Real Anti-Catholicism

[Legal_Eagle]

I wonder how many of you run into real anti-Catholicism in your day to day lives. It’s easy to see in chat rooms and on message boards such as CARM. I’m not talking about internet fundamentalists here, I mean people you know or meet in the real world.

I run into lots of people who are completely ignorant of what the Church teaches and why, but only once or twice have I gotten the “silent treatment” after I told someone I was Catholic.

So what about it? Do you encounter real anti-Catholicism in your day to day life? If so, what do you do about it?

 

[Pax]

I have definitely run into it on many occassions. I’ve even had anti-Catholics personally tell me that I am not saved, and that I need to leave the Catholic Church. They have called the Church many names and have made extreme statements about the hierarchy.

I have usually been able to make progress in softening their views, but some people can be pretty extreme. On the other hand, I have many great friends that are non-Catholic and we can speak to each other in Christian love about our Christian faith.

 

[Church_Militant]

I have definitely run into it on many occassions. I’ve even had anti-Catholics personally tell me that I am not saved, and that I need to leave the Catholic Church. They have called the Church many names and have made extreme statements about the hierarchy.

I have usually been able to make progress in softening their views, but some people can be pretty extreme. On the other hand, I have many great friends that are non-Catholic and we can speak to each other in Christian love about our Christian faith.

Oh that! Yeah… me too. Read my testimony.

I was told I seemed like a smart guy and too smart to fall for that Mary worship stuff. I can’t even recount all the loads of hogwash that was handed to me and my best Catholic buddy as we started on the path home to the faith. Talk about a pair of guys who took seriously St. Paul’s admonition to “Carefully study to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2nd Timothy 2:15)

Every a-C source they could find was thrown in our faces day in and day out, for 3 solid years.

Yeah I learned apologetics before I could even spell it.

 

[Pax]

Jesus tells us the following in Matthew 10:25:

“It is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house of Belezebub, how much more will they malign those of his household!”

It seems that we have certainly experienced some of this in our lives.

 

[blessedtoo]

So what about it? Do you encounter real anti-Catholicism in your day to day life? If so, what do you do about it?

Absolutely. And almost always from other (fallen-away) Catholics.

 

[Atemi]

I wonder how many of you run into real anti-Catholicism in your day to day lives.

Not much for me, though I do run into lots of anti-NRCs

It’s easy to see in chat rooms and on message boards such as CARM.

Yes. I run into most anti-NRCs on CARM or other boards.

I’m not talking about internet fundamentalists here, I mean people you know or meet in the real world.

I think most folks keep most of their opinions to themselves in person. There is a time and place for everything, and that time is rarely in normal day-to-day personal relations.

Since these board are specifically designed to air out and discuss the differences, we would probably all tend to see the vast majority of dissent from all sides online.

I run into lots of people who are completely ignorant of what the Church teaches and why

Me too…and many of them are Catholic if I am to be honest.

Any educated Catholic is already aware of this, so this is no news.

but only once or twice have I gotten the “silent treatment” after I told someone I was Catholic.

It depends on your community.

Tell your Catholic family that you left the RCC.

Now there’s some serious “silent treatment”…

So what about it? Do you encounter real anti-Catholicism in your day to day life?

I come more into contact with anti-NRCs myself.

If so, what do you do about it?

I tend to ignore it, but I should be doing more of this:

Rom 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse”

I guess who is an “anti” anything depends on what side of the tracks one’s turf is.

…

 

[Steadfast_love]

The worst I’ve encountered was from my dad, he disowned me when he found out that I was becoming Catholic. Since then he’s had a heart attack and mellowed out. Now he wants me to say that the Catholic church is only a worship style preference. I won’t so he just avoids the subject.

 

[Harpazo]

Being a high school student within the “bible belt” was certainly a shock for most kids I came in contact with. One person hates me now because I’m Catholic. Whenever people ask me why I “changed” I told them it’s because truth is not a personal opinion.

In Pax Christi
Andrew

 

[Gamera]

Rarely. I grew up in Massachusetts and now live in upstate New York. Plenty of Catholics are here, so nobody is surprised to find that we are Catholic. However, I’ve faced my share of harassment for being pro-life. That’s pretty much the kiss of death around here.

 

[Cari]

Oh yeah. My MIL told us that we were going to hell and that by baptising our infants we were no better than the Israelites who sacrificed their children to Moloch (no kidding). That, in addition to the typical “worshipping Mary” stuff.

What did we do about it? Mostly we just ride it out and pray for her. But sometimes it does errupt into a family fight.

 

[SFLCatholic]

Yes, I have. And the funny thing is its always from the Evangelicals. There’s lots of them down in in South Florida.

I love talking and debating religion. But, once I tell them I am Catholic, they immediately start in with the Chick Tract arguments. Its absurd.

Even my Muslim and Jewish friends don’t have the venom or ignorance that comes from the Evangelical/Rapture crowd. Muslims & Jews actually try to understand the Catholic position, while my separated Christian brothers, take to all out name calling; i.e. Catholicism = paganism, Mary devotion = idol Worship, etc.

I learned form a Muslim scholar friend of mine that Mary is revered in Islam. Her Virginity is not questioned nor her status as the Divine Mother of God. I would have expected this from other Christians.

What I think is that the Evangelicals have such a weak argument for thier doctrines, that they have to appeal to emotion when engaged in debate.

 

[theAuthor]

We are actually getting it badly the other way. We are doing the RCIA and one of the people there is extremely anti-Protestant. She told my wife to pray for her parents to be converted. Her parents are AOG pastors! I am sure they are doing just fine.

