Evangelical saying "My parents were Catholic"

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Periodically I encounter an evangelical who at some point in the conversation tells me “my parents were Catholic”, then goes on to tell me how they are sooo happy now in their “Covanent Faith Word Bible Church” or some-such.

In each case I come to suspect that their parents were probably never in a Catholic Church in their lives, and that the line is a ‘witness starter’. Has anyone else seen this or a similiar time-worn effort to ‘save’ us idol-worshiping-praying-to-dead-to-no-avail Catholics?

Clint
 
I would reply…“that is wonderful! I will pray that they will once again rejoin us at Mass. Would you like to know the Mass times?”

There is no need to ‘argue’ about the parents being or not having been Catholic. Welcome ALL to Mass. An invitation is sometimes all that is needed! God Bless
 
Periodically I encounter an evangelical who at some point in the conversation tells me “my parents were Catholic”, then goes on to tell me how they are sooo happy now in their “Covanent Faith Word Bible Church” or some-such.
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In each case I come to suspect that their parents were probably never in a Catholic Church in their lives, and that the line is a ‘witness starter’. Has anyone else seen this or a similiar time-worn effort to ‘save’ us idol-worshiping-praying-to-dead-to-no-avail Catholics?
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It may very well be true. There are a lot of Catholics in Evangelical churches.

And there are a lot of Protestant converts in the Catholic Church too.

If the devil told me there were plenty of Catholics in hell, it might be true, but I might balk if he told me they were sooo happy there.

And no, I am not equating the Evangelical person with the devil nor their church with hell. I am merely saying that if it is true that his Catholic parents are now in XYZ Evangelical and they are “happy” there, it is irrelevant to the implication that therefore XYZ is the true Church or that the parents are correct in going there. Maybe they are “happy” there because they hear what they want to hear there rather than what they need to hear, or any other number of
equally facts unrelated to whether or not the Fullness of the Truth is to be found there.
 
I am not really surprised.

When I was in my teens (30-35 years ago) I knew a lot of young Catholics who were attracted by the youth groups and other activities at the Evangelical churches in the area. There was definately a relativist attitude about religion among them too.

I was invited many times, usually by Catholics.

Growing up I did not attend Catholic school, I would say that 40% of my classmates in public school at any grade were Catholics. There was not enough room for us, so we were admitted on the basis of how much our parents gave to the church on Sundays.

I attended “CCD” classes, I don’t know what they call it now. Basically averything I know about the faith I learned on my own, all I retained from CCD was a few prayers I memorized.

Many of the young people I knew were “sent” to church by their parents, they had to bring a bulletin home to prove that they attended Mass.

Interestingly, now as an adult many years down the road the most virulently anti-Catholic individuals I know received their educations in Catholic school! It amazes me how little they actually know about the church they were “raised” in.

What I am trying to say with all of this is that we have been reaping the results of generation after generation of neglect and very poor catechesis. I recognize that what I saw 30 years ago was symptomatic of that.

Let’s not get confused by blaming Vatican II for all of this, these problems were widespread in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s as well. What I experienced was business as usual, there was a sense of complacency about the whole thing because we still had the ghetto mentality.

Everyone knew that young people lost interest in the church in high school and came back to raise a family. That’s not really so true anymore and it started to change when I was coming along. We were getting converts from mixed marriages, but that was only an indicator of how far we had removed ourselves from the ghetto, it was just about the only way people were converting at the time.

The Evangelical ministries became very aggressive with our young people, and it was hard (still is) for non-Catholics to find a way in to the Catholic church, there were no obvious ways for an interested person to inquire without having to deal with all of that confusion, which can be intimidating, so it was a one way street.

So I’d say there probably are a lot of young Protestants out there whose parents were Catholic, but my guess would be that those parents simply didn’t know the Faith very well and were surrounded by Catholics that didn’t care whether they knew the faith. In other words, those former Catholics didn’t know the Faith any better than the typical Catholic in the pews today! Both groups have a lot to learn.
 
