Need suggestions

[chrissyjp]

I need help.
I am a recent convert to the church. Back in my Protestant days sharing the faith was easy, say the sinners prayer and read the bible and bing bam boom job done. but I finding it difficult simply giving the basics. How does one simply explain the faith. (I messed up my keyboard and cant type question marks anymore) My sister says I talk way above others heads and they dont understand anything I am saying. For instance I was asked the other day why I wear headscarves. I explained that I find that a wonderful sacramental (a term given them by a priest and I agree ) My sister explained afterwards that the person I was speaking to had no idea what I was talking about. ARGH!! this is so difficult. So please please please help me, give me some suggestions on how to do this. Thank you so much for your time

 

[Trishie]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church should give you a thorough background

vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

Above all the bible in which you already have a background.

I often find that quoting the appropriate scripture(s) gets the message across better than any words of my own.

However it may be that you own personal style tends be be quite erudite.
It also may be that you are so enthusiastic that you try to convey the passion rather than the facts, which is great, but both need to be balanced.

I was listening to a very intelligent niece who invariably receives high distinctions for her subjects…but it was a little painful sometimes when she shared her ideas, as she would take an entire verbal paragraph to get to the point.
I mentally apologized to others who had to endure the same from me before I saw the light, and subsequently took my cues from Jesus!

The style that Jesus used, for all people throughout time, is verbally pictorial and very human speech.

A priest once said to me that most people wouldn’t read a lot of the stuff I’d written at that time, because my writing was ‘too erudite’…but I find that simple, straightforward speech or writing is best, remembering always you are speaking to another person. One of my sons tended to write similarly, but when writing his master’s thesis, he was forced to adopt the discipline of clear and direct writing. His subsequent career has benefited from the discipline of clarity that he imposed upon himself, even though he has an encyclopaedic vocabulary.

As you have been Protestant, though,
if you think yourself back to the kind of explanation that would have worked for you and your sister, that might help…

 

[po18guy]

Our Lord said “Peace I leave you, My peace I give you” (John 14:27). Speak to others of the peace of Christ. In the world we live in, what is lacking is not sacramentals, but simple faith and the peace it brings. Sacramentals are not necessary objects, but do greatly assist us in our faith. However, there must be a foundation of faith on which to build. Note that, from the second stanza of the hymn “Amazing Grace”, the lyrics speak of “How precious did that Grace appear The hour I first believed” Some of the most intellectual minds on earth have been converted by hearing or seeing the most simple of all messages. Like a building, faith cannot be adorned or brought to completion without a solid foundation.

Christ’s peace be with you.

 

[chrissyjp]

Thank you for your suggestions. My problem is I love language so I over use it I guess
I have taken more to living out the faith rather then speaking about the faith, likely due to all the negative responses I get for being catholic (which has been both very difficult but a very growing experience). Perhaps I will learn more when teaching RCIA in the fall. Perhaps that is why God wishes to put me there Catholic evangelization 101 LOL. Yes I know sacramentals are not necessary objects but I am loving all there is to find in my new found church and falling in love with all of it. You must understand that I was in the desert for a long time and everything here is wonderful and beyond price I am new convert but an “old” Christian. My faith is what allowed God to lead me here otherwise I would have never converted (I was a hard sell so to speak) I am ever so grateful that God worked on my stubborn soul and took the scales from my eyes so I could see His church for what she truly is and not what I was taught she is. I don’t know how I made it so long without the Eucharist. Anyway I could go on forever and I am sure no one wants that. Thank you again for you time in answering me. God will take the lead, He always does, hey I can’t be that bad at sharing the faith. After all my sister is converting Praise be to God!!

 

[puzzleannie]

I need help.
I am a recent convert to the church. Back in my Protestant days sharing the faith was easy, say the sinners prayer and read the bible and bing bam boom job done. but I finding it difficult simply giving the basics. How does one simply explain the faith. (I messed up my keyboard and cant type question marks anymore) My sister says I talk way above others heads and they dont understand anything I am saying. For instance I was asked the other day why I wear headscarves. I explained that I find that a wonderful sacramental (a term given them by a priest and I agree ) My sister explained afterwards that the person I was speaking to had no idea what I was talking about. ARGH!! this is so difficult. So please please please help me, give me some suggestions on how to do this. Thank you so much for your time

1/ have a firm knowledge and understanding of the issue yourself, which means constant growth in you own faith through prayer, frequent recourse to the sacraments, continuing conversion, daily scripture reading, and ongoing formal study of the Faith. Which you do, because you are on CAF, right?

1. consider your audience and speak to them. be all things to all people as Paul advises. Don’t talk to non-Catholics about sacramentals and Eucharistic miracles and use churchy jargon they are not likely to understand, if they don’t even share your meaning of those words. Use the simplest words that will convey the truth. Use simple declarative sentences.
2. Teach as Jesus taught, by stories, examples, and analogies your audience can relate to, and by approaching each person as an individual, and do all in love, not in condemnation.
3. Speak from your own experience, but do not present your subjective experience as objective truth, and share only what will edify your listeners and illustrate the underlying point you are making. Share your faith, but never your doubts.
4. when somebody asks you a direct question, give a direct action, short and to the point, without digression to side issues. Offer links or sites or places to go for more information if they ask for it, or offer to sit down at another time for a broader discussion if they ask for it. “Why do you wear that thing on your head at Mass?”
   “I wear this veil as a sign of my own desire to be pious and modest in church as it helps my own devotion.” If they ask for more, then give the scriptural quotes and other support.

The General Directory for Catechesis gives the best explanation of “how to do it”. Whatever formal training your parish and diocese offers for catechists and evangelization should be your next step, because it deals as much with “how to say it” as much as with “what to say.”

Perhaps I will learn more when teaching RCIA in the fall. Perhaps that is why God wishes to put me there Catholic evangelization 101 LOL.

Bingo! I can think of no better way to grow in your own knowledge and stronger in your own practice of the faith than through bringing others to Christ through RCIA. For any of you who don’t feel ready to be an RCIA catechist, please consider joining your parish team in any capacity, most importantly as a sponsor. God bless you for answering God’s call to this vital ministry.