In my young adult ministry planning meeting last time we talked about evangelizing. A lot of my fellow leaders mentioned that they don’t usually talk about being Catholic in their workplaces. It doesn’t surprise me, Catholics seem to be pretty quiet about their faith for some reason. Why is that? Why are we so afraid of telling people what we do and believe?
I never considered myself an evangelist until my parish priest called me an “Evangelist” on one particular evening when I was introducing my 5 Protestant friends to him that I had brought to mass with me. (They came because it was my birthday and that’s what I wanted to do – bring them to my church and meet my friends there, etc.) I’ve never been one to get up in people’s faces, but I love talking about my faith when given an opportunity. I take pride in my parish and what is going on at my church so I talk about it at work because it’s part of my life.
Sure sometimes my friends look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them I’ve volunteered to chaperone high school kids on their weekend long retreat. Or that I give up one night a week to sit and talk with 8th graders about God. Sometimes I do care. It sucks to be looked at funny for something that you really, genuinely enjoy doing… but it’s also really great to share the great stories that I have to tell because of what I do at church and experience in my relationship with God.
It makes me sad to hear when people seem to be really timid to even bring it up. You can talk about your faith because it’s part of who you are. It really surprises me that someone who is involved in a lot of things at the church can somehow go years of working at the same place and coworkers not even know he is Catholic. There are countless other examples, I’m sure and I’m not really picking on anyone in particular. But I’d like to challenge you and even myself because I know speaking out and “spreading the Good News” is something that I have to work on too. There have been times when we’ve had a discussion at work and I feel something inside of me tugging to speak truth. Sometimes I’m too afraid to say anything so I just keep quiet.
Let’s be proud of our faith. Not to the point of becoming like Pharisee’s where we look down on others. But like Christ who was confident in God’s Truth to be able to speak that in a loving way to others.
By Reader