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1. More non-Catholics and lukewarm Catholics read and wonder why someone would lie so much and repeat so many untruths about The Church. They'll think "there MUST be something about The Church that makes so many spread such lies that are easily proved wrong" and learn more about The Church and come to Christ through His Church.

I'm reading Chesterton's Orthodoxy and he offers a similar line of thought, about Christianity in general. The same folk accuse it of being too worldly and too world-denying, too pessimistic and too optimistic, too moral and to unconcerned with morals. He says it finally occurred to him that maybe the accusers were the ones who were wrong.

A member of this year's RCIA class says that she has taken really quite astonishing abuse from some co-workers since she let it slip she was thinking of entering into full communion. I think I mentioned before that I got some anonymous hate mail after I swam the Tiber. And I daresay we've all seen the involuntary curling, quickly covered with a bland smile, of the lip when people find we are Catholics.

Thank God for the chance to suffer, if not dishonor, a little transient discomfort for the Name.