What's your view on this Catholic woman converting to a Islam after marrying cricketer husband

[Rozellelily]

I don’t know about changing the age of adulthood as it probably would make little difference in a practical sense.
Regarding teens converting to Christianity (or Islam etc) do they usually stay in the religion for long term?im just wondering because teens are often looking for “something” -a sense of belonging,or something different and less shallow from the norms of what other teens may be doing such as taking drugs,partying (in the negative sense) and binge drinking etc…

For example I see a lot of teenagers and very young adults becoming Christian and going to Hillsong on a regular basis.
Hillsong gives them a “fun” social environment,installs them with strong passion about God/Christianity,is exciting,has great (worship) music,offers them sometimes “impressive” sensory experiences such as strong emotions of “falling in the spirit” (they are often very impressed by this sort of stuff at that age without much discrimination or life experience) etc…
I don’t know though whether they stay Christian though when they become 40,50,60 years old and so on…
Maybe some do,but it’s hard to tell because you don’t really see people of this age at Hillsong.
Maybe they stick them up the back or somewhere else out of plain sight lol.

So do many of these conversions become long lasting or are they just a shallow form of Christianity due to the teens being a bit lost and looking for something ?
It’s worth wondering about because you rarely see teens here in Australia choosing to become Catholic.
It does happen,but it’s very rare.

 

[Rozellelily]

To be fair,I don’t think him or his family are like that (acid attacks etc) and they seem very nice.

 

[Theo520]

So do many of these conversions become long lasting or are they just a shallow form of Christianity due to the teens being a bit lost and looking for something ?

It’s worth wondering about because you rarely see teens here in Australia choosing to become Catholic.

It does happen,but it’s very rare.

Catholics really just don’t evangelize, unless it’s via marriage where one spouse brings the other along. Most protestant denominations have to do it to survive, it’s in their blood so to speak.

 

[Rozellelily]

Thanks.
Maybe she did find something in Islam that was meaningful to her as there are many meaningful things in that religion.
Perhaps this sounds controversial,but the only thing I “don’t like” or wonder about is how her parents seemed completely non chalant and indifferent that she didn’t want to be Catholic anymore (and instead be Muslim).
They didn’t seem at all even a little bit disappointed etc…
Unlike his parents,who did show concern/preference that he married a Muslim.
There are definitely faithful Catholics/Christians in Australia,but there also seems to be some people that are just “loosely so” and/or just born Catholic but not really care much about religious stuff.
Religion is really quite unpopular here in Australia.
It would have been nice to have seen her parents at least teach her about the beautiful and meaningful things that can be found in Catholic faith and encourage it.
At the end of the day,she would still make the decision that seems right and true for her,but it would have been a more informed decision as she would have been exposed to prior learnings about the beauties of the Catholic faith instead of just indifference to it.

 

[Erikaspirit16]

Regarding teens converting to Christianity (or Islam etc) do they usually stay in the religion for long term?im just wondering because teens are often looking for “something” -a sense of belonging,or something different and less shallow from the norms of what other teens may be doing such as taking drugs,partying (in the negative sense) and binge drinking etc…

Studies show that about 1/3 of the converts to Islam abandon Islam after a year or two.

And yes, they’re looking for “something”: a lot of them (watch their videos…) were into heavy drinking, partying, drugs, abusive families, etc. They were searching for “an answer.” They found it in Islam. But of course they could have found it in other religions too.

One of the things in these videos that makes me crazy is that a lot of the converts say things like “Islam helps other people” or something along those lines. They totally ignore Western (generally Christian) aid organizations that are devoted to “helping other people.” In other words, they are deciding on their religion based on ignorance.

 

[Erikaspirit16]

At the end of the day,she would still make the decision that seems right and true for her,but it would have been a more informed decision as she would have been exposed to prior learnings about the beauties of the Catholic faith instead of just indifference to it.

Yes, that would be the ideal. Probably the issue here is that it’s really not about “religiion”–whether Catholicism or Islam. It’s really about cultural identity and / or feeling “special” or “open minded.”

 

[Rozellelily]

How come Catholics don’t evangelise please?

 

[stpurl]

Nowadays evangelization is seen by many as proselytizing. And Pope Francis said the latter was not good. I think a lot of Catholics quite honestly have been scared or guilted into thinking that even talking about loving their faith was somehow ‘pushing it down somebody else’s throat’ (and believe me, a lot of people bellow that even saying "God bless you’ when somebody sneezes is MICROAGGRESSION), and so in order to be respectful and polite they wind up not saying anything at all.

 

[Erikaspirit16]

How come Catholics don’t evangelise please?

No interest. Despite protests to the contrary. Last year our priest (in the US) gave a sermon on evangelization. I responded with an e-mail about two issues: one was the converts to Islam issue I’ve been studying for several years. Another issue was that letters to the editor in our local paper often encourage anti-Catholic comments in the online comments section. I am the only one who responds.

