reminds me of past encounters with a Hindu acquaintance, an immigrant from India. Great guy. Our conversations were one of the ways he practiced English. He loved Jesus and was very curious about Christianity, so over time I gave him a number of resources including Bibles in both Hindi (his native language) and English (he read Genesis through Joshua the first week!), a rosary with Hindi and English prayers, a movie about Jesus in both Hindi and English, and an icon of Jesus. It’s wonderful to meet someone so eager. 🙂
 
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