Oh, I can understand your frustration --I hate being interrupted–but I do think there could be reasons that he did interrupt (some good and some not so good).
Some people are just not ‘good’ on the phone. Maybe he was filling in for the parish secretary (who usually does Father’s calls), or this was something he doesn’t do very often, and was trying to ‘follow’ guidelines for what the parish ‘needs to know’ and so he needed to be ‘sure’ that he got things down.
And it is so hard to judge tone sometime. You took “you’re NOT baptized” as “OHMYGOD, you ARE NOT baptized. . .that is so dang strange.” but it could have been, "ah, you are baptized, as in "Ok, so this isn’t a Catholic who has been baptized, and it isn’t a Protestant seeking RCIA so that I will need to know if it was a TRINITARIAN baptismal formula. . .this is a person who was not baptized. Check. I’ve got it down now.
And “Atheists” could have been him just ‘repeating’ so that he put it down right. And it does have a difference between, “well, my parents were baptized but they thought I should wait until I wanted to”. . . I mean, HE wasn’t asking you, “So, what are your parents? Atheists? OH MY GOD NO!”. . .he was just repeating back. . .which a lot of people do just to be sure they heard you properly because it is important for both of you that they DO get the info correctly.
But if you’re already nervous I know it could come across as ‘judgmental.’ Heck, it could even have been judgmental. Just because we’re Catholics doesn’t mean we are a judgemental jerk free zone. You’ve been on these forums long enough to have seen that !
But it still isn’t ‘official’ teaching. If the guy was a jerkaroo, it still isn’t going to interfere with YOUR exploration of the Church or YOUR reception of the sacraments. If he wasn’t. . .if it was an honest ‘misunderstanding’. . .well, you haven’t turned him into a pitiable wreck who will now throw away HIS faith. . .so relax.
Make yourself a nice cup of tea, realize that Satan really, really, really wants you to ‘give up’ and is going to do everything he can to put potential barriers in place. . .even if they are only barriers that you ‘think’ you saw or heard. HE doesn’t care if they’re real–he only wants to try to stop you from finding the truth. Don’t fear him–God is on your side–but remember, God will give you the strength and then it is up to YOU to TAKE that strength and do what you need to do.
We’re all pulling for you!!!
Try calling back later. If you do get the same fellow, just say, “I had called a little earlier, and I’m a little sensitive about this because this is all so new for me and I’m afraid that I may have been too quick earlier on the phone to get upset. Please try to understand, I don’t mean to be rude but this is all new and strange to me, and I feel like people are judging me when they repeat what I say. . .so is there some way that you and I can talk about some things in the church that will have both of us comfortable and understanding each other? I would so much appreciate that.” You make yourself clear, he isn’t operating ‘in the dark’, you both work together and nobody gets upset.
