Kristine Franklin & Rosalind Moss: Former Evangelical & Jewish Convert - The Journey Home Program

Oh welcome to the open line first Friday edition of the journey home program as you know this particular episode each month is a time for you to ask whatever question you might have about the journey home to Jesus Christ that journey home to his church my guests tonight are two women who have been on the journey home before in fact their episodes were two of the favorites that you've told us you like through your your mail and your emails Christine Franklin and Rosalyn Moss are joining us not just because I invited them to be here but they happen to be here to prepare for a 16 part series that they're filming next week and we'll have a chance to talk about that in a little bit remember that you're an essential part of tonight's program any question you might have about the Catholic faith they're here ready to do the best they can to answer so if you would like to call us with your question call us at one eight hundred two two one nine four six o or you can send us an e-mail at journey home at ewtn.com but welcome to the journey home Chris good to see you again and I meant that is that there are certain programs that we received many many letters and emails from and both of your episodes touched a lot of hearts and it's good to have you back in fact I wish we had three or four hours to recount the journeys that you shared now over a year ago when you were first on the program I will say that your journeys are both written up in detail in the book journeys home which the audience will see information about during the break later but why don't we take a moment to give a quick 1-minute summary to help them remember your journey maybe we can bring in with you sure um I was raised fundamentalist as you know and I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior when I was five years old I was raised in a home that was devout we were taught to love the Bible and we were taught that the highest calling you could have would be to be a missionary to take the good news of Jesus Christ to other people who haven't heard of him and and to take salvation to people who were not headed to heaven so I grew up by I went to Bible College I married a very wonderful man and we prepared for the mission field for eight years in our early marriage in 1991 we went to Costa Rica so I could learn Spanish in 1992 we went to Guatemala as evangelical missionaries and you've asked for one you know for me to give just a short thing okay I'm gonna recount something's really hard I'm gonna tell you something that happened when we were missionaries in Guatemala that I that I see as a key point we used to drive about 10 miles away to go to church every Sunday and we lived a block from a Catholic Church I was we were driving home from church on a Sunday morning and my little girl who was five at the time said mommy why don't we go to the cackling church and in that moment I realized I had to say I don't know because I realized everything I knew about the Catholic Church I had been told by someone else I had never read a Catholic book I hadn't talked to very many Catholics I'd certainly never read a Catholic religious book and I wasn't about to say to my child well the Catholics this and this this whatever I'd been taught I wasn't sure in my own heart that it was true and it would be considered hearsay in a court of law you know it's like I needed evidence because this was my child and I needed to give her the truth it was that needing to know the truth what's the truth that drove me eventually to become a Catholic at that point I had no sympathy for the Catholic Church but what I knew was that I didn't know that's what's that's one of the things that started it while we were Protestant missionaries and about three years later we were received into the church was it was it that relationship with your child specifically that God used to put the scales aside to realize that you need to know more or was there other things happen well I would say that there were a lot of things that are you got to tell a child in here that's right and and if you're a missionary you have to tell people how to get to heaven yeah and if you're going to tell people how to get to heaven you have to have it exactly right and as a Protestant I knew there were lots of versions of Christian and I had my personal version and the Pentecostals had their personal version in the Baptist said their version and the Lutheran's and we were working in a place with 200 denominations of Christians just missionaries and it was that thought of Chia we kind of create our own Christianity and and how do we get to heaven and if I'm telling people this is what you have to do to get to heaven am I getting it right I have to be sure and I was kind of at that point thinking well maybe you can't really be sure you just love Jesus and accept him in faith and that's the best we can hope to know and that wasn't enough for me and it certainly wasn't enough to tell my children I was thinking about that how many people come back to church after they become parents all of a sudden Zanu responsibility that drops onto their shoulders in your case here they are as you said 200 different denominations around teaching contradictory things and all of a sudden my children are starting to understand how can I know that what I'm delivering them is the truth what about in here okay so absolutely a different journey but a little bit different but Chris and I actually entered the church at the Easter Vigil 1995 before we knew each other the ways of God but I grew up in a Jewish home as you know Marcus and sat down every young year of my life to the Passover table waiting for the Messiah to come knowing that he was the only hope that the world had and when I was 32 I for the first time met such a character in my life as a Jew who believed that Christ was the Messiah and not only the Messiah but God come to earth I knew they were troubled Jewish people but I thought in case they're onto something in case God entered history that we could know him and know the very purpose for mankind on earth in case they were I follow these neurotic Jewish believers around and they led me to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and showed me how the Old Testament sacrificial system pointed to Christ the Lamb of God and I gave my life to Him in 1976 as an evangelical protestant and Chris I knew I was going to heaven no I knew I knew I knew and not only were other