Why are Catholics so reserved, generally speaking, about sharing their faith?

[WhiteDove]

Why are Catholics generally shy and not on fire about evangelizing or speaking of their faith???

 

[RobedWithLight]

I believe it may be due to the fact that many Catholics, who are themselves the product of inadequate/poor catechesis, honestly feel that they may be incapable of defending Catholic beliefs adequately when challenged by intelligent or knowledgeable non-Catholics. It may thus be a form of “playing it safe”, which can be summed up as the principle of** the less you talk, the less mistakes you make; no talk, therefore no mistake**.

This is a sad fact.

Gerry

 

[Chris_W]

Yep. Lack of confidence in the ability to defend one’s position. Same goes for conservatives compared to liberals, by the way (in my opinion)…which I guess is kind of the same thing isn’t it?

 

[GoodForm]

RobedWithLight:

I believe it may be due to the fact that many Catholics, who are themselves the product of inadequate/poor catechesis, honestly feel that they may be incapable of defending Catholic beliefs adequately when challenged by intelligent or knowledgeable non-Catholics. It may thus be a form of “playing it safe”, which can be summed up as the principle of** the less you talk, the less mistakes you make; no talk, therefore no mistake**.

This is a sad fact.

Gerry

I’m afraid you just punched me right between the eyes. Thank you!! May I have another.

 

[jeffreedy789]

all of the reasons you listed in the poll, i think, are probably true. also - protestants tend to be much more evangelically minded for several reasons - one, evangelism is the ONLY thing that many prot groups teach as important for spiritual growth - personal growth, i.e. ‘working out our salvation with fear and trembling’, or developing our own relationship with God through personal piety and holiness, is not emphasized. so catholics appear to be much less evangelism minded compared to theses groups.

also - it is, when you think about it, much easier for protestants (most groups) to evangelize than catholics - there is less to explain as far as mysteries, there are fewer objectionable teachings, and the process of becoming a protestant, in most churches, is simple - pray a prayer, and start going to our church.

one more thing - in most protestant churches, the average member is taught the Bible, and evanglism, and the need for learning the Bible and evangelism, in every church service, for about 30-45 minutes every week, on sunday night, and on wednesday night. the avg catholic is taught these things much, much less. it’s not emphasized as much as personal holiness and Christ Himself - in the Eucharist.

 

[Jermosh]

You should add a “All the Above” tab.

 

[Steven_Merten]

Many Protestants have sure made evangelization appear as a dirty word in the world. You start talking about Jesus to a nonbeliever and they automatically associate you with the evangelical Protestants who are mainly looking to put another knotch on their belt.

I had a roomate from India. He said, “watch this” as he looked at his watch. He pointed out how a TV evangelist toted his bible around. He then said, "five, four, three, two, one and pointed at the screen as the evangelist started to talk about sending money. It was amaising. Every seven minuetes, to within seconds, the evangelist would talk about sending money. My roomate would laugh at all the makeup they wore and phoney, showy emotions.

In a sence, while the Catholics are over in poor countries trying to feed, clothe and house the poor as Christ commanded, the evangelical Protestants are putting up radio towers. I heard one minister say, “Why waste your time and money feeding people when you should be spending as much money as possible converting as many souls as possible by ‘spreading the word’. As long as you get them into heaven (meaning they say ‘I accept Jesus as my personal saviour’), that is what counts.” The once saved always saved, now move on strategy.

I have freinds who are divorced numerous times, fornicators, and people breaking other commandments. I let them know what Jesus says about all these things. I tell them about loving God. I do not seem to get very far as far as getting them to go to Church or lining the hall of RCIA with new recruites.

Where I do feel comfortable is with those who already are seeking Jesus, with a genuine heart, who are already Christian. In reality there already are billions of people in the world who aline themselves as Christians. With these people I enjoy showing them all Christ’s teachings from the bible to increase their everlasting fruit of love for God.

Parables Painting Pictures of Paradise

NAB LUKE 12:31"Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides. Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be."

NAB MATTHEW 21:43

"Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."

