Teens and the Faith

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I’m pro-life and anti-contraception, most can see that from my posts. I also do not support gay ‘marriage’. Today, I was mocked and laughed at for being these things, in a Catholic school. I was called ‘F***ed up in the head’ and a few other words by my ‘friends’ and peers.

I try to spread the Word of God and all of His teachings, but kids can be ruthless in their ways of making fun of you, mostly when no one else is on your side. I came home in tears today . . .

Could anyone offer some advice or counsel?
 
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Pro-Life_Teen:
I’m pro-life and anti-contraception, most can see that from my posts. I also do not support gay ‘marriage’. Today, I was mocked and laughed at for being these things, in a Catholic school. I was called ‘F***ed up in the head’ and a few other words by my ‘friends’ and peers.

I try to spread the Word of God and all of His teachings, but kids can be ruthless in their ways of making fun of you, mostly when no one else is on your side. I came home in tears today . . .

Could anyone offer some advice or counsel?
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God love you, Victoria. Of course this hurts!

Times like this are when the eighth Beatitude (Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven) starts to have some meaning. Notice that the first Beatitude also promises the Kingdom of Heaven: Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Grand spiritual thinking aside, you might talk this over with a trusted faculty member – one who “gets it” about your position on this. (My daughter went to one of the most prestigious Catholic Schools in the world [yep, it is; she did], and I was dismissed as “out there” because though a non-Catholic at the time, and suggested that a little run-through of Humanae Vitae might be useful . . .) Good advice about when to cast your pearls and when to withhold them might be helpful.
 
i am so sorry. that is terrible and in a catholic school too. i grew up in a catholic school and luckily that never happened to me. You should be really proud that you did not back down even when people were mean. you should really just ignore them and forget about it.
 
Try to offer up all your sufferings to God. Be happy that you can bear suffering in the name of Christ 🙂 You have every reason to be very proud of your faith! I often faced the same sort of ridicule in my Catholic high school, unfortunately; I imagine we all have to live with this throughout our lives. (Incidentally, in my Catholic high school, we were poorly and incorrectly instructed in a number of doctrinal issues, including birth control).
 
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Pro-Life_Teen:
I’m pro-life and anti-contraception, most can see that from my posts. I also do not support gay ‘marriage’. Today, I was mocked and laughed at for being these things, in a Catholic school. I was called ‘F***ed up in the head’ and a few other words by my ‘friends’ and peers.

I try to spread the Word of God and all of His teachings, but kids can be ruthless in their ways of making fun of you, mostly when no one else is on your side. I came home in tears today . . .

Could anyone offer some advice or counsel?
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Like others have recommended, offer up your sufferings in league with Our Lord. Pray the Chaplet of Our Lady’s Tears asking for courage. It is short and beautiful, and reminds us that our sufferings are so little compared to those of Our Holy Mother, and Christ the Ever-Sacrificing.

I remember a particular story, though I have forgotten the author, that may help you:

There was once a man who felt his burden was so terribly hard to bear, that in despair he fell to his knees in fervent prayer and supplication, begging Our Lord to lift it from his shoulders. Our Lord said to him, “My Child, if you wish to take another cross, come with me.” at this, our Lord removed the sorrowful man’s cross and took him into a large room. This room was full of crosses, some towering high into the darkness. All were so huge, yet there was a particular cross at the back of this room, small enough to fit into his pocket. The man pointed and said “Lord, may I have that small cross?” our sweet Jesus merely chuckled and said “But this was the cross you gave to me when you came in.”

We should remember how light our burdens truly are, rejoice in your suffering my friend!
 
😃 I want to thank you guys, your words helped. RomanRiteTeen, I’ve heard that story before, I like it… thanks for reminding me of it.
 
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Pro-Life_Teen:
I’m pro-life and anti-contraception, most can see that from my posts. I also do not support gay ‘marriage’. Today, I was mocked and laughed at for being these things, in a Catholic school. I was called ‘F***ed up in the head’ and a few other words by my ‘friends’ and peers.

I try to spread the Word of God and all of His teachings, but kids can be ruthless in their ways of making fun of you, mostly when no one else is on your side. I came home in tears today . . .

Could anyone offer some advice or counsel?
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Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kindgom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you, because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prohets who were before you. (Mt 5:10-12)

You’re in good company PLT. Also, you’re about 10 to 15 years ahead of your peers. You’ll move out on your own and when you’ve expanded your world beyond where you are now, then you’ll meet other people like yourself. Be nothing but proud of yourself-- I have friends almost 3 times your age who don’t get it. You do.
 
PLT, here is another way to look at it. It’s a huge gift. This is cutting time off of purgatory for you. Rejoice in your sufferings.

