What do you make of this?

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ELKnight

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I was at a social event with a group of friends and friendly acquaintances. Most of them are protestant and some are converts from Catholicism. They started making fun of the Church. I wasn’t laughing so someone was like “hey stop, so-and-so is Catholic.” The person responded (still laughing) “oh, I’m sorry, you know I was joking.” And everyone kept laughing. So I just got my stuff and left. And they came after me and apologized, after which I did leave.

I am kind of mystified. If these people are my friends, or we are friendly with each other, why would they ridicule my Church and laugh about it like that right in front of me? I am wondering if they have any personal respect for me or if they think I’m stupid or something else. I just don’t know why they would do that. My kids play with their kids and our families do things together so I need to figure out what’s going on there.
 
Sorry that happended to you. Unfortunately, it happens all the time.

I actually hear things like that at work - in the cube next to me…from a Catholic! What I do is challenge him. I research my argument against what he was saying and then at another time I tell him. I have made some progress that way…

I think you did the right thing by leaving. It was better than getting into an argument right there in a flustered state.

I have strated to pray when I hear Catholic bashing. I pray for strength and the wisdom to debate what I am hearing.
 
Good for you for standing up for your Church and leaving! Anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice in the world; most people don’t know what they are saying, they are just repeating what they hear from some other source. Maybe it’s time to take another look at these “friends”?
 
bgic said:
I have strated to pray when I hear Catholic bashing. I pray for strength and the wisdom to debate what I am hearing.
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Catholic1954 said:
Anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice in the world; most people don’t know what they are saying, they are just repeating what they hear from some other source.
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I pray too, and do my best to represent our faith in a calm and honest way. Sometimes it’s easier than others…so definitely pray for guidance!

I agree that many people don’t know what they’re talking about when they bash the Catholic Church. Here’s a quote I love that maybe you can share as a discussion opener with your “friends” next time the opportunity presents itself:

“Not 100 in the United States hate the Roman Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think the Roman Catholic Church is.”
– Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Saying a prayer for you and your family that you’ll be able to deal with this situation and help lead others to the truth. :crossrc: :hug1:
 
honestly?
I’d have to hear the joke to decide if I think it’s offensive or not. And I’d have to consdier the “atmosphere.” Are they trying to be hateful or condescending? Or just laughing at life in general.
Because some Catholic jokes are downright hilarious and I don’t think that just because they are catholic jokes that my sense of humor has to evaporate.
If they are in bad taste though, well bad taste is bad taste.
For example, I think laughing about pedophiles just isn’t funny. ick.
As long as they can keep their humor about being baptist or episcopalian or whatever… well then we can have a good time making fun of our daily lives together with no harm done.
But if one more person asks me, “Did you hear the joke about the mother of 10 boys all named Leroy?” I just might …
well I don’t know, but they best not finish. I mean really? WHY? I’m contemplating retorting with asking why their mama didn’t think of that and seeing if they find the insinuation humorous…:mad: naw. probably wouldn’t do that. but I’d sure be tempted to…:cool:
 
Pray for them. They don’t realize they are mocking the body of Christ.
 
Were you the only Catholic in the group? Were the other Catholics laughing, too? Your comment read as though you were the only Catholic who was not laughing, the other Catholics were sharing the joke.

There are jokes about Catholicism and it’s okay to laugh. Funny things happen at church services and it’s okay to laugh. Remember how Jesus laughed (a little) when Peter promised he would never betray Him? Priests often include jokes in their sermons and it’s okay to laugh.

If you felt that these were actual attacks on the faith then perhaps you should have defended it? For the future, do some reading and decide what you want to say when your faith is attacked.

Leaving was a peaceable tactic; no ferocious argument developed.
 
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been treated this way. If they were just “joking,” why did one person say, “Hey, stop, he’s Catholic.”? It sounds like it was bashing, not joking. And if they are your friends and it was just joking, they should have stopped once you thought it was offensive. Why else would they have apologized? Sometimes it’s hard to know whether what’s offensive to one person is not offensive to another. I just can’t imagine any of my friends doing that to me. On the other hand, did you have a chance to say, “Hello? Catholic in the group,” or something like that?

