Are you an American Catholic who has ever felt discriminated against?

Question

I've mostly had problems with the parents of non-catholic girl-friends. Sometimes being the only Catholic in a group of protestants can be very uncomfortable, llike I don't even have the same vocabulary as them. And then the jokes, and ignorance. The worst are the people who left the Church and automatically think less of you because you still practice, and they had some sort of horrible experiance with the church.

Answer 1

I'm sorry to hear your protestant friends are giving you such trouble. I have to wonder what sort of friends they really are if they persist in this.

I was at a Presbyterian buddy's house, and when I went to the bathroom I saw that he had a devotional candle to the Blessed Virgin by the sink. I was thinking that was interesting, knowing his background. His response was to laugh and say "Yeah, she's seen a lot of *****, and she's still a Virgin."

I thought about leaving, but had a better idea. The next time I brought over a devotional candle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and took the candle of the Blessed Virgin. He didn't notice until he used the bathroom, then came out and said he understood. That candle of the Sacred Heart is still in his bedroom.

Sometimes our friends just don't get it that they're not right about everything, and that their walk with Christ isn't the same as ours.

When I started my undergrad, in a small Bible-belt town, I was called a papist and a "tool of the devil". It really grated on me. The students who thought they were calling me to Christ were really hounding me to the extent that I wanted nothing to do with them.

This is history at its worst - the misunderstandings and prejudices have endured far too long. The good that came of the prejudicial remarks was that I studied Scripture in-depth and learned to defend my faith.

I've also developed a tough skin and learned what fights to stay out of. Some time ago a co-worker was distributing Jack Chick tracts - I told her this was offensive, not merely religious, and asked her to stop. She refused, so I reported her to HR. If she hadn't reacted so strongly (a labor attorney for the company we worked for read it and said the material was clearly inflammatory) she would still have her job.

Now when I see the Chick pamphlets (or the other cheap-understanding literature) I just tear it up. Believe what you like, but please don't confuse the others who are searching.

I try to be sympathetic towards those who left the Church - just as employees leave managers, not companies, I think ex-Catholics leave clergy or communities, not the Church itself. That is to say, you're right that they had some kind of bad experience. Maybe a divorce was denied, or they were ridiculed in front of the community, or some other injustice was done to them. That's a call for healing - not necessarily to bring them back to the Church, but rather to heal the wound, and let the ex-Catholic know you don't judge them. We don't, after all, since we're all in this for the sake of Christ.

In Christ,
V17

Answer 2

Pastor Billy says: keep the faith Ryan you are ray of light that could save these people. There is a verse of scripture which talks of the leaders and rabbis who like to be seen and take the best placing in the synagogues and banquets. The ignorance and jokes are akin to the the actions of these biblical persons. Because early Protestantism relied heavily on anti-Catholic propaganda to recruit new converts it is still found today in many of the Protestant sects.

I'm blessed in being a Catholic we've been raised in a faith community that is truth without having to belittle others. To be Protestant is to protest sadly they really don't know what they are protesting and the ones that do aren't protesting Catholicism at all just a caricature of it.

"There are not 100 people who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they think it to be" Archbishop Fulton Sheen