NAB MATTHEW 13:44"The reign of God is like a buried treasure which a man found in a field. He hid it again, and rejoicing at his find went and sold all he had and bought that field. Or again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant’s search for fine pearls. When he found one really valuable pearl, he went back and put up for sale all that he had and bought it."

Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
www.ILOVEYOUGOD.com

 

[csr]

Reticence may have different causes. A self-identifying Catholic who doesn’t accept the teachings of the Church implicitly regards religion as a matter of choice, and implicitly grants to others the same latitude they have adopted for themselves. A devout Catholic who does accept the teachings of the Church may not really have to go about discussing his faith, instead being able to describe portions of it when asked by those who observe that he is in some way different: this would be the light-unto-the-world / example paradigm. Most Catholics, whether they are docile toward Holy Mother Church or rather more carnal in choosing to accept and reject Her, are somewhat uncertain about aspects of the Church’s history, and tend to accept–unnecessarily–the conclusions of Protestant-Masonic-Humanist society, viz. that time and space are infinite, that we evolved, that the earth is not the center of Creation, that the understanding of faith in previous centuries was an expression of backwardness, and a range of other things, such as that there is not really one true faith, or that there is not really only one true way to worship God. An inadequate sense of history (large-scale history) is at issue here, and is very widespread among Catholics. Today’s catechesis has broadly adapted to the P-M-H conclusions and tendencies, and tries to accommodate them to the extent possible.

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For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. *

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

I find that many “cafeteria” Catholics who call themselves good catholics take strong offense to discussion of the truth of the whole faith, particularly where they dissent. They have bought the “tolerance” movement of the hedonist culture and react very negatively to the Truth.

 

[rarndt01]

I believe it is because little Jimmy and Suzie were baptized as Catholics at infancy and attended Catholic schools and Mom taught little Jimmy and Suzie to do this and do that when attending mass. In other words they learned all the right things to say, but never received biblical instruction on WHY they do what they do.

                                 Being a former Baptist for thirty years all I ever learned was bible, bible, bible but no liturgy or ritual. So now I am learning the liturgical part of Catholicism. The millions of Catholics who were baptized as infants learned the liturgical procedure and right responses to say, but never learned the scriptural and spiritual reasons for doing what they do.

                                                   Ron from Ohio

 

[Exporter]

1. Who challanges a Catholic? It’s the “well-schooled” intellegent Evangelical. In general, Catholic laity DO NOT know WHY they do what they do and why they believe what they believe.
2. Catholics usually DO NOT know how to answer when asked for Biblical references for what they believe.
3. Some Catholics DO NOT think that Protestants are CAPABLE of being Catholic - so why bother.

 

[Mijoy2]

Why wasn’t “no reasonable opportunity” one of the options?

So often, here in these forums, I read posts refering to discusions / disagreements etc, that Catholics have had with non-Catholics. I am always left wondering, how do these discussions originate??

It simply NEVER comes up in either, my family, amongst my friends or at work. In fact, discussing the faith doesn’t even seem to come up when I meet people from the church. It simply seems that discussiing the Faith, outside the realm of a Bible study, is not a topic of discussion.

Some of y ou may say, “well bring it up”. It just never seems appropriate. It would be out-of-context and simply odd.

 

[Annunciata]

Many Catholics don’t know the basics of the faith very well

**I voted for the above because I have been there; I am ashamed to say. *

*As a convert, I just got the basics to bring me into the Church and felt deep embarrassment when some JW would come to my door … I found that I didn’t really know enough about the Faith or how to defend it. **That said, I began attending every religious ed. program I could find! **As a catechist I had to go through training to become certified as well. *
*To this day I continue to take courses and seminars. This is one of the main reasons I’m here on CAF…to learn and to share.:yup: *

 

[rarndt01]

Allow me to recommend this book to EVERY Catholic seeking to give a BIBLICAL answer to what they believe. This book is simply written and should be on every Catholic bookshelf. Trust me, you NEED this book

The Scriptural Roots of Catholic Teaching-by Chantal Epie

You can buy it at www.Amazon.com

 

[csr]

rarndt01:

The Scriptural Roots of Catholic Teaching-by Chantal Epie

Seconded. This is from Sophia Institute.