denominations not going to heaven but anyone from my church wasn't going to I knew and my first Bible study was taught by an ex-catholic who was taught by an ex priest who taught me straight off that the Catholic Church was a cult false religious system leading millions astray and for the next fourteen plus years I tried to save Catholics from what I believe with all my heart was a false religious system until the summer of 1990 when I came across through a publication this rock magazine Catholic apologetics fun kind of a phenomenon to me how could I never knew that Catholics had a defense of their faith and here was a magazine that was explaining their errors I thought and in looking through that came across tape set by Scott Hahn Presbyterian minister which you know Marcus who became Catholic and I thought I don't know I don't care what he called himself or what he functioned dad is or what his title is he couldn't have known he could not have had a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and become Catholic and it was in listening to that tape series that God sent I say a holy shock because it was Scott Hans words that for the one that looks into the claims of the Catholic Church 2,000 years of church history and the fathers to that one will come a holy shock and a glorious amazement to find out that what he'd been fighting and perhaps trying to save people from was in fact the very church Christ established on earth and I stood there so paralyzed I was a week away from going on staff with an evangelical churches director of women's ministries thinking to myself oh no oh no there can't be any truth to this thing but the impact of that moment was such that it set me on a compelling course to the Catholic Church which I entered four and a half years later and now looking back though I knew at that moment in the summer of 95 in a split moment of time where before I would have five minutes before I still would have wanted to save every Catholic if I look back on it now the impact of that moment was such that I think in that split moment of time I knew it was true in one second I think I knew it was and I think now that the whole of my four and a half year journey was finding out how on earth it could be how on earth it could be and Here I am praise to God thank you you know I do remember that your particular episode Rozlyn which he talked about the sacrifice of the mass received many many many calls because of what you talked about the Eucharist it's so helped people appreciate to both Catholics and non-catholics and the power of that and as I listen to remember both of your stories how God brings different people along for different reasons from different places but it still emphasizes the power of God's grace to reach us where we're at and break through all the stuff that we protect ourselves with you know we have our first call already we'll take our first call they want to come back and talk about your new program let's take our first caller hello what's your name and where you're calling from hi this is Mike from New Jersey how are you doing this evening hello Mike what's your question for all right great show a question for you is just as generally how to how to kind of just get started with evangelization and apologetics as I was walking back from church as I regularly do through the City Hall courtyard in Philadelphia I passed by an evangelizer on the street with my Vatican two missile in hand I think he recognized the answer so many times I pass him uh you know I think he took a shot at me about the Catholic Church making cement idols and praying to them and you know I he definitely directed that at me and as I asked him if he knew what the word veneration meant he immediately sent went off into a tort of uh you know a tract that clearly wasn't related to what we were talking about and it was hard for me to relate with him and I just wanted to get your opinions about you know how do you address a situation like that and how do you get started okay how'd he get started with evangelization you know one of the things I was thinking as you were talking is that people are sincere people is sincere that gentleman that came up to you I think I remember where I was at trying to save every Catholic and and the first thing I would I would think in my heart to someone like that is thank God in your heart for the grace accorded to that gentleman because he loves God and we have a mandate as Christians to take the gospel to every creature and he's doing that in the only way that he knows how and I know that what got me before I was a Christian and then when I was an evangelical looking into the Catholic Church were people and Catholics who knew their God who knew their faith and who had the sure hope and the confidence in their heart and more than winning in a sense initially certainly passing some on the street any particular point which you may not have the time to do and or and he may not have the motivation to follow through on but to walk away from the Catholic who he believes is not saved and say to himself he seemed like he knew Christ I don't understand why he's Catholic but that's a man who knew his faith who loves God and it might open up a question in his mind to look further into the faith evangelization really begins with love it's live got to begin with long and we must not use truth as a cudgel that phrase speaking the truth and love I mean they've got to be there and I one that always believed in a relational evangelization and so you build relationships with with people was it st. Francis's said you share the gospel and if necessary use words it is you know in other words it's gotta be in our life I was going to stay if you pass this man every day find out his name find out does he have children bring them a candy bar once in a while if it's hot bring them something to drink it's it's Catholics who live their faith that get the attention of people who think that we're not Christians right it's it's the doing and the end of living the faith that that makes someone go hmm you know and after a while it's like you say it's the love okay and maybe rather than always giving someone a quick answer first ask them why they think what they do do you worship statues what why do you funny that idea you Irish fight this and it's just kind of like a deal with them I'll tell you what you tell me everything you think about the Catholic Church Elisha's when you're done let me have a chance to share you what I believe about you know let's give them the first