Hateful attacks towards Catholics

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latingirl

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I firmly believe that Ant-Catholicism is the new prejudice.

Please read this (written by A CHRISTIAN!) and tell me if these words are at all Christ-like:
"You need to learn more about the heresies of Roman Catholicism, well at least learn SOMETHING about Roman Catholicism before you shoot of your mouth about it! To say that some of the major doctrines of Roman Catholicism are off, shows that you have hardly (if any) knowledge of Roman Catholicism! Roman Catholicism is complete HERESY and GARBAGE!

I was born and raised in an area that was and is 85% Roman Catholic! The Roman Catholic Church Rectory where the Priests lived was 8 houses away from my parents house! My wife was raised in Roman Catholicism. You have NO IDEA whatsoever how evil and deadly Roman Catholicism is!! Tolerate it if you wish, that is your choice! NOT a wise one by any stretch of the imagination, but YOUR choice just the same! But DON’T make foolish statements about something that you have absolutely NO IDEA about!!

Saying that Catholicism is not evil is ridiculous! The garbage of Roman Catholicism is straight from the PITS OF HELL !!! You have NO IDEA whatsoever what you are talking about!"
  • I choose not to name the offender at this point.
I am not trying to start anything I just need some instruction on what to do in the face of such hate. I wish we could band together, make our voices hear and be seen as people who love Christ…and are deserving of His love.
Thank you and pax vobiscum, peace be with you all.
 
I have faced this type of thing before.

All you can do is remain as calm as possible (very bloody hard!) when answering these ignorant folks. Back up your answers with Scripture, and sources that they will accept. I’m afraid the Catechism won’t help you with Protestants because they won’t accept it, at least in my experience, (I assume thats who you are primarily dealing with?). Show them how good a Catholic can be by bringing Christ to them, point out the good things that have been done by The Church. (They probably only ever learn about the bad). If you know a knowledgeable priest who they would be willing to talk to that might help as many Protestants have a very negative view of the priesthood and talking to a holy priest might help reverse that stereotype.

Dr. Scott Hahn has written some wonderful books that would help you.

Pax Vobiscum

In Christ,
Irish
 
latingirl said:
I am not trying to start anything I just need some instruction on what to do in the face of such hate.
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The first thing I noticed was that it was short on facts and long on evaluative opinion. The first thing you might do is challenge the person to present the facts underlying the accusations. Just moving the discussion to the realm of facts would accomplish much.
 
Yeah, it is unfortunate, but let’s face it: We’re no angels, either. We have our enemies, we have our conflicts, we have our issues.

There’s nothing much that can be done. Hopefully, however, we can choose not to stoop to their level… I think that’s the best way of letting this Anti-Catholicism vanish; simply by letting our own prejudices towards other groups vanish.

Ironically Yours, Blade and Blood
 
latingirl said:
I firmly believe that Ant-Catholicism is the new prejudice.

Please read this (written by A CHRISTIAN!) and tell me if these words are at all Christ-like:
"You need to learn more about the heresies of Roman Catholicism, well at least learn SOMETHING about Roman Catholicism before you shoot of your mouth about it! To say that some of the major doctrines of Roman Catholicism are off, shows that you have hardly (if any) knowledge of Roman Catholicism! Roman Catholicism is complete HERESY and GARBAGE!

I was born and raised in an area that was and is 85% Roman Catholic! The Roman Catholic Church Rectory where the Priests lived was 8 houses away from my parents house! My wife was raised in Roman Catholicism. You have NO IDEA whatsoever how evil and deadly Roman Catholicism is!! Tolerate it if you wish, that is your choice! NOT a wise one by any stretch of the imagination, but YOUR choice just the same! But DON’T make foolish statements about something that you have absolutely NO IDEA about!!

