When someone leaves
Last week I came across that great article on Our Sunday Visitor‘s website talking about how to respond when someone you love leaves the Church:
It’s really tough when you have to sit and watch someone walk away from the Faith. You want to “fix” the situation and, when you discover that you can’t do it quickly, you all too often do things which simply drives the person further and further away….
There’s some real gold in this article.
“So, if an evangelical Protestant family member is praising the goodness of the Lord, don’t nitpick his theology — instead embrace his love for Christ and encourage him to deepen it, for everyone who draws closer to Christ draws closer to his Body on earth, the Church.”
Thanks for highlighting this article – my mother, sister and brother are all Protestant, and I need to remember to have this attitude towards them!
There is good advice in here. One of my younger brothers doesn’t practice any more, and I had to let it go and give it to God. All I can do is pray for him (and I ask for Sts. Monica and Augustine’s help a lot), because pushing him does no good.
Yeah, I’ve had a good few friends leave. I had to learn the lesson that you can’t argue someone back into the Church… :-/
No, I know you can’t at all. I have a good friend (and former college roommate), raised Catholic, who left and converted to Judaism, along with three of her four kids. She still refers to me as godmother to her youngest daughter (don’t ask me how that works, although I suppose sharing the same God is part of it), I love them all dearly, but I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it, even though I think know some of the roots of why she left… Maybe I was just never brave enough to really confront her about it, but then I’m not really an arguer by nature, anyway. More prayers go there, too.