How I overcame fear of proclaiming the faith

[frankpetrucci83]

I have always been a strong believer. Many have said that I have a strong faith, although what others call faith, I call reason. Really, they are two sides of the same coin. I never went out of my way to publicly proclaim Catholicism. And when I say publicly, I mean among friends. I do not have a single Catholic friend other than my wife and two people on facebook who live across the country. To compound the problem, all of my friends who were Christian were anticatholic. One day, God simply revealed to me that it was time to overcome this and not care. The minute I began proclaiming the faith and God in general, I was attacked from every possible angle, and accused of every possible ulterior motive one could think of. I have been accused of arrogance for standing by Catholicism as truth and not opinion, accused of pride for not backing down against assaults on the faith. I have ironically been accused of ignorance from agnostics. I’ve almost got into several physical fights over the matter. The most difficult thing was how people would lie in wait for me to commit the slightest sin so that they may accuse me of being a hypocrite. After enduring all of this, I have never felt better in my life. There is nothing more liberating than a clear conscience. After encountering all of these heretics, I became puzzled as to what I should do…continue arguing or not…I decided to take Thomas Aquinas’ advice and pretty much not even talk to them unless I had too and it has worked out wonderfully. I have focused on a completely Catholic circle of people which has led me to the great Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. I am so glad to have made this decision and am amazed at how when I look back, I realize how foolishly afraid I was to be rejected for my faith. Now, I live for the moment it is challenged so that I can share in Christ’s sufferings and defend the truth, not to mention all of the knowledge one acquires through the study of apologetics, Love God, Peace be to you

 

[John21652]

It’s called Moral Courage.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

This is wonderful. I am not there yet but am praying for courage so I can always speak up and defend the faith when needed.

 

[Bev17243]

I have always been a strong believer. Many have said that I have a strong faith, although what others call faith, I call reason. Really, they are two sides of the same coin. I never went out of my way to publicly proclaim Catholicism. And when I say publicly, I mean among friends. I do not have a single Catholic friend other than my wife and two people on facebook who live across the country. To compound the problem, all of my friends who were Christian were anticatholic. One day, God simply revealed to me that it was time to overcome this and not care. The minute I began proclaiming the faith and God in general, I was attacked from every possible angle, and accused of every possible ulterior motive one could think of. I have been accused of arrogance for standing by Catholicism as truth and not opinion, accused of pride for not backing down against assaults on the faith. I have ironically been accused of ignorance from agnostics. I’ve almost got into several physical fights over the matter. The most difficult thing was how people would lie in wait for me to commit the slightest sin so that they may accuse me of being a hypocrite. After enduring all of this, I have never felt better in my life. There is nothing more liberating than a clear conscience. After encountering all of these heretics, I became puzzled as to what I should do…continue arguing or not…I decided to take Thomas Aquinas’ advice and pretty much not even talk to them unless I had too and it has worked out wonderfully. I have focused on a completely Catholic circle of people which has led me to the great Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. I am so glad to have made this decision and am amazed at how when I look back, I realize how foolishly afraid I was to be rejected for my faith. Now, I live for the moment it is challenged so that I can share in Christ’s sufferings and defend the truth, not to mention all of the knowledge one acquires through the study of apologetics, Love God, Peace be to you

spread the God’s word, right on man:thumbsup: I know how you feel because all my friends are Protestant and my desire to inquire into RC church as well as OC, led to me loosing several friends(same reason as you). But guess what-I’m not sorry

 

[LaSainte]

I’m sorry but you sound very arrogant about your faith. And shunning all non-Catholics? Do you all just sit arond patting each other on the back and talking about how great it is to be Catholic? If Jesus had taken that approach, Christianity would have never even gotten off the ground.