Saying that Catholicism is not evil is ridiculous! The garbage of Roman Catholicism is straight from the PITS OF HELL !!! You have NO IDEA whatsoever what you are talking about!"
  • I choose not to name the offender at this point.
I am not trying to start anything I just need some instruction on what to do in the face of such hate. I wish we could band together, make our voices hear and be seen as people who love Christ…and are deserving of His love.
Thank you and pax vobiscum, peace be with you all.
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At least its not replete with anti-Catholic proof-texts like I hear on tv.
 
latingirl said:
I firmly believe that Ant-Catholicism is the new prejudice.
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It’s not new. It’s the same old prejudice in different guises. It’s been going on since day 1 and will go on until the last day. Rejoice in your persecution and take comfort in the promises of Christ and the sufferings of the martyrs.
 
Are those statements Christ-like? I don’t really think so. Let’s talk about what is Christ-like.

Humility and humbleness. If you are having a hard time God teaches us to turn the other cheek and remain silent against our prosecution that is done in His name.

You have to remember that hatred and distaste for the Catholic Church isn’t a surprise to anyone. It’s expected. Satan hates that which is holy, Jesus knew that people would be prosecuted in His name, read the beatitudes, He prepares us for this.
 
It’s impossible to even attempt to “talk” rationally and objectively to someone at an intellectual level that in an emotional state of mind. They are in “broadcast only” mode and do not want to hear a word from you and are probably looking for a fight. There is nothing to be gained by engaging such a person while in this state of mindset.

The only way I know to get through to such a person takes a lot of personal discipline and restraint. It takes “shock therapy”. Surprise them with a completely unexpected and counter intuitive response when they go on a rant like this. The idea is to make them recognize in themselves how outrageous they sound and to feel disgraced by their own conduct and go silent enough for them to discover their own inner conscience telling them “wow I need to chill, that was way over the top”. If there is not enough personal self-respect or maturity though then it will take a protracted approach that most don’t have the time to deal with.

Basically you need to be “Christlike” in how you respond - which is easier said than done since they will try to draw you in at an emotional level and push your buttons since they really want a fight (to no particular end other than to feel superior). In fact, it’s almost as if the person is possessed - and they are. At the core of this person’s argument is a hurt and an outrage - probably over something that happened to them personally or to a close friend or they are manufacturing and projecting perceptions of the same to buttress their own self identity. These kinds of people are often of the “victim mentality” type where everything to them just seems to happen to them - they imagine because of other people’s failures and faults. It’s a way they try to pass responsibility for their own lack of happiness and misery onto others and make everyone except themselves guilty for their unhappiness. That requires making somone else the victim so they can feel empowered. Pity people like this - they are a miserable lot.

Behind it all this sort of person feels isolated, is probably a loner and is thus really looking for a friend and somone to help them become happy - be that person. In essence you need to be their victim to win them over (just like a slave makes the master dependent on him in a sort of relational jujitsu turn about). This requires that you be strong - strong women are naturally very good at this.

Back to shock therapy:
I’d recommend saying something like “Well God bless you - what did Catholics do to you and your family to make you feel so hurt and cause you so much consternation that leaves you so severely emotionally damaged and disturbed?”. The idea here is to get him to either admit that he really is hurt or to flush out if its nothing but ego and character flaws speaking. If the latter case he will say something like “me permanently damaged and disturbed by mere Catholics - you got to be joking!?” Get him telling “his story” - that makes him dependent on you as a listener since even the bully wants an audience for his soapbox to feel relevant. From here you need to switch his mental state to get him speaking to you at an objective level after he vents some of the emotion. Let him imagine that you are coming around to see his point of view (and try to be sincere about it). Be careful to not engage at an emotional level and become defensive yourself though. Eventually you can exhaust the emotional energy and get him emotionally fatigued and speaking at adult-adult level of interaction rather than a naked rant once he sees that he has your ear since he really does want attention and that is addicting to this personality type.

No doubt the person does have a story to tell or more likely a second hand story from someone that knew somone who allegedly knew somone else etc. who was allegedly abused or maltreated etc. Thus it is probably fundamentally naked bigotry and “projections of convenience” or something they learned from their parents or the people they grew up with. Some people just need enemies to feel relevant.

