Strange Reactions to Catholicism

[NHInsider]

I just had to share this message I got from my mom today. The first line amused me

Hope that you’re having a great Catholic day. Don’t mind me teasing you. It is all done with love. Actually I think it is wonderful that you put in so much time and effort looking into being a Catholic before you actually committed to it. Congrats again and enjoy your Catholicism. Mom

That’s very sweet - it sounds like she’s really trying to find a way to stay connected but finds it a little awkward (which, in a way, it is . . .)

Hope you grow ever-closer as you continue to live your witness!

 

[surfgirlusa_200]

That’s very sweet - it sounds like she’s really trying to find a way to stay connected but finds it a little awkward (which, in a way, it is . . .)

Hope you grow ever-closer as you continue to live your witness!

Thanks, NHInsider!

I’m just really glad my parents haven’t reacted negatively. In some ways it is a little awkward (They were rather concerned about the rules against contraception, and don’t think NFP works), but they’re trying to learn from me and see where I’m coming from. They’re happy that I’m happy, and my mom might go to Mass with me sometime. So, I’m grateful for all of that.

So this isn’t a strange reaction, but it still amuses me; thus I have to relate this conversation between me and my friend today (She’s Baptist):
Friend: “So how’s your Catholic thing going?”

Me: “It’s good…Catholic thing?”

Friend: “Yeah. I didn’t know what else to call it.”

My friend is silly. She didn’t mean anything by it; she’s just glad that I’m happy, too!

 

[1edyson]

Well, I have had several different reactions…

-My best friend told me I was “crazy”

-A lady I attended the methodist church with just said, "hmmm, that’s interesting. And not in an interested way.

-My husband’s best friend has been all for it (and he’s a baptist deacon) up until our confirmation night and he started making jokes about the “magic” of the Eucahrist.

-But the one that tops them all is my mom actually told my sister that she was very disappointed in me that I wasn’t raised that way and that Catholics don’t believe in Jesus.

Although, I will have to say that some people have been interested in learning about the RCC and ask lots of questions - which I think is great!! And there were actually some who were sincerely happy for us.

Tracie

My GF mom holds a very similar attitude. She was non-denominational, but now attends a SBC, but I believe still claims to be NDC, though she was “baptized” into her new church. But she makes a lot of little jabs when I’m not around to my GF. Once she was washing her dog, and my GF said something along of the lines of aww he looks like a nun, when the dog was being dried and was wrapped in a Towel, and my GF’s mom said, first he can’t be a nun, because he’s a boy, and second, he loves Jesus too much to have anyone stand in between them.

Just as a side note, she attended an episcopal funeral once, and made a Jab against the Catholic Priest who was living an "openly gay’ lifestyle. I made the quick correction, nope not a Catholic Priest, but an Episcopal one, they’re Protestant. Shirked it off and she never mentioned it again.

 

[1edyson]

Here’s what I usually get: “Come to Bible Study with me and maybe we can make you an evangelist.” Which I then politely refuse, at the insistence of my mother.

I love being invited to Bible Studies, I like to think of myself as an inside agent for Christ. Though once I’ve gone and revealed my Catholicity and challenge certain opinions and present a reasoned and scriptural backing for beliefs I hold…I usually don’t get invited again.

 

[dzheremi]

I normally get a strange look followed by “…but you’re black.”

This is a spot on observation. I live in Oregon right now, a blindingly white state if there is one, so practically the only place I’m guaranteed to see and interact with black people is at Mass! The population of black Catholics seems to be much higher than the population of black people overall, and they’re not only African Americans, but also foreign nationals from strongly Catholic nations in Africa like Cameroon and Tanzania. In fact, at the university where I go to Arabic lessons, I befriended the Swahili professor (or rather he befriended me!) after he saw me watching a video on Eastern Catholicism in the university library. It was great. I was watching the video, wearing headphones so as to not disturb anyone, and he stops, looks at the video and sees a child being baptized and says “Hey, that’s Catholic! You are Catholic, too? I am Catholic! We should go to Mass together! Where do you go to Mass?!” Through him I’ve learned a lot about Catholicism in Tanzania. It’s really wonderful.

As for people’s reaction to my conversion, both of my grandparents came from strongly Catholic nations (Mexico and Ireland), so I guess it is not such a huge surprise to most people, although people who don’t know me very well still sometimes make off-hand marks, as when a friend of mine who is some sort of lapsed Anglican made the mistake of saying that Catholics aren’t Christian (pressed to explain himself, he tried to be a little more inclusive: “well, you KIND OF are, but…not really…”). The Pope is also almost always an issue, and I’ve frankly run out of ways to explain the lay Catholics’ relationship to the Church hierarchy, so generally I try to stick to things that I think most Protestants would understand: Jesus’ divinity, the 10 commandments, etc. It’s tough sometimes, though, because my non-Christian friends have even stranger ideas of what Catholicism is or is not. A Jewish, practicing Buddhist friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago why it is assumed to be essential that the Church’s teaching on a given matter be infallible! He didn’t understand why there would be a problem if certain teachings were “updated” to fit with the changing times…

 

[rtconstant]

It depends on who it is really. Most non-Christians are to polite to make any reaction even if they feel it. Most of the mainline Protestants (Lutherans, Anglicans/Methodists) seem to think of me as a kindred spirit. After all they have MUCH more in common with me than with other Protestants.

Evangelicals have mixed reactions, some like above are supportive. Some are horrified, most are just confused, by it. The saddest are my parents who while generally supportive (because they’re awesome parents) they think that I’ve lost mind, and that they’ve failed me somewhere along the lines.