opportunity to share building relationship I know that your program that you're coming up has to do with sharing the gospel that's a good in for that why'd you take a moment to share with the audience this program which you're here at EWTN to film next week yeah well we're uh we're very excited aren't we we were asked I was asked to develop a program and I asked Rosalyn to help me in fact I I told them I wouldn't do it without her I I thought we both have such a passion for sharing the truth of the church that I really wanted to work with somebody who shared my passion in that same way and so what we've done is we've we've developed over the last few months of a series of programs aimed at really normal everyday people we're going to we're going to be sharing a lot of our background each one of us what we told people and how we tried to evangelize people things we believed about the Catholic Church things we were told what we were taught and contrast that with what the Catholic Church actually teaches hopefully will reach people who are maybe kind of wavering about am I in the right church or not or or maybe some people who the church EWTN has said that they will probably be putting this program into Spanish so it's really a program for the Western Hemisphere for we'd like to think for just the ordinary person to learn more about their faith and each program will be on a topic and we'll have topics like have you been born again and do I have to work my way to heaven and will I be in purgatory even if I'm not Catholic that's right and the Pope is your Holy Father no matter what you think so we're going to be touching on all those topics but hopefully in a way that's that's accessible because for ordinary people I'm excited to see this and also to see your interactions I think it's going to be a lot of fun seeing you and also hearing again your journey as it's reflected on those different themes let's take our first email and may we'll come back to talk more about your program so dear journey home did you ever find it hard to get past the fundamentalist ideal of worldly separation and reach the freedom that is in the Catholic Church thanks Rosa you did you find it hard to get past the idea of an ounce idea of worldly separation and reach the freedom that is in the Catholic Church you know on my journey I did on my journey I did because the difference between the Catholic and evangelical is not simply doctrinal but it is a way of seeing it's an entire new world and as I looked into these things and I saw the freedom which to me was very scary because it was getting away from a very defined world that I had I began to think to myself if this is true what God have I known for for my 18 evangelical years and it was a little frightening to me but as I ventured out with the help of God I tell you I entered a world that was so magnificent and beautiful and full and lovely and free in fact I had an evangelical um when I became Catholic one of the gals that I worked with had left the Catholic Church and become a born-again evangelical fundamentalist Christian she said to me Roz why would you have had the freedom of an evangelical fundamentalist Christian all the freedom and gone into the Catholic Church with all its rules she said I left all that they want to control your life and and I and I I wanted to say to her and I did if you knew the beauty and the fullness and the freedom all of creation is restored to me now and in fact that gal called me a month ago and she said to me I feel like I've been lost in the woods and I see through the trees a chimney with the puff puff of the smoke coming out and I'm coming home great let's go into that a little bit more because those that are Catholic may not understand what we meant by the the worldly separation and those that aren't Catholic may not understand the freedom you've talked about that what what do we mean by this worldly separation that's so common amongst fundamentalism well I know when I became Catholic I tried beer and I learned to polka you would I have done this series with you find her though I don't know which episode you're gonna do that on you don't like beer it's too late for me I understand that very much because coming from the kind of fundamentalism I was raised in there was a lot a lot of things that real Christians would never do and as I was becoming a Catholic I met holy people who drank beer you know we never had a drop of alcohol in our home our communion our Lord's Supper was grape juice we never in fact we had sermons on why the wine in the Bible wasn't wine it was grape juice I'm not kidding you and so there there's there is a culture you come in to and from fundamentalism it looks like sort of a wild and crazy culture but if you look at Scripture it looks like the church because Jesus says I'll haul in my dragnet and they'll be good fish and it'll be bad fish so the real Church of Jesus Christ is full of characters but the good fish can still drink beer but fish can drink beer what is this the issue of vices and virtues maybe before when we were caught up in the worldly separations we didn't have a clear understanding what we could say were vices and virtues so we kind of invented these things if you do this it's a vice and if you do this it's a virtue whereas the vices and virtues that we understands Catholics are attitudes behind these things okay things are not things are a means of neutral God created it good it's how we use it whether we use it its intended purpose or we use it more than we should or we use it to hurt someone else and behind that are the vices and virtues of charity you know of patience long-suffering that then help us use the things in their correct mode but you know I think that the the motive behind the worldly separation of the fundamentalist is very beautiful it is because it comes from an understanding number one of the fullness of creation beyond what the Catholic understanding is a total depravity and it's it's corrupt but also because of the the abuses of certain things which in of themselves are neutral the fundamentalist the evangelical the one whose heart God has changed wants to give honor and glory to God and if drinking to excess has destroyed some and not brought glory to God will do it away with it altogether to not even give the impression of evil not to contribute to an industry that might bring the downfall of sumit the motive behind it was the honor and glory of God and of course the lack of understanding with that is the fact that what God made is good