With regard to your families doing something together, I don’t know how old your kids are, but if you’re concerned about how you were treated, why would you want your children to be around those children? You never know what they could be saying to your children, unknowingly (depending on their age). You should probably talk to your “friend” about what happened.
 
The other Catholic that attended left a few minutes before this happened since the party was wrapping up. Somebody was offhandedly complaining about something small, and the “joke” was something about if they have a problem with that then they would just make that person go back to the Catholic Church and no, please don’t do that, and etc. I didn’t get the humor in the whole thing and since they offered no direct criticism there was nothing to defend. When it didn’t seem like they would drop it I said it was time for me to leave, and I left. They are all aware that I am Catholic, I think everyone that was there has separately asked me which church I attend.

Yeah it was rude, but it was small. If they just dropped it and moved on I wouldn’t have been so angry. I’ll talk to them about it, of course. They are good people, just affected by prejudice as a result of having spent so much time around uninformed Catholics and former Catholics with a chip on their shoulder. I might be the only devout Catholic they socialize with and they have no clue how to talk about the Church with somebody who actually loves it. Or maybe they don’t realize how much it does mean to me, in which case the fault lies with me.

I just can’t figure these evangelicals out. Do they really believe Catholics are Christians? Do Catholics fit in with their worldview concerning the “true church” and the “Body of Christ?” Or are they pretending that they don’t hate the Church in front of me so they can evangelize me? What are they saying behind my back?
 
Rob_s_Wife said:
honestly?
I’d have to hear the joke to decide if I think it’s offensive or not. And I’d have to consdier the “atmosphere.” Are they trying to be hateful or condescending? Or just laughing at life in general.
Because some Catholic jokes are downright hilarious and I don’t think that just because they are catholic jokes that my sense of humor has to evaporate.
If they are in bad taste though, well bad taste is bad taste.
For example, I think laughing about pedophiles just isn’t funny. ick.
As long as they can keep their humor about being baptist or episcopalian or whatever… well then we can have a good time making fun of our daily lives together with no harm done.
But if one more person asks me, “Did you hear the joke about the mother of 10 boys all named Leroy?” I just might …
well I don’t know, but they best not finish. I mean really? WHY? I’m contemplating retorting with asking why their mama didn’t think of that and seeing if they find the insinuation humorous…:mad: naw. probably wouldn’t do that. but I’d sure be tempted to…:cool:
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I agree with this. There is a lot of humor in the Catholic Church. See
Nunsense or Sister Act.
 
Seen it and heard it all the time .Catholic bashing is the last accepted prejudice that is accepted universially yet, if you bash someone else’s religion or race you are called a racist . . .The joke I hear often is the church with perverts that abuse children or another is that catholics are not christians .
 
faith_seeker said:
…The joke I hear often is the church with perverts that abuse children …
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“Joke”? Now just how and in what context could that be even remotly humorous? :confused:

You know I think there are just some very mean people out there. I think the OP probably aught to be more particular who she calls friends. I hear anti Catholic and racist comments at work all the time. I even heard a co worker tell another man that when he was in the service he “got six (sexual act deleted) from a couple *(Extremely offensive slang for an Asian woman deleted) * for a couple apples” when he knew full well I was in earshot and that I was married to an Asian woman. Big difference though… I would never call him a friend!
 
When it comes to Catholic bashing, I have heard it all. I have had people tell me that the pope is the anti-christ. I have had people call me a papist. I even had a co-worker who went off on me one time. She said that the Catholic Church was a Patriarchal institution created by men to suppress women. She said something about the Cardinals being repressed homosexuals who ran around in dresses and that’s why the Church hated homosexuals. Her rant went on for about 10 minutes. She said that only women with no self-esteem would belong to a church like that. Ironically, she was married to a non-practicing Catholic. It wouldn’t have done any good to complain to my boss. She told me that I couldn’t wear a crucifix at work. (She had been raised Jewish.) The same boss had told me that I was not wanted or needed when I showed up for my first day of work.😃 Yeah… I knew I was real welcome there.
 
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