How to evangelize to evangelical family members

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I’m in the process of converting to Catholic and have not yet broken the news to my family & extended family, and more than likely won’t do so until I reach a point where I’m absolutely confident that I’m going through with it, which is looking to be incredibly likely.

I don’t have any Catholic family or friends, and in fact I don’t have any friends ATM because I ditched my old group of friends that I hung out with while I was atheist/agnostic and then had a turn around back to Christianity, so I’m at a stage in my life where I need to rebuild from the ground up. My entire family & extended family is protestant, and among them are 3 relapsed Catholics that are now protestant; two uncles, who both married my protestant aunts and just sort of stopped having anything to do with Catholicism, and then a brother-in-law who married my sister.

They aren’t, to my knowledge, the anti-Catholic sort of people. That I know of they’re more or less non-inquisitive and non-reflective people that have very little opinion about it at all. They’re somewhat simpleton but that might be too harsh of a way to put it. How have people in similar situations handled this? I feel like the best starting point might be to just give my parents a Catholic Bible and introduce them to the books they’ve never read before and then work from there.
 
Very gently. Evangelize through your example rather than with words. But do answer questions.

I was just the 2nd Catholic in my extended family. My poor mother cried when I told her I was joining the Catholic Church - she thought I was going to hell. She soon realized that wasn’t the case, and over the years became more accepting of Catholic doctrines. Even my father, who was very anti-Catholic, came to accept many things in the Church.

Mind you, this took years! But it’s worth it to be patient.
 
Along with your Catholic Bible I would suggest getting these materials…

Catholicism for Dummies
catholiccompany.com/catholicism-dummies-p1001687/

Beginning Apologetics 1
catholiccompany.com/beginning-apologetics-1-how-to-explain-defend-catholic-faith-p1111251/

Beginning Apologetics 3
catholiccompany.com/beginning-apologetics-3-how-to-explain-defend-real-presence-christ-eucharist-p1111255/

Beginning Apologetics 6
catholiccompany.com/beginning-apologetics-6-how-to-explain-defend-mary-p1111258/

They will help you to explain the faith and also answer any questions you may still have. There is also a ton of material right here on catholic.com. Just type a subject in the search bar and you will get tracts, videos, etc. You mentioned they are not the anti-Catholic type so you may be able to strike up a conversation by reading these around them. You are in my prayers on your journey to the one true Church established by Christ. God Bless!
 
Perhaps you should exercise patience, and go through the RCIA (assuming that is how you’re entering the Catholic Church)? 🙂

I went through RCIA and finished Easter '09, but when visiting my family, my wife and I attend Mass, inviting them to come along. I never really discussed my conversion with them. It simply is a fact of life now.

The best way that I have found for “evangelizing family” is to simply let your life be a Catholic witness to them. Families may not come around to your beliefs, especially if you have experienced a lot of changes in that area.

I have gotten questions from them about the sex abuse scandal, Obamacare, and “Social Justice” being connected with socialist groups, but as these have little to do with core tenets, I simply provide the best answer I can, and tell them that those issues aren’t in my parish.

I may have opinions about them, but they don’t stop me from worship at Mass.

I try to keep it simple, and just say that my being Catholic is the best way I have ever known to worship my Lord.

Frankly, they’ve never seen me so devout and regular in my attendance at Church, even when I was living at home. I think it shocks them a bit. 😉
 
TK421 said:
I’m in the process of converting to Catholic and have not yet broken the news to my family & extended family, and more than likely won’t do so until I reach a point where I’m absolutely confident that I’m going through with it, which is looking to be incredibly likely.

I don’t have any Catholic family or friends, and in fact I don’t have any friends ATM because I ditched my old group of friends that I hung out with while I was atheist/agnostic and then had a turn around back to Christianity, so I’m at a stage in my life where I need to rebuild from the ground up. My entire family & extended family is protestant, and among them are 3 relapsed Catholics that are now protestant; two uncles, who both married my protestant aunts and just sort of stopped having anything to do with Catholicism, and then a brother-in-law who married my sister.

