Not sure what to say to non-Catholic family members

[Stac4Grace]

I have a neice that is 7 years old and has bipolar along with some other issues. My mom takes care of her during the day while my sister works. None of them are Catholic and none of them go to church except every now and then my neice will go to the Baptist church that they are supposed to belong to. My 8 year old daughter and my 7 year old son have been taking turns spending the night with grandma so they can play with my neice. Seems like everytime they do, religion comes up. Now my neice is very bold and right to the point about everything so when they talk about religion she thinks she has all the “right” answers. My son tried to ask his grandma to tell them the “right” answer and she said I could tell you what I believe is right in my heart but it’s the not the same as you believe. My neice told my son that you have to accept Jesus into your heart and that’s how you get to Heaven. When my mom tell me this stuff I usually roll my eyes and don’t say too much. I am a convert to the Catholic faith and when my mom found out I converted we had it out big time. We finally made amends and for the most part we don’t discuss religion for fear of ending up fighting again. Is it o.k. that I keep quiet about it, at least until I know I need to defend our faith? I really don’t want to cause any problems between us again. I would appreciate your (name removed by moderator)ut on this touchy situation. Thank you and God bless!

 

[dhgray]

Hey Stac,

I too am the only convert in my family. I tell my children that it is better to say, “Let’s agree to disagree” than to blow one’s faith by being baited in to a religious argument. As for you neice, tell you children to respond, “Yes, we have accepted Jesus into your hearts.” and leave it at that.

I’m reminded of the saying: “It is better for that you keep your mouth shut and have people to call you a fool than to open your mouth and prove them right.”

 

[dizzy_dave]

Have you and your mom ever discussed religion, why you believe what you do? If you can both sit down and discuss things maybe you can plant some spiritual seeds. Live your faith the best you can, go to church, love God and be a good example to your mom and neice, maybe then they will see that us Catholics are not so bad. Good luck I will pray for you. I think you’ll also benefit from learning your faith better, just for these reasons, it’s good to know it anyway.

 

[Arlene]

Well, as Catholics we believe that there is more to salvation than receiving Jesus into your heart. But its not a bad place to start, I would say. Don’t all of us Catholics have Jesus in our heart?
So its right as far as it goes.

My daughter went to a Baptist camp for a week earlier this month. She came home all excited, that she “invited Jesus to be her personal Lord and Savior” I told her He always was. Really? Yes, you eat His Body and drink His Blood every Sunday, how much more personal can you get?

I would let that kind of stuff go, until they start in on actual Anti-Catholic stuff. Kudos to your mom for telling your son that she believes differently, and not trying to undo your teaching.

Arlene

 

[Stac4Grace]

Thanks for your replies! My son also told us that when they were talking about this that my neice told him he was going to Hell because he was not Baptist. I’m sure my mom was sitting there and didn’t correct her either because when I was Baptist that is what we were taught. How sad that as young as she is, she is already learning how to judge people! He was upset about it but my husband and I reassured him that God is the final judge and he determines where you go. I wish things could be different but they may never be. My husband says to pray for them and pray for their conversion. They think I am being brainwashed in the Catholic religion. One thing I don’t understand is if they are such good christian people, why does the pastor and his people badmouth Catholic people so bad? God bless

 

[susie_g]

They badmouth Catholicism because they really believe Catholics are not saved. In my experience as a former Evangelical, they just want everyone to come to know Jesus. If they believe that you don’t know Jesus, they will tell you so. It’s not so much out of hatred, as out of concern, albeit mistaken. Not that there aren’t people out there who just want to be right, etc, but I think most are really concerned for our future salvation.

I am also the only convert in my family, and we just don’t talk about it much. It gets too emotional for my mom. For awhile she was pushing me to let my kids attend “Awana” at their church. It’s a great club for boys and girls, but their whole premise is that the Bible “alone” is the word of God. I didn’t feel comfortable sending them, and made up excuses why I didn’t send them. She kept at me, trying to make it work, and I finally told her that I didn’t feel good about sending them to a club that really drills into them this “Bible-alone” theory because it goes against what I believe as a Catholic. After that she totally backed off. I should have been upfront from the beginning, but was trying to spare her feelings. I’m not afraid of getting into it with them, I have some great resources and “arguments”, but I don’t want to push something on them that they are not ready to hear. Right now I am praying hard for my parents and siblings. Both my dad and my younger brother are pastors.