As another poster and I mentioned earlier, By What Authority, by Mark Shea. I can not overemphasize the significance of that book, since it was a crucial piece in my personal reversion to the Catholic Church. I think it will be helpful to you, in that it dispels evangelical protestant myths about “pagan” influence on the Catholic Church in that it points out how Church Fathers who believed the very doctrines we believe today were martyred at the hands of pagans for refusal to compromise the beliefs of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
I know the feeling of being in the “minority” as a young American who has seen his generation of cradle Catholics flock over to the Evangelical Protestant churches. I’ve felt that pain of social ostracism in Christian circles, myself, and it WAS not easy. When, however, I fully accepted the AUTHORITY of the Catholic Church, God gave me courage to boldy proclaim, “Yes, I am Catholic.” Now that I can Scripturally and historically defend the Catholic Church with confidence, the fear of Protestant backlash has dissipated, although I need to be careful to remain charitable, which isn’t always easy. Stand strong, because you are in the Truth. The more you learn about the Catholic Church, the more difficult it will become to see how Protestants can be so blind to what is there in front of their faces. In my case, however, I was once blind to it, too. Once I was able to see (the issue of authority being the #1 issue by which all others fall right into place) it all became so crystal clear. Have patience with your Protestant friends. They are partially blinded. Pray that the veil gets lifted.
The issue isn’t our interpretation of Scripture vs. theirs, as such would likely be a futile battle of butting heads. The issue is our authority vs. their lack of authority. Once I saw that, and realized that there was an authority greater than my own personal interpretation of the Bible, the rest soon fell right into place.
