Run in with Mom

[bstcy]

I’m confused and agitated and upset…

I grew up Pentecostal Holiness and my mother is devout to that denomination and refuses to see anything less or anything more.

Today we were in the car and the conversation somehow started about me going into the Catholic Church.

At the end of the conversation she began to rebuke the devil and said that the devil was possessing me to follow the Catholic Church.

Several times she has told others to pray for me that the Lord knows all about it and she is without a doubt referring to my decision to become Catholic.

I’m also confused on how to answer other fundamentalists when it comes to them basically “bashing” me because of misinformation on their part and I have absolutely no clue how to witness without losing my temper.

How do I respond if at all?

 

[1ke]

Many times it is better to ignore them and pray for them.

Your mother is not rational regarding discourse on religion. You can’t say anything that she will accept or listen to.

There may come a time when she is rational and you can discuss things with her civilly. Until you see that willingness to discuss, just pray for her.

 

[hawkeye]

and I have absolutely no clue how to witness without losing my temper.

How do I respond if at all?

Witness by example, and prayer will do more good than arguing, and leaving it in Gods hands.

Probably better not to bring up the subject unless others do, and go about your duties quietly and gracefully, just like Mary.

Plus it seems like your still under your parents authority, so pray, pray, pray, and never tire of it, prayer can work wonders.

Saint Pio…" The Rosary is the weapon."

God Bless !

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I’m confused and agitated and upset…

I grew up Pentecostal Holiness and my mother is devout to that denomination and refuses to see anything less or anything more.

Today we were in the car and the conversation somehow started about me going into the Catholic Church.

At the end of the conversation she began to rebuke the devil and said that the devil was possessing me to follow the Catholic Church.

Several times she has told others to pray for me that the Lord knows all about it and she is without a doubt referring to my decision to become Catholic.

I’m also confused on how to answer other fundamentalists when it comes to them basically “bashing” me because of misinformation on their part and I have absolutely no clue how to witness without losing my temper.

How do I respond if at all?

Don’t even try. Tell them that you appreciate the prayers and will continue to seek God’s will, then change the subject. satan does not want you to do this and many in RCIA are attacked as the Easter Vigil gets near, he just started a bit early on you.

 

[kage_ar]

Thank her for prayers. Thank her for the faith that she instilled in you as a child. Focus on your shared love of Jesus, on your mutual desire for sanctity.

Do not respond to her if she starts to argue. Change the subject, find a way to leave the room, or just give her a hug and say “mom, I’m glad we both love Jesus and that He loves both of us”.

Through your peace and love, she may come to ask you real questions. When she does, find some books about Conversion (the Surprised By Truth books are great) and let her read those.

Just keep praying for her. Perhaps a noven to the Holy Spirit?

 

[surfinpure]

Many times it is better to ignore them and pray for them.

Your mother is not rational regarding discourse on religion. You can’t say anything that she will accept or listen to.

There may come a time when she is rational and you can discuss things with her civilly. Until you see that willingness to discuss, just pray for her.

I agree. If she is not willing to have a rational discussion, then there really is nothing to say. As a grown person, if my mother began “rebuking the devil” in my presence, I would ask her sincerely to respect me enough not to go into spiritual tirades about me in front of me. Pentecostals are known for their “spiritual streaking,” and she may not realize that implying to you that you are demonically influenced, simply because you chose another faith, is insulting and demeaning.

If you can establish some respectful boundaries concerning how she behaves toward you, it would be a step in the right direction, which is toward a meaningful, emotion-free discussion. Of course, if you are still in her house and under her authority, that limits what you can say to her and still be respectful.

 

[jwashu]

Ask her if she will read a book for you that will help her, from a Protestant Fundie perspective to understand some of the mis information she has been lead to believe.

If she will, buy her “Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic” by David Curre.

And pray for her My mom is Southern Baptist and has been all her life. During my journey home I shared a lot of information with her. She was not very open at first. I do not believe she was ever like many of her friend who believe us to be completely wrong, but was “concerned” due to 60 years of misinformation.

One of the books that helped her a lot was David’s book I list above. She said, “because I love you, I’ll read it” She did and made marks throughout the books, looked up verses in her Bible and stuff on the Internet. I’m sure your mother is saying what she is to you out of some sense of love herself. She has been given bad information so long she truly believes it and wants her Daughter to find what she considers “salvation.” I firmly believe that was the hold back on my mom at the beginning as well.

That was over a year ago, while she has not yet started RCIA, she often attends Mass with us and will probably start this fall if all goes well. When I explained to her the Biblical significance of different parts of the Mass, it made it much more interesting for her and much more meaningful. She attended the Easter Vigil for us this year and of course we read more of the Bible at that service than most Protestants will hear in 6 months.

I already find her arguing with the Baptist upstairs often in regards to the Church. I’ve told her if she can argue the Truth of the Catholic Church, she might as well join. Her only hold back is our devotion to the Blessed Mother. However reading Scott Hahn’s Hail Holy Queen helped on that one as well.

Like me, certain things never made sense in Protestant Theology for her I believe. She is not a Biblical Scholar like my father was, I believe if he were still alive they would have both become Catholic when we did.

