How do I help my daughter (age 11) who has been told she isn't saved?

[rdscheirer]

Recently had daughter come home crying because friend and next door neighbor age 10 told her she wasn’t “saved”. I am a convert from Lutheran (2001), daughter attends a Catholic school, her friend attends a Protestant school. Friends mom is former Catholic, Dad is (I guess) Baptist since they joined a local church.

I coach soccer and our neighbor is on the team and usually rides with us to practice. We always have a prayer before practice and games–I have coached for six years–and was offended by some parents over the years who said I and our Catholic girls shouldn’t use the sign of the cross because they said that it was not “Christian”.

I don’t want to get into an us vs. them with our neighbors but if this continues I may have to Evangelize them. I don’t know whether to put this under general apologetics but I really wanted to hear from one of the staff apologists.

 

[Peggy_Frye]

I’m sorry to hear about what you and your daughter are going through. You are in my prayers.

To protect your daughter from further insults, I recommend you pay the mother of the friend a visit as soon as possible. This doesn’t have to be an “us versus them “situation. Simply explain (charitably) what happened, say positive things about her child, and then move on to discuss possible solutions. If the Lord leads you, close with prayer. Your loving approach and willingness to build a bridge to their family will speak to her heart. This is evangelization.

The same applies on the soccer field. Evangelization is not a last resort, but a way of life. Again, guard against the us-against-them mindset. Instead, use prayer and your good example to win hearts and minds (Matthew 5:14-16). Like St. Francis said “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” To further develop your evangelization skills, you might want to pick up a copy of Patrick Madrid’s book Search and Rescue.

To help your daughter learn how to share her faith, I recommend the Friendly Defenders Catholic Flash Cards