There was a saint (I can’t remember which) who was granted a brief stay in purgatory before his death. The experience totally changed him. Purgatory was so painful to him that he would constantly mortify himself.

Every suffering is a gift from God, the problem is we are like a baby getting a computer for a gift. We just don’t want it.

-PioMagnus
 
Dear Pro-Life Teen,

You are so lucky. That’s all I can tell you. I was raised without any sort of faith and attended a public high school. I was one of those people who thought abortion, contraception, gay marriage, etc. were okay and I didn’t understand why any sane person would think they weren’t. 😦

I’m sorry that those people’s behaviors toward you hurt you. When they say mean things, remember how lucky you are to have faith in God at such a young age. Take comfort in the fact that unlike so many you have a chance to live a good life from the beginning and to be a guiding light and an example to those who do not have faith.

I can tell you that the people who put you down are hurting inside continuously, and possibly without realizing why. After all, how can a person be happy when he is far away from God?

Pray for those people, because they sure need your prayers.
 
That is beautiful Victoria. This world is filled with doubt and indifference…you are like a shinning beacon within such darkness.

Never cease to be kind…it will lay burning coals upon their heads as they realize their err.
 
Well, Victoria, I have had that problem in the past. Only it was in a public school…

Luckily, people listen to me now because I stole the show at our school awards assembly last year… Sometimes our kind just need a little reason to believe. Try doing other things first, like establishing a name for yourself where people will listen to you, and take flight from there. People still think I’m a bit of a zealot and messed up in the head, but they will at least consider what I say.

Just remember how people thought of Jesus at first.
 
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Pro-Life_Teen:
I’m pro-life and anti-contraception, most can see that from my posts. I also do not support gay ‘marriage’. Today, I was mocked and laughed at for being these things, in a Catholic school. I was called ‘F***ed up in the head’ and a few other words by my ‘friends’ and peers.

I try to spread the Word of God and all of His teachings, but kids can be ruthless in their ways of making fun of you, mostly when no one else is on your side. I came home in tears today . . .

Could anyone offer some advice or counsel?
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Hey, im only 22 so i know what yer talkin about as I went through it. Personally, if someone called me “F***ed up in the head” over a matter of dire consequence such as faith, they would be swallowing red chicklets. I would debate whether im expressing righteous anger or committing a sinful act. That’s me though…

Your best plan of action is to remain calm and not let them get to you, teenagers inevitably give up if they think they can’t get to you.

Prayer will help, but you have to realize the practicality of the situation.
 
I’m attending a Catholic school, and it’s often VERY difficult to defend the Faith, and not just to defend it, but LIVE it…

One friend of mine in particular has no time for “religious” ideas. She often uses the f-word in the same sentence as taking the Lord’s name in vain, and when I politely bring her attention to the disrespect she has just shown towards not only God, but all the Christians in the room, she laughs and often responds sarcastically.

Don’t give up! Everything said in this thread already is so true and should fill you with hope.

Remember to remain open to all friendships. It’s amazing the changes that can take place within others after hearing through us, (by the grace of God) the Truths we know to be beautiful and life saving.

God bless!
 
Just remember, like the bible teaches us…if you do Christ’s will, the world WILL hate you. So if you are not being hated, you probably aren’t following Christ’s will fully. Also, the devil hates those doing God’s work…so he will attack you like crazy.

Just keep up the fight, and pray for those who persecute you.

I only wish I was 1/2 as good a Catholic as you when I was your age. You are going to do great things!!! (well you probably already are!)
 
I went to Catholic school myself & then went on to get a degree in secondary education, so I guess I know a thing or 2 about this. 😉 First of all, as I said to a student who came to my class in tears because another student had made fun of her for expressing an opinion on something, the ridicule says much more about that person than it does about you. People that can’t express disagreement in a way aside from personal insults (the obscenities just compund it) are basically very insecure themselves and they feel powerful when they attack someone else. It may not seem like much consolation at the moment (I got teased a lot myself when I was young, so believe me), but you will gradually understand that these are people are really rather sad.

Second, all teenagers feel the need to rebel and be part of the “in” crowd, and sad to say, the ones in Catholic schools are no different. They’ll pick on someone who’s trying to be faithful to the Church’s teachings just because it makes them seem “cool”. Also, remember that a lot of them might come from homes that aren’t very supportive of the faith - often parents who aren’t very religious send their children to Catholic schools just to boost their SAT scores & improve their chances of getting into a good college.

The others have given you very good advice, so I won’t add too much more except to say that this sort of thing will happen to you as an adult, too. I spent almost 40 years on this earth before someone had the gall to insult me face to face for being a Catholic (I was raised & continue to live in a predominantly Catholic area, so I guess I took a lot for granted). Remember, our Lord told us to expect this sort of treatment when we stood up for Him…
 
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