In all probability what happened was nothing more sinister than something like the Catholic Church members near his home used to park their cars in front of their house and block their driveways, and loitered near their home after Sunday mass and inadvertently encroach on his space - maybe words were exchanged. Or even something as silly as the organ music was too loud or midnight mass kept them awake and perhaps there was a confrontation and somone was sued and the big rich Catholic Church prevailed in court against his poor victim parents etc. If you have the time - get to the bottom of “his story” and see what it is that really disturbed him. If it was something as trivial as this then explain that it was unfortunate that city zoning laws would permit a church so close to a residential area since its easy to empathize how that might have caused problems and made him feel the way he does.

Essentially this will require that you spend a lot of time to win him over. Its essentially trust formation and making him a friend. If the forums you are in are conducive to this sort of longer term “project” - make it a personal goal and challenge to try to win him over. Treat it like a complex game that is a real challenge. Converting somone from hard-core anti-Catholicism to even neutral acceptance and helping them get out of the sewer to find some self-respect can be very personally rewarding. But it it will take time and there will be relapses - the devil never likes to let his most heavily controlled toadies, vassals and puppets get completely out of his hands. And this what you are dealing with here…

Good Luck,
James
 
latingirl said:
I firmly believe that Ant-Catholicism is the new prejudice.

Please read this (written by A CHRISTIAN!) and tell me if these words are at all Christ-like:
"You need to learn more about the heresies of Roman Catholicism, well at least learn SOMETHING about Roman Catholicism before you shoot of your mouth about it! To say that some of the major doctrines of Roman Catholicism are off, shows that you have hardly (if any) knowledge of Roman Catholicism! Roman Catholicism is complete HERESY and GARBAGE!

I was born and raised in an area that was and is 85% Roman Catholic! The Roman Catholic Church Rectory where the Priests lived was 8 houses away from my parents house! My wife was raised in Roman Catholicism. You have NO IDEA whatsoever how evil and deadly Roman Catholicism is!! Tolerate it if you wish, that is your choice! NOT a wise one by any stretch of the imagination, but YOUR choice just the same! But DON’T make foolish statements about something that you have absolutely NO IDEA about!!

Saying that Catholicism is not evil is ridiculous! The garbage of Roman Catholicism is straight from the PITS OF HELL !!! You have NO IDEA whatsoever what you are talking about!"
  • I choose not to name the offender at this point.
I am not trying to start anything I just need some instruction on what to do in the face of such hate. I wish we could band together, make our voices hear and be seen as people who love Christ…and are deserving of His love.
Thank you and pax vobiscum, peace be with you all.
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As far as being new, no, it’s been going on in one form or another for 2000 years. The form we are seeing today have been going on since the 1950s with people like Jack Chick. You can find some information here shakti.trincoll.edu/~dcruzuri…c/history.html

I would like to know where this “note” was found. Was it dropped off at your house? Church? This act in and of it self has the potential of being classified as a Hate Crime depending on where the information was put and how they put it there.

Last summer, or early spring, I got a call at work (I work at the Sheriff’s office) from my pastor who asked me to file a complaint. Sometime between the hours of 9:30 am and 4:00 pm someone entered our church and painstakenly incerted the comic book “The Death Cookie” in each and every missalette. No one noticed it until Mass had begun at 5:00 and several young people were terribly disturbed to find them, as well as several of the adults, one of which brought it to Father’s attention. That is when he called me and then he gathered up each and every one of them, put them in an envelope (there were approx 150 of them) which were put into evidence at the sheriff’s office.

A little while later I received a call from the pastor of another parish in our county. The same subject or peole working with him had left copies (printed from the computer) of the same comic book on each and every vehicle in front of the church during their 5:30 pm Mass. Another report was made and officers/deputies were requested to watch the areas the next morning during the Masses (and just before) at the 4 churches in our county. The subject and his friends had been going all around the diocese to different parishes and doing the same thing. Once his vehicle had been identified, he was contacted by law enforcement and the Chanceries (he lived in a neighboring diocese) and told to stop and, if he was caught again, charges would be filed. We still have to be vigilant because there is some circumstantial evidence that he may be back but nothing concrete.

