Hello All:
Please pray for my co-worker, Andy, who is hostile to the Church and to Catholics, though a former Catholic himself. Please pray for his conversion and wisdom.
Yes, he will be in my prayers. But considering that I was a nominal Atheist a few days ago for a couple of days because of several issues I had with God, I think I might have some insight into the way he thinks (of course, this is pretty much only a guess, and you have to use your own personal discernment).
Your co-worker may be angry and hostile to both the Church and Catholics because deep down inside he knows that it is the Truth. You need to figure out why he left. I nominally left for a couple of days
, and believe me, you wouldn’t even want to know the thoughts in my head that I had about the Church and Catholics in general. Your co-worker is hostile to the Church because that is what is needed to keep himself in the delusion that he made the correct choice.
If your co-worker did leave the Church for similar reasons that I had (I was incredibly frustrated at why God put me into some gigantic quagmire), the best thing you can do is to sit down and talk with him. Show him that he is not alone in what he is facing. Show him the empirical truth that Catholicism is genuine; that is, show him about approved Marian apparitions, Eucharistic miracles, the miracles of saints themselves and in everyday people’s lives , the fact that the Catholic Church is the oldest continuing institution on the planet with 2000+ years of history, in turn demonstrating Jesus’ promise that the “gates of Hell” would not prevail against the Church. Whatever you do, do not “force” him into coming back…he will only be more angry. Give him a little bit of freedom to breathe. It will certainly be interesting to see if he comes back, and I wish you and him the very best.
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
Amen.