Support for Missionaries in poor countries?

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Dewman

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I belong to a Christian Motorcycle Group who holds an annual Run for the Son ride to raise money to support missionaries in poor countries. These missionaries are evangelical not Catholic but are still working to bring people to Jesus. If fact I believe I am the only person in our local club who is Catholic the rest are multi-denominational, again working to bring lost souls in the motorcycle community on the highways and byways to Jesus.
How should I feel about working with this group is it still the right thing to do to help lost souls find their way to Jesus even though the group is not promoting the Catholic path to salvation? In fact some of the members are past Catholics who changed to Bible only based faiths.
Looking for advice and direction, great people but is it agreeable for Catholic to spread the word with non-Catholics or I am I giving a mixed message of salvation by faith alone with these people?
Thanks for any replys.
 
Thats a tough one, I almost joined the CMA, but didn’t when I decided to come into full-communion with the Catholic Church and then my Motorcycle got repo-ed, but that is another story. I work with non-Catholic Christians in a recovery ministry and many of them are “ex-Catholics”. I don’t shy away from the fact that I’m Catholic and it has drawn many of the “ex-Catholics” closer to me, I first knew many of them before coming into full-communion. I’m more active with Catholic related activies and I’m not shunned by my non-Catholic bretheren.
I tithe to the Catholic Church.

Are these poor countries, poor Catholic countries? It could be troubling if the missionaries are envagelizing in countries that are Catholic, such as in Central and South America, the Philippines and etc.,

Support of the it’s initial ministry, among motorcyclist, could put you in the place where Christ could use you to lead fallen away Catholics back into the faith. This is a tough one. I’ll pray for you.

Have you thought about starting a Catholic parallel ministry? Maybe this is what God is preparing you for.

My prayers for you.
 
I’m a life-long rider, too, and have seen CMA members all over the country. I’ve never been aware of them doing a lot of evangelizing, though. Mostly they seem to just be a visible presence at gatherings, holding worship services, etc. I’ve never really made myself aware of their particular theological bent, but have assumed they are Protestants.

I’m not motivated to participate with them, as I don’t much like large gatherings of motorcycles. These events seem pretty idiotic to me, now that I’ve grown older and less able to tolerate loud pipes saving lives, LOL. I would never donate to any Protestant missionary effort, unless it was clearly non-theological, ie not out to convert people. I do think it is a good thing to be a Catholic presence among Protestants, and to not be shy about sharing a distinctly rational Catholicism with them in a non-pushy manner. Lots of Protestants are amazed to find true believing Catholics who know their faith are are able to present it logically. As well, it is a good thing to just be friends with people and share the love of Jesus, without having to argue religion over every little item.

I just realized, in all my years of riding, I’ve never known a Mormon rider. I wonder if Mormons avoid motorcycles purposely, or is this just an accident that I’ve never known one.
 
Tough call. I was more active in the Christian Sportbike Association, and I was kinda keeping an eye out for fallen away Catholics so that if they were to get re-interested in God I would try to steer them back to the Catholic faith. I even tried to recruit Catholics to ensure that it was not a fundamentalist-only organization, and had my parish site one of the motorcycle blessings. Sure, there would be debates regarding Catholicism with some of the radical anti-Catholics, but nothing I couldn’t handle. In fact, I think that being exposed to the Bible more can help one grow in the faith. Things were OK until they added a sola scriptura faith tenet last year so I just did not pay my member dues at renewal time.

Watch out for two things:
  1. What are their faith tenets that they expect members to believe? Is it compatible with the Catholic faith?
  2. You may have answered this already, but who dominates the group, and how do they view Catholicism?
Also watch out for:

–when they give out Bibles, it will most likely be the protestant versions
–they may have Sunday outings that involve going to a protestant service; this may be problematic if it interferes with your Sunday Mass obligation or if it casts doubts in your mind about Catholicism, so please be sure you are strong in the faith if you plan on getting involved, which can itself lead to anothe rcomplication:
–if you are strong in the faith and you encounter radical anti-Catholics and you are anything like me, you may encounter problems simply because you will want to defend the faith and clear up misconceptions and fight false accusations
 
Thanks to all for your replys.
The missionary support does go to South American countries, so I will not be donating to this. The chapter is protestant, however there are is nothing to sign as far as following their Bible only based beliefs, just believe Jesus is our savior. As one writer commented about large rallys; I really don’t like them either or for that matter large group rides, so I think I will be backing away from this organization. I can live my Catholic beliefs without having to defend them or have them questioned as I pursue my hobby of motorcyling.
Thanks again for your support and answers to my questions.
Dewman
 
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