God saw to it that I came to know Him through Catholic and Protestant Traditions simultaneously, and I have taken it as my mission to not stand for bashing either way, in my prescence anyway. I can understand the theological differences, but the similarities far outweigh them compared to the beliefs of “the world.” One of the first things people say when I witness to them is, “but you guys have so many churches you can’t even work it out amongst yourselves.”

I had to read the CCC for backup, but it’s there. If you are a Catholic bashing your protestant separated brethren, then that attitude is not the attitude of the Church’s official teaching. The CCC teaches that there should be a fraternal knowledge of each other and theological dialogue.

Similarly, protestants should remember this :“By this shall people know that you are my disciples: by the love you bear to one another.” As well as Jesus prayer in John 17.

 

[puzzleannie]

I have found real gritty bitter hate-filled anti-Catholicism most evident among former Catholics and among those who call themselves Catholic but publicly and aggressively deny and denigrate Catholic teaching. They are the ones doing the most damage among the groups for whom I am responsible. In fact, CA has a name for them, it is on the homepage, Wolves in Sheeps Clothing.

 

[Fidelis]

I have found real gritty bitter hate-filled anti-Catholicism most evident among former Catholics and among those who call themselves Catholic but publicly and aggressively deny and denigrate Catholic teaching. They are the ones doing the most damage among the groups for whom I am responsible. In fact, CA has a name for them, it is on the homepage, Wolves in Sheeps Clothing.

Same here. It may depend on what part of the country you live in in or what circles of people you run in, but I most anti-Catholics I run into are ex- or non-practicing or dissenting Catholics (or people who practice no religion) who never miss a chance to slam the Church, it’s teaching, or its leaders. Most of these won’t (or can’t) even discuss it intelligently: they just drop a bomb and run off.

 

[the_phoenix]

So what about it? Do you encounter real anti-Catholicism in your day to day life? If so, what do you do about it?

Mostly from ex-Catholics or non-practicing Catholics. Since on top of publicly being Catholic I’m also publicly pro-life, my former popularity has plunged straight on down through the basement. It got to the point that before my day started, I’d pray to St. Michael, otherwise I’d have been afraid to face some of these people and what they might do.

Then when they took it upon themselves to start the silent treatment in earnest, I again prayed to St. Michael … and was inspired that here was my golden opportunity to live out as a lay person my dream of being a cloistered nun who had taken a vow of silence. I therefore clothed myself in the virtual habit of silence, thought of some nearby Poor Clares and about how I was in solidarity with them, and became actually more peaceful and even cheerful the more antagonistic the shunning grew. Now, many of the people (but not all) who treated me that way have broken down and will talk to me in a courteous manner in which I even sense some respect, though I am under no illusions and don’t expect anything like friendship to reappear unless a miracle were to occur.

What St. Michael helped me see through his intercession which must have brought down the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was that the reason why these people were my enemies was nothing personal against me because they didn’t even see me as a person … They saw me as an enemy who stood for a lifestyle which they didn’t want to be reminded of even by my mere presence, and what I was involved in was, and is, a spiritual battle. That’s what helped me to be cheerful.

~~ the phoenix

 

[Stillkickin]

I guess I led a sheltered life, I was well into adulthood beofre I realized that there were people out there that hated Catholics for ust being Catholic.
I went to a Catholic grade school, high school, and even a Catholic college. When I run into someone who is anti-Catholic I try to be patient, and explain the Catholic position and when they resort to the “old reliable” attacks and name calling, I bite my tounge and offer it up.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

So what about it? Do you encounter real anti-Catholicism in your day to day life? If so, what do you do about it?

Yes. I live in a neighbourhood where there are a lot of frothing-at-the-mouth, loudly vitriolic anti-Catholics.

I make a distinction between folks who have strange ideas about the Church and folks who hate the Church.

With folks who have strange ideas about the Church, I tell em the way it is in a friendly, simply way if they are curious. Or I leave them alone if they are not curious.

With folks who hate the Church, I walk away and avoid them like the plague. If they drag me out into a public confrontation then I ask them to cease and desist, I call the hate squad at the police station, and I tell em the way it is for the benefit of those looking on.

Like drug addicts, there is no talking to hate addicts. They kick when they’re ready to kick with the grace of God. May God have mercy on their souls.

 

[JLSacred]

Other than hearing insensitive and disparaging remarks made about the Church, I haven’t been a victim of any type of persecution. People do seem to think insulting the Church is more acceptable than insulting, say, Jews or Blacks.

 

[ABostonCatholic]

I wonder how many of you run into real anti-Catholicism in your day to day lives. It’s easy to see in chat rooms and on message boards such as CARM. I’m not talking about internet fundamentalists here, I mean people you know or meet in the real world.

I run into lots of people who are completely ignorant of what the Church teaches and why, but only once or twice have I gotten the “silent treatment” after I told someone I was Catholic.

So what about it? Do you encounter real anti-Catholicism in your day to day life? If so, what do you do about it?

I have never run into Protestant anti-Catholics. I’ve encountered many Catholic anti-Catholics, though.

 

[theAuthor]

Actually reading through your posts it reminded me that the worst Catholic bashing I heard was while working at the Mater (Catholic) Hospital. About Popes dying of syphillis, having children, about the Knights Templar, and on and on. Being naiive I was a bit shocked but impressed by their knowledge. It’s left me things to investigate anyway. I used to just stay quiet, not having an answer to history I did not know about.