Helping a friend into the church

[moderate_trad]

I have a Hindu friend who has shown an interest in Christianity over the past 2 years. She’s a spiritual person, and I’ve noticed that she’s been integrating certain distinctly Catholic viewpoints into her outlook on life. She also has positive views to the Catholic Church and, in a roundabout way, has suggested that she might be interested in converting to a monotheistic religion but doesn’t want to be disloyal to her Hindu culture and heritage. Other than praying for her, can anyone suggest how I can GENTLY nudge her in the direction to Catholicism w/o offending her? Inviting her to Mass isn’t an option since we live far away and are largely in touch via phone.

 

[North_of_Nod]

That’s great! I hope she’ll give the Catholic Church a try someday. I would suggest telling her that following Christ does not mean she has to give up her culture. I’m in the process of becoming Catholic, and I also know that I can still appreciate my Jewish heritage. It might also be helpful to explain to her that “catholic” actually means “universal.” People of all backgrounds and cultures are Catholic. The Church is represented in almost every nation. Maybe she could watch EWTN to get a better grasp on our beliefs.

God bless you and your friend!

 

[Peter167]

Find the common ground!

Research what she believes, and when it comes up, discuss how the two beliefs are similar.

Don’t push things, but it sounds like you already know that…

The other thing I would say is learn how to talk about our beliefs objectively using more reason than the Bible or the Catechism. People who have no background with the Bible can come to respect our beliefs if you can explain them in common sense terms and not just “because it says so in the bible”