H
hwriggles4
Guest
Fellow Catholics:
Tonight, on Catholic Answers Live (October 9, 2015), there was a lengthy discussion on “dissent” and how to handle dissent. I happened to catch it on my way home from work, and there were callers who shared that Catholics in ministries were often reluctant to outreach on things such as 40 Days for Life, and sometimes (sometimes, not always) CCD teachers, RCIA sponsors, and EMHC do not accept the Church’s teachings on key issues. I know some of this is due to poor catechesis, but much of it is the examples that come from our world today.
I put this in the Evangelization section because there are times that I myself feel like I have to Evangelize within the Church. I am a revert, and there are occasions where when I am in discussion with fellow parishioners (or at a Catholic gathering), a brother Knight might say, “I think all priests should be allowed to marry”, I do my best to give the theological reasoning for the celibate priesthood, how a priest takes Christ as His bride at ordination. Another example is if someone complains that “Why aren’t there woman priests”, I will explain that Jesus chose 12 men as apostles, and the apostolic succession. I try to speak in charity, and not by being judgmental or condenscending. One night a few of us were having dinner together and one nice lady had been divorced, and two of us asked her about the annulment process. This lady was afraid that if an annulment had been granted, her children were illegitimate. The two of us assured her that her children were not illegitimate if the annulment was granted. Those are some examples of what I mean to Evangelize within the Church.
Here’s are my questions:
Tonight, on Catholic Answers Live (October 9, 2015), there was a lengthy discussion on “dissent” and how to handle dissent. I happened to catch it on my way home from work, and there were callers who shared that Catholics in ministries were often reluctant to outreach on things such as 40 Days for Life, and sometimes (sometimes, not always) CCD teachers, RCIA sponsors, and EMHC do not accept the Church’s teachings on key issues. I know some of this is due to poor catechesis, but much of it is the examples that come from our world today.
I put this in the Evangelization section because there are times that I myself feel like I have to Evangelize within the Church. I am a revert, and there are occasions where when I am in discussion with fellow parishioners (or at a Catholic gathering), a brother Knight might say, “I think all priests should be allowed to marry”, I do my best to give the theological reasoning for the celibate priesthood, how a priest takes Christ as His bride at ordination. Another example is if someone complains that “Why aren’t there woman priests”, I will explain that Jesus chose 12 men as apostles, and the apostolic succession. I try to speak in charity, and not by being judgmental or condenscending. One night a few of us were having dinner together and one nice lady had been divorced, and two of us asked her about the annulment process. This lady was afraid that if an annulment had been granted, her children were illegitimate. The two of us assured her that her children were not illegitimate if the annulment was granted. Those are some examples of what I mean to Evangelize within the Church.
Here’s are my questions:
- Do any of you feel like you Evangelize within the Church?
- If the answer to #1 is Yes, what are good ways to do so?
- If the answer to #1 is Yes, what are wrong ways to do so?
- If a CCD teacher or an RCIA instructor is dissenting from Church teaching in his or her presentations (like an RCIA instructor telling attendees that birth control is fine, since most Catholics use it anyway, and women’s ordination is just a manner of time (years ago, I knew a girl with a theology degree from a Catholic college who would say this)) how do you charitably tell them “no”?
