I am presently working with a group of people doing a parish census for our pastor. We go door-to-door and as one might imagine, we have some very interesting experiences.
We have found that—as general rule—the responses we get when making contacts at the doors are almost always predictable:
. Catholics are happy to see us and like the chance to talk to us about things going on in the parish
. very few are atheists, but they seem to like telling us so
. Mormons are polite, but distant
, LDS ers can be discourteous
. Muslims prefer not to talk to us, even though they don’t seem to mind saying they are Muslim
. the “unchurched” are almost always “too busy” to talk to us
. Baptists are almost always polite and pleasant
. those who were baptized in the Catholic Church, but have left the Catholic Church are almost always the most rude and unpleasant
What we have experienced is just a matter of fact.
“those who were baptized in the Catholic Church, but have left the Catholic Church are almost always the most rude and unpleasant”
Politely look at them and say you’ll pray for them. They are experiencing a common phenomenon. It’s called Catholic guilt. The last thing they want to see is a devout Catholic that loves their faith.
Which is it? Mormons ARE The Church of the Latter Day Saints. So...are they polite or discourteous?
Quite and interesting list. God bless you as you do this. What an undertaking!
We have a committee that puts together information about our parish, the latest bulletin, A Ministry Guide that is constantly updated, a little book of Catholic prayers and a loaf of homemade bread.
All new parishioners love this personal visit from our trio of home visitors. (Especially the homemade bread!)
I had a disruption so didn’t actually complete my last post.
Anyway, see how it all works? We poor sinners have that human tendency to listen to the siren call of compartmentalizing our fellow human beings. We paste labels on them...never seeming to grasp that in doing so we put a label on ourselves.
Somehow we seem to (conveniently) forget that we are to see and serve all we meet as if we were seeing and serving the Lord himself. We fail to recognize Him, even though we know He said “Whatsoever you do.....” and as Peter would later write: “You must esteem the person of every man.” (1Peter2:17)
So, our group is finding that we are learning ways to talk with all we meet at their doors, and to give them a genuine respect and whenever and however we can, to be a moment of grace and encouragement to them, no matter what their profession of faith happens to be...because we can never really know them as they are before the Living God.
............................................
“God addresses every individual by a name that no one else knows, as Scripture tells us ( Rev.2:17). God’s love for each individual is totally personal and includes this mystery of a uniqueness that cannot be divulged to other human beings.”
Pope Benedict XVI “Jesus of Nazareth”
Anecdotal evidence.
If you’re expecting former Catholics to be unpleasant, then no matter what they do, their actions will be interpreted that way.
No such thing as Catholic guilt.
I found Christ. There’s no guilt involved in leaving a religious system that puts people in bondage and doesn’t hold that Scripture is sufficient to teach us what we need to know to grow in Christ.