Originally posted on Cleansing Fire, I decided this needed to be fully re-posted here, too.
To my classmates and fellow Catholic school students:
Many of you scoff at my reading. You laugh at me, and consider Catholicism to be "restrictive" and "stuffy." I would like to formally apologize for your utter lack of catechism and teaching in the beauty of the faith. While I am not personally responsible for this, I can do my level best to teach you as much as possible. All I ask is that you listen and try to learn and understand.
Society is, above all, adamantly anti-Catholic. Don't try to deny it, because I don't feel like arguing this now, but I can prove it. You, my friends, by falling into this anti-Catholic trap, are being fed the illusion that you are rebels. Following the "flow" of what is "normal" is not rebelling. It's like being a nonconformist by being Goth and dressing just like aaaaall the rest of the people in that "type."
Next time you laugh at someone who is truly interested in their Catholic faith, stop and think about it. Why are you laughing? Why are you scornful? Because they are so fascinated with two thousand years of tradition (and Tradition), doctrine, history, and practices that it is worthy of mockery? Perhaps you should do well to consider your own beliefs. And remember this: a very wise man once said, "He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative."
Please try to take this to heart. You have my sincerest apologies for growing up in the DoR, and I hope at least one of you passes this on to your friends.
~Ink
5 comments:
People don't have a problem with your faith. People have a problem with your evangelism. Many students simply don't want to be conservative Catholics. I pose the question: Why do you feel the need to encourage non-Catholics to believe?
It may sound crazy, but I feel the need to introduce people to that which is true, lest they live their lives in pitiable ignorance. But the need is a very real one--many teenagers don't actively recognize the silent search for Truth within them. So they try all sorts of approaches: rebelling against authority, dedicating their effort to some cause which seems great but really isn't, etc. They don't understand the why of the Catholic Church, and therefore typically despise it, because it seems so stuffy and old-fashioned. They frequently overlook the beauty of something so strong, stable, and true that it has lasted two millenia and continues to power onward into a third. And above all, they do not understand that to be Catholic is to seek the Truth. Often, teenagers and students fall into the trap of thinking they can know everything just by observation, but this is rarely the case. In the words of a very wise man, "Now a Catholic is a person who has plucked up courage to face the incredible and inconceivable idea that something else may be wiser than he is." Food for thought.
Because it isn't a question of "be more like me," or even of "see things my way." It's a matter of sharing with others what we recognize to be the truth, the Truth that exists beyond and independent of us. Sometimes that may mean we're being the gadfly, to borrow the Socratic image, but I entreat you to consider your own question. Why share the Gospel? Because we do believe it is the Truth. We cannot remain silent while there is still some help we can offer to others in seeking the truth. To you it may not seem this way; it may seem that we are "imposing our views," to borrow the oft-repeated turn of phrase. But we know that to keep the Truth to ourselves would be the most grievous negligence.
there is no salvation outside the catholic church! why do you think the church's history is strengthened with the blood of martyrs and the sacrifice of missionaries?
To play devil's advocate, Anon 5:49 (Oh, I do wish people would give me names!), the history of Islam is full of martyrs and missionaries, too. But it is not led by Christ, who revealed the Truth to masses and masses of people, repeatedly.
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