Finding it hard to talk to old Protestant friends

[DL82]

There is a group in my workplace led by the wife of an Assemblies of God pastor that meets to pray from time to time. It consists of Christians of many denominations, but mostly pentecostal Protestants. I have often gone along to pray with them. I used to be a member of the Church of England, and went from Evangelical to more Anglo-Catholic, and now am becoming Catholic, but have always retained the Evangelical (i.e. believing in the Bible and trying to share my faith) side of my faith, it has just become more sophisticated and more alligned with the Truth.

Anyway, I still talk with, and still pray with, my protestant friends. I have told most people I know, including some friends at my old Anglican church, that I am becoming Catholic. I just find it hard to raise the subject with this group. I know that the lady who leads this group is herself a convert from Greek Orthodoxy and her husband was a nominal Catholic in Italy, so they are generally very wary of traditional churches. Even when I was Anglican she once suggested that I should be baptised again because I was baptised as a baby and that meant I wasn’t able to confess my own faith in our Lord at baptism.

I also remember another member of this prayer group inviting me to a video presentation on the Illuminati and the New World Order (which I made my excuses for not attending, even when I was a Protestant I never believed that kind of bunkum.) What I find difficult is that I know that they are all really dedicated to the Lord, and live really strongly by faith. I know they are unlikely to become Catholic, and I don’t even know whether they need to, as they clearly have the Lord as their saviour and are living good Christian lives from what I can tell. I know all the arguments, and can make a good case for Catholicism, but how do you make a case to someone who knows because they have ‘felt’ the Holy Spirit lead them elsewhere, and how do you make a case to someone who believes every piece of unsubstantiated romanticised nonsense and conspiracy theory that comes out of Anglo-American Pentecostal book-sellers, websites and prayer circles? It makes me so sad to think that some people are so restricted in the expression of their Christianity by these things. And yet it also makes me feel a little ashamed, because this lady’s prayer life is so strong even without the help of our Holy Mother the Church, and mine seems so weak and lazy by comparison.

At the same time, they are going to think that I am falling away from Christianity if I say that I’m becoming Catholic. I don’t want to put a stumbling block in their way, or to bring division where none needs to exist. I don’t want to push them into a position where they make themselves enemies of Christ’s Church, while they are clearly trying so hard to be His servants.

What do I do?

 

[Jabronie]

What I would do is when questioned, simply tell them that you’re going where you believe God is leading you. I wouldn’t really get into a discussion about it, but if they press the issue just do the best you can. Keep the discussion simple and use some of the basic apologetics strategies from this site: biblechristiansociety.com/

And if they criticize you, say to them: “Do you feel you are worshiping God in the way He wants you to? I feel the same way about my worship. Why does it matter to you how I worship as long as I have faith in Jesus as my savior?”

 

[mchale]

If you believe that the Catholic Church is actually the true Church that Jesus Christ founded on Holy Thursday, then how can you be sure that someone who is opposed to Catholicism really has accepted Jesus as their savior? They may believe they have, but if they reject his Church then don’t they reject him?

Mind you most non-Catholics don’t know enough about the Church to make a fair judgement about it. Certainly though, it seems unlikely to me, that those who explicitly reject the church, and who try to presuade people not to join the Church are in danger of trying to follow their own idea of what Christ is rather than trying to follow Christ as he actually is.

–
Bill

 

[stbruno]

Mostly I would respond.after asking the Holy Spirit to put the right words in your mouth…Perhaps without hesitation respond…I am the same person I always was, but I found something that fills that empty place in my heart and soul…and that’s the Eucharist. All of what I have learned and believed up till now has led me right to the Eucharist. And since I have found it, I have found such peace and comfort. Please be happy for me because I am. You are my friend and as my friend please understand that I have found a home, a home in the Catholic church, the place that can be directly linked to Jesus as he walked this earth and to the Holy Eucharist. God bless you and Welcome home!

 

[RachelB]

If you believe that the Catholic Church is actually the true Church that Jesus Christ founded on Holy Thursday, then how can you be sure that someone who is opposed to Catholicism really has accepted Jesus as their savior? They may believe they have, but if they reject his Church then don’t they reject him?

Mind you most non-Catholics don’t know enough about the Church to make a fair judgement about it. Certainly though, it seems unlikely to me, that those who explicitly reject the church, and who try to presuade people not to join the Church are in danger of trying to follow their own idea of what Christ is rather than trying to follow Christ as he actually is.

–
Bill

When you say that, I feel like you don’t know any Protestants who are real Christians. These Protestants are people who have believed in Jesus Christ as he has been presented to them by people who they believe have authority over them (parents, churchesm etc.) They have been strongly taught that Catholicism is a series of rituals that take away from having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ - which, emphatically, they do have. In my predominantly-Protestant area, and in the circles I was raised in, any Catholics I was ever exposed to demonstrated that this assumption was true - they were nominally religious people who had no notion of a relationship with a Living Savior, thereby reinforcing the notion. They do good works, because they love the Lord, strive to live holy lives, confess and repent from their sins, and look forward to heaven. They do all of this without sacrament because this is what they were taught is right and no Catholic has ever been evangelical enough to show them that there is such a thing as a Catholic who loves Jesus! Talk about invincible ignorance.

