It can be very painful when a loved one leaves the Catholic Church. Many parents are grieved that their children, whom they raised in the Faith, left the Church when they became adults. Some leave as young as their high school or college years. These parents want to know what they can do to help their now-grown children come home to the Church.
Whether it is a friend, a relative, a co-worker, or even a total
stranger whom you meet who has left the Church, there are
some effective things you can say and do to help them come home.
This section is dedicated to providing you with resources that will
help you help them. And best of all, you don't need to “reinvent the
wheel.” We'll show you here, from the wisdom of the saints and those
who have successfully been able, by God's grace, to reach out with
the truth of the Catholic Faith in a respectful, appealing,
effective manner that changes negative attitudes toward the Catholic
Church.
There are many excellent resources to help you share the truths of
the Catholic Faith with others in a charitable and helpful way. Keep
in mind that the Bible tells us a lot about how we should (and
shouldn't) share our Faith:
2 Timothy 2:23-25: “Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, forbearing, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth.”
1 Peter 3:15-16: “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-7: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
“God wants to work through you, regardless of your circumstances — in your office, your home, your social circles, your parish — to search for and rescue those who have drifted or are starting to drift away from the Faith. You can reach people in your own daily life who have been put there by God's mysterious providence. Though your own personal temperament, abilities, and circumstances are unique and differ from those of others, God wants to make you His coworker in the vast drama of salvation. He has a vital role for you. . . . (keep reading “The Heart of An Apostle”)
We All Make Excuses for not Sharing the Faith
(Don't do that)
“It's a fact. The single biggest impediment to sharing the
Faith is the excuse we conjure up at the moment to avoid doing it.
Let's say a situation arises where you can open your mouth and talk
about Christ and the Catholic Church, but instead, the flashing red
"excuse meter" goes off in the back of your mind. A bumbling string
of reasons why you can't say or do anything floods out. Sound
familiar? It's happened to me many times” . .