There are many websites such as the following:

cuttingedge.org/articles/rome.html
carm.org/
christianparty.net/catholicprotestant.htm
catholicarrogance.org/

Each of these, along with many, many more propagate mistranslations, misunderstandings, and statements taken out of context to prove their point.
These acts are most definitely organized do they plan actions on specific days, of course, and they are always on the lookout for an opportunity to ridicule the Catholic Church. They specifically search out Catholic households, businesses, etc… And this information and attitude is passed down from pastor to congregation every sunday, from parent’s to children, every day. By our Baptism, it is our responsibility to learn the truth, gently correct misinterpretations and erroneous “facts” and defend out faith and the Church.

1 Peter 3: 12-17

12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears turned to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against evildoers."
13 Now who is going to harm you if you are enthusiastic for what is good?
14 But even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. Do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them,
15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,
16 but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.
17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
 
latingirl said:
You have NO IDEA whatsoever how evil and deadly Roman Catholicism is!!
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Sadly, I hear similar comments all the time on the other Christian forum I’m on. (and that forum is the most mild of the ones I’ve been on). I tend not to respond to substance-less, mouth-foaming posts like this. I try to just be an example of charity and when someone does make a factual error about Catholic teaching I try to present the correct teaching from the Catechism or a council or whatever. Avoid polemics! :o
 
I like this advice from St. Ambrose:
St. Ambrose of Milan:
To avoid dissensions we should be ever on our guard, more especially with those who drive us to argue with them, with those who vex and irritate us, and who say things likely to excite us to anger. When we find ourselves in company with quarrelsome, eccentric individuals, people who openly and unblushingly say the most shocking things, difficult to put up with, we should take refuge in silence, and the wisest plan is not to reply to people whose behavior is so preposterous. Those who insult us and treat us contumeliously are anxious for a spiteful and sarcastic reply: the silence we then affect disheartens them, and they cannot avoid showing their vexation; they do all they can to provoke us and to elicit a reply, but the best way to baffle them is to say nothing, refuse to argue with them, and to leave them to chew the cud of their hasty anger.
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🙂
 
Teflon93 said:
There are several excellent books on anti-Catholic bigotry. Why not check out “The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice” and see if it resonates with your experience?

amazon.com/New-Anti-Catholicism-Last-Acceptable-Prejudice/dp/0195154800/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231334226&sr=8-3

Take heart—Christ promised us the Church would be hated and despised as it is not of this world; their bigotry is perfect confirmation that we’re in the right place. 👍
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I have this at home and need to get off my lazy end and read it someday. :o
 
Genesis315 said:
I like this advice from St. Ambrose:

🙂
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Thanks for sharing St. Ambrose’s advice - that was excellent.

I am laughing here. It’s kind of comical to imagine a person winding themselves up, pumping up with adrenaline and vitriolic energy, dieing to release it all, then essentially being metaphorically told through body-language: “sorry I am not your mate, and besides you give me a head ache and I’m not in the mood - you will have to entertain yourself”.

Just imagine the spectacle of watching the person implode all that pent up negative emotion inward on themselves as they either draw blood on their own tongue biting hard to restrain it or let it all go to fly away in a noisy retreat flapping their lips like a bat out hell. 😃

I suppose normal protocol of the *St. Ambrose Stratagem *😉 would necessitate the sensible precaution that if there are any small furry animals or innocent children in the vicinity they should first be compelled to vacate the immediate blast and fallout zone - or at least get them safely outside kicking reach… 😃

James
 
latingirl said:
I firmly believe that Ant-Catholicism is the new prejudice.

Please read this (written by A CHRISTIAN!) and tell me if these words are at all Christ-like:
"You need to learn more about the heresies of Roman Catholicism, well at least learn SOMETHING about Roman Catholicism before you shoot of your mouth about it! To say that some of the major doctrines of Roman Catholicism are off, shows that you have hardly (if any) knowledge of Roman Catholicism! Roman Catholicism is complete HERESY and GARBAGE!

I was born and raised in an area that was and is 85% Roman Catholic! The Roman Catholic Church Rectory where the Priests lived was 8 houses away from my parents house! My wife was raised in Roman Catholicism. You have NO IDEA whatsoever how evil and deadly Roman Catholicism is!! Tolerate it if you wish, that is your choice! NOT a wise one by any stretch of the imagination, but YOUR choice just the same! But DON’T make foolish statements about something that you have absolutely NO IDEA about!!