The priest’s response (remember, this is after giving a sermon on evangelization): “Why are you bothering me with these things?” Furthermore, he said that priests (and I assume all religious) in this diocese are forbidden to go online to debate or even clarify positions.

So I wrote to the person at the archdiocese in charge of evangelization. Same questions. His answer? Basically the same–“Didn’t have time” for that.

Online, and particularly Youtube, is where the action is today in terms of people looking for answers and converting. There is absolutely NO Catholic presence there. Yes, there are Catholic videos, but they are not aimed at potential converts or people asking predictable questions. In other words, the battle is online and the Church has abandoned the battlefield before firing a shot.

 

[ATraveller]

Also,scientific studies have shown that some parts of the brain (the pre frontal lobe that controls informed decision making) does not stop developing until a person is in their early 20’s.

This doesn’t mean they are naive,but it does mean that they don’t always have the life experiences or full reasoning capacities to make informed decisions.

To be fair, by the early 20’s it would appear most of the major things are fully developed.

Getting married later is a very recent cultural phenomenon.

Depends on what ‘older’ is. I saw somewhere in England or America or both, the mean or median marriage age has been in flux, moving up and down constantly over decades from 22 to 29.

For example I see a lot of teenagers and very young adults becoming Christian and going to Hillsong on a regular basis.

I have mixed feelings about Hillsong personally. They offer, from what I’ve seen, a not very deep Christianity. I know some from Hillsong-like environments do seek something more ‘complete’ over time and move to ‘deeper’ denominations like confessional Presbyterianism or Catholicism so let’s hope that’s the case for most who leave.

 

[Pup7]

My favorite Muslim athlete? Liverpool’s Mo Salah!

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

4 goals vs Watford last Saturday

Best Catholic? Of course we got Steven Gerrard & even he is amazed by Salah’s iconic performance in Liverpool shirt.

We don’t care about their religious background but you do so I don’t associate myself with hate.

Completely off topic but I’m married to a rabid lifelong fan of the Mighty Reds myself!! Guess it’s true that you’ll never walk alone.

Husband used to swear that if we ever had a son his first and middle name would be Steven Gerrard.

 

[Pup7]

Rozellelily:

How come Catholics don’t evangelise please?

Online, and particularly Youtube, is where the action is today in terms of people looking for answers and converting. There is absolutely NO Catholic presence there. Yes, there are Catholic videos, but they are not aimed at potential converts or people asking predictable questions. In other words, the battle is online and the Church has abandoned the battlefield before firing a shot.

Really? Because that’s where I got all my information when I started researching the faith.

Online. YouTube even has a whole RCIA series from Our Lady Of Good Counsel available.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wha...nPrZAhUB32MKHSc3AS8Q_AUICigB&biw=1423&bih=784

 

[redbetta]

I know Bishop Robert Barron used to engage people in the comments section of his YouTube videos. I’m not sure whether he still does that now that he’s a bishop, though.

Many people also subscribe to the belief that you cannot convince anyone of anything over the Internet, that people only go online seeking to argue or get validation, not honestly learn.

 

[Rozellelily]

Isn’t this a bit sad?
I mean to be discouraged even from (gently,matter of factly,non aggressively etc) clearing up misconceptions or misinformation that people may have about Catholicism…or am I misperceiving things somehow?

 

[ConfusedLucy]

I wonder if the parents were just grateful she was committing to some sort of faith. Many young Catholics fall away and I could see how them following another religion could be preferable to no religion.

 

[Rozellelily]

That’s an interesting point.Maybe.
I don’t know though as here in Australia religion/Christianity is quite unpopular and her parents made no mention of religion at all on the clip just that her dad was happy because he’s a cricket and sports fan.
Sometimes it seems here that sports are 'worshipped" more than God.

 

[Theo520]

Depends on what ‘older’ is. I saw somewhere in England or America or both, the mean or median marriage age has been in flux, moving up and down constantly over decades from 22 to 29.

 

[ConfusedLucy]

These days many are still in education until their 20s. I was with my husband by 20, some people didn’t get why we didn’t marry at 22 but it would have been a disaster, I had only just started my adult working life and he was still doing his phd.

My grandparents all left school by 14 and had started working so by 22 were more likely to be ready for marriage.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

It’s just not cricket

 

[Masihi]

For one we don’t know if she’s sincerely muslim since most of these so called converts marry for love and in doing so Muslims manage to convert them to their religion. Most female converts that became Muslim for marriage or interest in the religion itself, as I’ve seen most quickly regret their action to convert when they actually meet the real Islam and Muslims. Also another thing I’d like to point out is that if she agreed to change her faith due to marriage it seems she was never a devote Christian to begin with. I can point on example in one of my extended Lebanese family members who was Sunni Muslim he married a Maronite Christian, he tried to make her convert at first but she refused and until now is not just a Christian but a practicing Christian and they are still happily married. Another thing to note is that 75% of new converts to Islam leave it within a few years.