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“These words of Scripture have more authority than the most exalted human intellect.” ST, I, Q 68, a 2.

 

[csr]

rarndt01:

I believe it is because little Jimmy and Suzie were baptized as Catholics at infancy and attended Catholic schools and Mom taught little Jimmy and Suzie to do this and do that when attending mass. In other words they learned all the right things to say, but never received biblical instruction on WHY they do what they do.

Being a former Baptist for thirty years all I ever learned was bible, bible, bible but no liturgy or ritual. So now I am learning the liturgical part of Catholicism. The millions of Catholics who were baptized as infants learned the liturgical procedure and right responses to say, but never learned the scriptural and spiritual reasons for doing what they do.

This point of view demeans our holy religion, and exalts the erroneous book learning of the Protestant heresy. “Little Jimmy et al.” get a sermon, and all the sacraments of the Church (that are applicable to them). They did receive additional education in their faith. They know why they do what they do: we are not called to be Scripture scholars. Meanwhile, Protestants deny the monarchical and hierarchical character of the Church, and make up their own meanings and beliefs. It is a mark of the heresy that a person goes about advocating this or that explanation of verses in Holy Scripture.

It is not true that Catholics learned liturgy, while Protestants learned deeper comprehension. Catholics have more than liturgy: we have all the sacraments, all of Holy Scripture, and sound instruction. We have piety. Protestants have brittle and highly diverse views of a subset of the Scriptures, and lack much more besides. They are quick with verse quotations, but this is a false participation: God makes wise the simple. Catholicism still bears within itself the noble sensus fidelium which permits us to reject error without necessarily knowing exactly how to refute it: and yet so often the refutations are so much more simple than the errors. This is yet another reason why Catholics do not always explain their faith: it is so obvious that the person in error really enjoys his error, and that the truth would be almost a disappointment for him. Gone would be the lengthy disquisitions and bizarre theories. To replace that would be praying the psalms, and contemplating Our Lord’s Passion and our sins. It is my observation that incoming Protestants have to be careful to avoid bringing with them their prior anti-Catholic bias, which manifests itself in so many ways. Scott Hahn, for example, can’t resist inventing strange theories. He is so accustomed to delving into Holy Scripture and seeing what he can make of it.

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et curabant contritionem filiæ populi mei cum ignominia dicentes
pax pax et non erat pax Jer 6:14

 

[SFX]

I don’t have any answers to this, I can only tell you of my own experiences. Within my own family we seldom discuss anything. For one thing, as soon as I say something I’ve heard or seen I am either one of two things: A-holier than thou/hypocrite or B-shot down that that is not what is really going on. So speaking for myself, I guardedly speak to my mother. But to my daughter it’s a, I would say, constant conversation. I try to be as open as possible with my limited info and try to chatechise every, and I mean EVERY chance I get. I am up against a lot!:twocents:

JMJ
SFX

 

[Maccabees]

The liturgy of the mass is taken entirely form guess what?

The scripture.

Do this in Remembrance of Me.
Some fundie forgot those words in scripture.

 

[Toni]

I do think that Catholics feel they don’t know enough about their faith. But when I was growing up before Vatican II it really seemed like it was the job of the priests and nuns. In fact before Vatican II you had none of these orders with all the laity working as Apostles out there.

So as much as I believe that there was a lot of good before Vatican II I know these orders would never have had the ability to turn the laity into apostles like today. For that I am glad because I think I would have remained a Sunday Catholic.

 

[csr]

One of my favorite books is The Consolations of Catholicism, which is a selection of vignettes of different kinds, from a variety of sources, showing how Catholics have always lived and felt within their faith: how the faith gave them a stability and strength that could come from no Worldly source. The book has been in print–and may yet be–from Roman Catholic Books (that’s “BooksForCatholics.com”).