C
CariB
Guest
Hi all,
I visited a neighboring parish this weekend which offers confession after its Sunday Masses. While I waited for Mass to end, I struck up a conversation with a teen [15 year old] who was selling the Sunday newspaper outside of the Church.
During our conversation, I learned a few things about his faith and faith background. He described himself as a Christian [non-RC], but admitted his does not attend church much. His mother’s family is a mix of Catholic and Protestants. His father’s family Protestants and Muslims. However, for whatever reason, he is living with an uncle who is muslim.
The young man is very interested in becoming muslim like his uncle who is teaching him about isalm. When I asked why he wished to become muslim, his reply was that it had kewl traditions. I also asked if there was anything he disliked about Christianity, he replied no.
We talked about 20 minutes. From our conversation, it’s apparent he does not know much about Christianity or Isalm. He admitted as much. I encouraged him to learn about his Christian faith before changing to a different faith. He seemed open to this idea. However, I did not push the conversation further because he seemed to become uncomfortable, so I changed the subject.
I would have liked to have gone further to evangelize this teen but was unsure what to do. At this point, I think it best to help him discover and to fall in love with Christ. For now, I believe trying to lead him to the Catholic Church would probably be a big turn off so do not think CCD or RCIA would be a good solution. A Catholic youth group might be a good solution but my parish’s youth group is not geared to teens and I do not know of any good, close-by youth groups.
Should I encounter this lad again, any suggestions on how to lead him to Christ? On how to best encourage him to explore his Christian faith?
Book suggestions for him? for me?
Thanks in advance!
GBU all!
Cari
I visited a neighboring parish this weekend which offers confession after its Sunday Masses. While I waited for Mass to end, I struck up a conversation with a teen [15 year old] who was selling the Sunday newspaper outside of the Church.
During our conversation, I learned a few things about his faith and faith background. He described himself as a Christian [non-RC], but admitted his does not attend church much. His mother’s family is a mix of Catholic and Protestants. His father’s family Protestants and Muslims. However, for whatever reason, he is living with an uncle who is muslim.
The young man is very interested in becoming muslim like his uncle who is teaching him about isalm. When I asked why he wished to become muslim, his reply was that it had kewl traditions. I also asked if there was anything he disliked about Christianity, he replied no.
We talked about 20 minutes. From our conversation, it’s apparent he does not know much about Christianity or Isalm. He admitted as much. I encouraged him to learn about his Christian faith before changing to a different faith. He seemed open to this idea. However, I did not push the conversation further because he seemed to become uncomfortable, so I changed the subject.
I would have liked to have gone further to evangelize this teen but was unsure what to do. At this point, I think it best to help him discover and to fall in love with Christ. For now, I believe trying to lead him to the Catholic Church would probably be a big turn off so do not think CCD or RCIA would be a good solution. A Catholic youth group might be a good solution but my parish’s youth group is not geared to teens and I do not know of any good, close-by youth groups.
Should I encounter this lad again, any suggestions on how to lead him to Christ? On how to best encourage him to explore his Christian faith?
Book suggestions for him? for me?
Thanks in advance!
GBU all!
Cari