This is all coming from someone who was personally convicted by her real relationship with Jesus Christ, to become a Catholic. I was able to find information about true Catholics only through the Internet! I’ve never been invited to a Mass, never been given pro-Catholic materials, never been befriended by a Catholic.

To the OP, I suggest that you pray and read a lot of apologetic material, with the intention of respectful defense. When I first started attending a Catholic church, I kept it secret. Your post could have been written by me - only I was an Assemblies of God attendee myself. When I “came out”, it was quietly, but word spread fast. Since then, I have been respectfully answering the “sane old” questions - do I pray to dead people and why would I want a religion instead of Jesus? Since I have been able to calmly and respectfully answer questions, and inform my friends that I am going where Jesus led me to go, the very people I thought would reject me instead have an elevated opinion of Catholicism - leading some to consider Catholicism themselves. I would encourage you to continue to socialize with them if you can do so without hurting your faith, because there is a lack of positive representation of Catholicism. Before we can evangelize, we’ve got to show that we have strong faith ourselves. It is now time for real Catholics to stand up and be heard.

 

[Bennie_P]

What do I do?

Pray, go to Mass, get more involved in Catholic bible studies and activities, pray for your old freinds, pray, say a rosary, pray, have coffee and lunch with your old freinds one on one instead of in group settings, Pray, spend an hour in adoration, read your Bible, pray, go to Mass, that get through you Monday and get you started on Tuesday morning.

When asked by my protestant freinds why? I became Catholic, I tell them two basic things, I love Jesus and the Catholic Church is were he lead me. One brother, I really love, when he heard that I went into full-communion, ask “Why, you are really sooo spiritual?” Turns out that he is a cradle-Catholic whose mother took him away from the Church during his pre-teen years, we have an on going discussion going on. He was estranged to his Catholic father, but now is regular contact with him, pray for them.

I have regular contact with many, but I don’t do scripture studies with them any longer, usually meet with them one on one over coffee, or were we are doing sometype of community service for others. I don’t have a big problem with “them trying to get me to reject the Catholic Church.” There is an ongoing discussion I have with a few, there I have found opportunities to explain Church teachings to non-Catholics. What amazes me is all the “ex-Catholics” that have all of sudden come into my life, and how they seem to be re-evaluating the choices they have made. I didn’t have to totally give up my old freindships, but my world has changed. It is more joyful.
One moment at a time…

 

[mchale]

When you say that, I feel like you don’t know any Protestants who are real Christians. These Protestants are people who have believed in Jesus Christ as he has been presented to them by people who they believe have authority over them (parents, churchesm etc.) They have been strongly taught that Catholicism is a series of rituals that take away from having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ - which, emphatically, they do have. In my predominantly-Protestant area, and in the circles I was raised in, any Catholics I was ever exposed to demonstrated that this assumption was true - they were nominally religious people who had no notion of a relationship with a Living Savior, thereby reinforcing the notion. They do good works, because they love the Lord, strive to live holy lives, confess and repent from their sins, and look forward to heaven. They do all of this without sacrament because this is what they were taught is right and no Catholic has ever been evangelical enough to show them that there is such a thing as a Catholic who loves Jesus! Talk about invincible ignorance.

Mind you, I did make allowances for those who simply were ignorant. I am sure a number of protestants are Christian, but there is a difference from those who are protestant because that is the way they were raised, and those who actively oppose and reject the Catholic Church. If we accept the notion that Christ established the Catholic Church and the sacrements then the faith of those who are not members or who do not participate in the sacrements must be deficient to some degree. The Catholic Church’s claim to being the church that Jesus founded is either correct or incorrect. If it is correct, then all those who reject the church run the risk of rejecting Jesus. After all, Christ did say that you must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood to have eternal life. Many Protestants reject the notion that this was meant to be literal.

Also here is another point, no one is every capable of judging who is and who is not truely Christian. We judge by external actions, but we can’t know what is in someone else’s heart. Only God can do that.

In any case, in the specific case of the Original Poster, we are discussing a group with which the O.P. is hesitant to bring up their conversion to Catholicism for fear of the reaction that will result. I have evangelical friends who I have been able to accept that it is certainly possible to be both Catholic and Christian. For those who cannot or indeed refuse to accept that concept, I have real concerns.

Oh one last thought. You blame this attitude amongst some Protestants as being the result of authorities teaching them so. But if that is the case, then doesn’t that make them bad Protestants as well? After all, Protestantism rejects human authority in favor of the personal interpretation of Scripture.

–
Bill