I don’t doubt it…for the same reasons just stated by Hesychios. In the last 40 years, it’s been fairly easy to say you are Catholic without being a practicing church member. Poorly catechized, infrequent Mass-attenders could fade into being merely names in the parish directory, yet still call themselves Catholic. My minimal experience with those who have tried the non-denom route is that they are enamored for awhile, and then slowly become nominal members of that church, just as they were nominal Catholics.
 
members.tripod.com/catholic_truth/a_river_runs_to_it.htm
“While a lot of people leave the Church, they tend not to be good Catholics,” says Curtis Martin, president of Catholics United for the Faith, who himself returned to the Church after spending five years as an evangelical Protestant. “The Protestants [now] coming into the Church are the most devoted Protestants, people deeply committed to Scripture and prayer. We’re losing the numbers game but we are winning the quality game in spades.”
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Oh yeah.

👍
 
Has anyone else seen this or a similiar time-worn effort to ‘save’ us idol-worshiping-praying-to-dead-to-no-avail Catholics?
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Yup. When I was a college student, I was stopped on campus by a young woman (I was already late for class and irritable, mind you, although that was my fault). She introduced herself, and asked if I belonged to a church. I replied that I was a Catholic and attended the local parish. Her response? “Oh yeah, I was raised Catholic. We never went to church. You probably don’t read the Bible at all, do you?” At which point I informed her that 1) I attended Mass every Sunday, 2) had grown up reading the Bible both during and outside of Mass, and 3) she had just clued me into the fact that she had definitely not been raised in a Catholic home, whether or not she had even been baptized a Catholic.

At that point she decided to wish me a nice day and tell me to look up the church that her family had started if I ever changed my mind. Indeed.:rolleyes:
 
I read with interest all the posts here. Thanks for the replies.

In my case I have come to suspect that the statement about their parents and/or themselves being raised Catholic may be just another way of saying that they were ‘unchiristian’ until they ‘found Jesus’ in whatever denomination they were currently in.

Perhaps the strongest expression of this is the denial that they are in any denomination at all - some of these people have insisted that they are not of any ‘denomination’, but are rather ‘Christian’.

No specific point here; just an observation.

Clint
 
BobCatholic said:
members.tripod.com/catholic_truth/a_river_runs_to_it.htm

“While a lot of people leave the Church, they tend not to be good Catholics,” says Curtis Martin, president of Catholics United for the Faith, who himself returned to the Church after spending five years as an evangelical Protestant. “The Protestants [now] coming into the Church are the most devoted Protestants, people deeply committed to Scripture and prayer. We’re losing the numbers game but we are winning the quality game in spades.”

Oh yeah.

👍
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Have to be high-quality to get in - Matthew 7:13-14:
"Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!"Many are those who will enter the wide gate from the broad road.
 
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RCEllis:
Periodically I encounter an evangelical who at some point in the conversation tells me “my parents were Catholic”, then goes on to tell me how they are sooo happy now in their “Covanent Faith Word Bible Church” or some-such.

In each case I come to suspect that their parents were probably never in a Catholic Church in their lives, and that the line is a ‘witness starter’. Has anyone else seen this or a similiar time-worn effort to ‘save’ us idol-worshiping-praying-to-dead-to-no-avail Catholics?

Clint
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tell you what you do… just a suggestion… wish them peace… tell them that God loves all his children… then, you live your faith to the best of your ability… Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body, and love that neighbor as you would have them love you… Show them you are a christian by your love… how can they augue with that…? 👍
 
I wouldn’t assume that these folks weren’t raised in “Catholic” homes. In the short time I’ve been Catholic, I’ve met a number of “Catholics” who don’t know what the Church teaches, probably practice the faith very little, if at all, when not at Mass, and who are willing to leave the Church for other churches that have better programs, friendlier people, and less rules about morality. And these are the active Catholics - I’ve met them in Catholic organizations and the choir at church. Among them are included some raised in Catholic schools, sad to say. This is not at all uncommon. Is it any surprise their kids jump ship?

My husband was surprised when he found out that there are Catholics on both sides of my extended family (Irish and Portuguese in background). He asked, in disbelief, “How did you end up Protestant?!!” My parents were raised in non-religious households with divorce, Mom went to Protestant youth group with a friend, and Dad joined the same faith before they married. Hence, I was raised Protestant.
 
I usually say, “Oh I used to be a Protestant minister. Now I am so happy as a Catholic priest.” That seems to be effective.
 
Howdy, Cestusdei, my dad WAS indeed Catholic to the point of receiving the annointing of the sick before he died… My mom was Catholic but no longer practices.
My sister in law claims she is a recovered Catholic, but she and my brother were married in The Church.
 
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