You are in my prayers!
Joe

 

[bstcy]

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and advice.

Actually I’m 21 and I’m just staying at home with her to take care of her while I’m not in college. I truly believe in taking care of parents when you are in college and refuse to deny that responsibility. Although sometimes I have to remind myself that Jesus never told Mary to go and take a hike…

I’ve realized that I’m going to have to stand firm with my decision and respect my mom and just love her and laugh when she starts praying demons out of me for no apparent reason when there are none.

 

[Podo2005]

I’m confused and agitated and upset…

I grew up Pentecostal Holiness and my mother is devout to that denomination and refuses to see anything less or anything more.

Today we were in the car and the conversation somehow started about me going into the Catholic Church.

At the end of the conversation she began to rebuke the devil and said that the devil was possessing me to follow the Catholic Church.

Several times she has told others to pray for me that the Lord knows all about it and she is without a doubt referring to my decision to become Catholic.

I’m also confused on how to answer other fundamentalists when it comes to them basically “bashing” me because of misinformation on their part and I have absolutely no clue how to witness without losing my temper.

How do I respond if at all?

You need to take time to sit down and pray for those people (including and especially your mom in this case). Also you need to perhaps have little quiet time with the Lord, read your bible for example and let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Not only will it calm you down but it will allow you to think of what to say. My best suggestion would be to try and dialogue with these fundamentalists, rather than stir up arguments ( I’m right, you’re wrong…) because that might just lead to them hardening their hearts ( and I know this from my own experience)

I’ll keep you in prayer too my friend, God Bless you on your journey to become Catholic

 

[reganq]

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and advice.

Actually I’m 21 and I’m just staying at home with her to take care of her while I’m not in college. I truly believe in taking care of parents when you are in college and refuse to deny that responsibility. Although sometimes I have to remind myself that Jesus never told Mary to go and take a hike…

I’ve realized that I’m going to have to stand firm with my decision and respect my mom and just love her and laugh when she starts praying demons out of me for no apparent reason when there are none.

You’ve received some great advice here. I wish these forums would have been around when I joined the Church. I didn’t have such a great network of people for advice.

If my parents ever said something against the Church or one of our traditions, I’d just tell them it was some crazy Catholic thing. I mainly did that because I knew they weren’t really interested in the real answer (nor did I know it-my RCIA formation was rather poor at best.)

Now, I know better and just pray. When your mom starts rebuking the devil, you could say something like, “You know mom, there is a great prayer called the St. Michael prayer. It’s one where we ask for angelic help in our struggle against demons…”

 

[KCtheMommy]

I’m confused and agitated and upset…

I grew up Pentecostal Holiness and my mother is devout to that denomination and refuses to see anything less or anything more.

Today we were in the car and the conversation somehow started about me going into the Catholic Church.

At the end of the conversation she began to rebuke the devil and said that the devil was possessing me to follow the Catholic Church.

Several times she has told others to pray for me that the Lord knows all about it and she is without a doubt referring to my decision to become Catholic.

I’m also confused on how to answer other fundamentalists when it comes to them basically “bashing” me because of misinformation on their part and I have absolutely no clue how to witness without losing my temper.

How do I respond if at all?

I didn’t read your entire thread, but can you possibly back away from them until your journey is over?

You are still a neophyte in our faith – so you don’t have all the knowledge at hand to fight logically with your mother (not that it would matter) so I suggest you learn about Sacred Tradition, as to fight those who want to fight on Sola Scriptura. Read everything you can on today’s Catholic Apologists.

Finally – when it comes up with mom again, simple say:

“I am sorry, what did you say you did last Friday?” or “So what happened with cousin Betty’s wedding?”

If she presses the issue simply say “Sorry mom, this conversation is off limits. I love you, I want to enjoy you – not fight – OK?”

 

[bstcy]

I didn’t read your entire thread, but can you possibly back away from them until your journey is over?

You are still a neophyte in our faith – so you don’t have all the knowledge at hand to fight logically with your mother (not that it would matter) so I suggest you learn about Sacred Tradition, as to fight those who want to fight on Sola Scriptura. Read everything you can on today’s Catholic Apologists.

Finally – when it comes up with mom again, simple say:

“I am sorry, what did you say you did last Friday?” or “So what happened with cousin Betty’s wedding?”

If she presses the issue simply say “Sorry mom, this conversation is off limits. I love you, I want to enjoy you – not fight – OK?”

I know that I am still a “neophyte” when it comes to the Catholic faith… However, I have been studying as much as I can and I’ve called the people at the parish on how to deal with these things and they have given me advice on how to go about it.

I have been studying the Catholic Church’s teaching on Sacred Scripture and Tradition and how to answer…

So far I feel I’m doing okay.

As for mom, she’s coping now… I tend to try to divert the conversation and if I have to, I remind her that I’m not changing, she’s not changing so let’s agree to disagree.

As for backing away, that seems like a way to show that I’m not set on becoming Catholic (in my views) but I try not to strike up the arguments and try to research on how to answer faithfully as a “soon-to-be” Catholic.

Why should I be scared of how they react when I know in my heart that the Catholic Church is the True Church even if I don’t know all the Traditions and teachings just yet? – That’s my perspective on this situation after much prayer.