Saying that Catholicism is not evil is ridiculous! The garbage of Roman Catholicism is straight from the PITS OF HELL !!! You have NO IDEA whatsoever what you are talking about!"
  • I choose not to name the offender at this point.
I am not trying to start anything I just need some instruction on what to do in the face of such hate. I wish we could band together, make our voices hear and be seen as people who love Christ…and are deserving of His love.
Thank you and pax vobiscum, peace be with you all.
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I have read such attacks by a fundamentalist site www.jesus-is-lord.com and witness attacks from my Pentecostal Uncle and Aunt and from Muslims.
 
Caution guys. I have seen a lot of anti-Catholic links being published here. This is against the rules. First of all we don’t want to advertise for them and link them into this site’s google references (automatic when referencing other sites) nor do we want to give them traffic from this forum and redirect people there since it just improves their search rankings and lets more miscreants find them more easily.

James
 
But the population largely ignores the quieter struggle of those not of the Christian or Catholic faith. According to the CIA as of 12/7/07, the population’s faith in the United States are as follows:

Christian: (78.5%)
Protestant (51.3%)
Roman Catholic (23.9%)
Mormon (1.7%)
other Christian (1.6%)
unaffiliated (12.1%)
none (4%)
other or unspecified (2.5%)
Jewish (1.7%)
Buddhist (0.7%)
Muslim (0.6%)

And thus you can quickly see that Christian, Protestant, and Roman Catholics are not the oppressed minority. They are the overwhelming majority. Quoting CNN, “You have seen men of God, and men who kill in God’s name.” These men of god provoke attacks against religion. The people are striking back. For example. Look at elections for positions of importance. In most places, an atheist would not even be allowed to run, not by law, but by popular pressure, if he came out and said he was an atheist. Or consider the case of one man attempting to peacefully warn people against a evangelistic preacher telling heart patients and diabetics that they were safe, and they could throw away their medicine. When he asked for the police to protect him from potentially violent reaction, they asked: “Are you campaigning against 'im or fer 'im?” And when they heard the answer that he was against him, the policeman replied: “Then I’ll be sure to personally come over and spit on you when I pass you.”
Isn’t that oppression? But it’s never noticed.

My advice: Quit whining. Quit crying about all the supposed attacks. Once you stop your neighbors from making stereotypes [Or hypocrisy, as stated in this very thread, where:
“CentralFLJames” said:
[On anti-christians]It’s impossible to even attempt to “talk” rationally and objectively to someone at an intellectual level that in an emotional state of mind. They are in “broadcast only” mode and do not want to hear a word from you and are probably looking for a fight. There is nothing to be gained by engaging such a person while in this state of mindset. Sounds like someone I know. Oh wait, sounds like a whole group I know. Maybe, the Church? Hmm. Tell me there isn’t truth in that. Or maybe
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CentralFLJames:
No doubt the person does have a story to tell or more likely a second hand story from someone that knew somone who allegedly knew somone else etc. who was allegedly abused or maltreated etc. Thus it is probably fundamentally naked bigotry and “projections of convenience” or something they learned from their parents or the people they grew up with. Some people just need enemies to feel relevant.
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Sounds kinda like the telling of the crucifixion of the Christ! And of every other oppression the religions of the bible!]

And when someone can quote a holy scripture and use it against the holy ones, it needs some fixing.
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I was giving books written by X-Catholic nun Mary Ann Collins by a protestant friend. I have never seen anything more anti Catholic than these books. I did a little research on oh little Ms. Mary Ann Collins and learned this nun does not exist, but is a fictitious person created by anti catholics to forward their campaign. Half way through the book I gave it back to my friend, and told him I will not accept this book, nor the claims made in it because it is from a fictitious person.

Personally I could not believe antiCatholics would create fictitious Xnun, or Xpriests, to some how validate their position. Not only is antiCatholicism a campaign but lucrative business based on lies.
 
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