They aren’t, to my knowledge, the anti-Catholic sort of people. That I know of they’re more or less non-inquisitive and non-reflective people that have very little opinion about it at all. They’re somewhat simpleton but that might be too harsh of a way to put it. How have people in similar situations handled this? I feel like the best starting point might be to just give my parents a Catholic Bible and introduce them to the books they’ve never read before and then work from there.
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I am in a very similar situation. I did not have any family or close friends who were catholic, and after my divorce I am rebuilding my friend base. I have found some great friends in my Catholic Parish when I started RCIA. It’s been great. I broke the news to my parents after I started RCIA. I just told them I was starting to go to a Catholic Church. My Dad asked me a couple questions and we had a good conversation. Then for a few months a question would pop up here or there, or a comment like, “you know those priests are just regular men right.” Or other strange comments so I decided to write them a note. I wrote about 5 typed pages just explaining why I was joining the church (for me it revolved around authority, history, and the canon). I tried hard and told them I didn’t want to preach to them but just clear up why I was converting. The letter opened up a lot of questions and we had some more good conversations. Now they are planning to come check out mass one Sunday :).

Hope that helps, I will pray for you.

…And get in RCIA already!!! 😉
 
Yeah I’m not going to go around proselyting to my family before I’ve completed RCIA, at least not in a rigorous sense. Don’t worry. When the time comes though I don’t intend to rely solely on “set a good example”, otherwise there won’t be hardly any observable difference between me and a faithful evangelical, and the importance to being Catholic is lost.

I’m just mentally and spiritually bracing myself ahead of time, because it’s dawning on me that this is going to be a really big deal and the inevitable "what next? questions are floating up to my head. I’m a future-oriented person… sometimes too much. Everything from my family & friend life, to a potential marital partner, to my career is going to be looked at in a new light as a result.

Thanks for the apologetic materials! I’ll add them to my current list. Catholic Answers was the primary mechanism that my theology-related questions were answered 👍, so I’ve already read through the tracts that concerned me.
 
I just went through a very similar situation. I come from a very protestant background that is pretty Anti Catholic and I just opened up last night actually and told them about my intention to convert and they were actually cool about it. They weren’t thrilled with it but by the grace of God they were collected enough to talk about it like rational people.

I know it is terrifying. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but looking back I feel so dumb. I don’t know your situation but I’ll give you the same advice my friend gave me (who happens to be in Seminary at the moment). “We build up these things in our heads but when push comes to shove, you’d be amazed at how understanding your family can actually be.”

It took me months of praying and research to really feel confident enough in my beliefs and being able to defend it enough before I felt comfortable enough to start the conversation with my dad but I can’t tell you how much better I feel now that it is out in the open.

I’ll be praying for you and your family. I hope and pray your big talk goes as smoothly.
 
As questions come up, I would answer and discuss as best as you can, and then send them directly to Catholic.com. You could always tell them that you had a lot of questions explained here and for more information about beliefs and practices they can look into the site. With all the apologetics resources here it should provide plenty of hours of reading and it is a site set up for people that are curious about the Catholic church.

Initially, you will get a lot of “Why do you want to join?” questions from family, but as time goes on I think you will start to get more questions about actual Catholic teachings and requests to back things up with scripture. Some questions will be very innocent, and others can be very loaded and with the intent to try to discredit your beliefs rather than discuss them. I am Catholic and my family is Catholic, but you would have thought I was running off to a commune to drink Kool-aid when they found out I was going to be one of those Catholics that uses NFP rather than birth control when I got married. I was defending my Faith to the very people that raised me Catholic! I started to get “questions” that were really just attempts to discredit my convictions. I promptly reminded them that they can’t raise me Catholic and send me to Catholic school and then get all surprised when I act like a Catholic…that kind of stopped them. I admit it was snarky, but I had enough with the drama.

Anyway, be on the lookout for the harsher questions, and if they arise try to handle them with as much grace as you can muster. If you’re unsure of an answer, then don’t be afraid to say, “Here’s how I understand it, but I am still learning too, so let’s look it up together”.

Welcome to the Church!
 
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