and we could misuse that but Christ by His infinite grace seeks to destroy to destroy restore nature and us to the dignity for which he intended it there's a good chapter and then scriptures of Galatians 5 were Paul talked about that tension between legalism that sets up the rule that therefore kind of corral us in all right or the libertinism taking our freedoms too far and sadly there have been Catholics are taking their freedoms too far you know and have not always set up a good model for us so you know man Copa but for the grace of God go I so we need to look at our lives I think it's important for we as Catholics should understand the freedom to as you said look at how our freedoms might be missus to understood by others and as Paul said it may be alright for me to do this but if in doing it I'm a stumbling block then maybe I shouldn't do it let's go to our next email right it's addressed to me but I'm gonna throw it over YouTube thank you so much for your show it's a real inspiration to me as a Catholic seminarian I have a question I think Kristin can relate to I know that many countries in Latin America never once entirely Catholic have now become increasingly Protestant what can we in this country do to help people in Latin America learn and defend their faith keep up the good work Matt in st. Paul Minnesota your neck of the woods alright thanks Matt is it called at home it's really nice here yeah I heard a Robin um that's a good question I only lived in two Latin American countries and I'm not an expert and at the time I didn't give a thought to the Catholic Church really so I'm just going to be answering this from my just purely my opinion Catholics in Latin America are very very easy to de Van july's they they are uncatted caused a lot of them have only been baptized they believe in the Bible they believe in God they believe they're sinners they believe in heaven and hell and they believe that the Bible is true they don't know much else so what what can be done is first of all prayer we must pray for the church in Latin America and especially now that Our Lady of Guadalupe had the FIR feast day has been made for a feast day for all of North America we need to plead with her for her intercession these are precious people who they love God they want to be Christians they don't know their faith and and the other thing is that Protestants in America give a lot of money millions and millions and millions of dollars to do what I call D evangelize the Catholics and I think if American Catholics if they realize how important it is that they would give that we need to give we need to give to the Latin American fund we need to get we need to give our prayers and of our time and we need to be aware that we are a hemisphere that has been cast mostly Catholic if you look at Brazil and the spanish-speaking countries all the way to Mexico for five hundred years and it's it's eight million Catholics a year leave the Catholic Church in Latin America and go into Protestant sects eight million year eight thousand I mean three million a day three million a year eight thousand a day thank you I knew it was numbers anyway three million a year leave um so it's a serious problem I know something you'd also talked about once before and that is that the when the faith is delivered by non Catholics especially from America through missionaries in South America that what the South Americans receive isn't just the faith there's a lot of American ideas and values and culture that's right involved with that of course the danger is that with all the different perspectives on the different faiths it really sets up a confusing situation for them well if you look at what happened in Europe when prot when Catholic company countries became Protestant politically socially and everything that's the logical conclusion Protestantism I wish we could raise up an army of catechist to blitz all of America and help Catholics know what they have the program that you're going to be doing you're thinking very consciously that this is also specifically going to be translated for the Latin American countries isn't that right yes yeah there's going to be shaped your discussions or topics in that way I would sigh basically for all of all of America all of America North and South Latin America nor in America all and I think are our hearts it's for everyone but I think if it was directed to anyone more specifically it was it's more the housewife it's more the mother at home that is struggling to raise her children to keep them Catholic and may not and maybe as Chris said sincere love God love her faith but not really know it because she hasn't been taught it or at least taught it in a way that she could then teach her children and I think our hearts are geared toward housewives North America or Latin America to help them to know their faith and to raise godly Catholic families evangelization always involves going across cultural barriers doesn't it I mean in them and both of your journeys I mean from the Jewish faith and culture to Catholicism in your case talking about sharing it in Latin America to Catholicism but even in that the shorts at the short distance within family within friends in America different levels there's always this enculturation that we have to break through to share the gospel and so in your own program you know I you know my prayer is that the spirit leads you to be able to to help the audience break the cultural barriers yes are very very merging we're going to take a break I will remind you we're watching that you're in very important part of this program so if you have questions for us start calling in a 1-800 to two one nine four six oh and we're back just a moment with your calls you welcome back to the journey home my guest for this evening are Chris Franklin and Rosalyn Moss who are again with us on the program after sharing their journey on the journey home about a year or so year and a half ago almost but they're also here because they're active in a project here at EWTN a 16 part project which they'll be filming next week which is sharing the gospel and covering different topics that are of help and particularly you said you're gearing this to two women women to the most vulnerable the most vulnerable people the people are the most vulnerable for being evangelized out of the church we want to shore up their faith yes all right we've had a lot of questions about these very things which is good your background as a previously a missionary to South America and then you brought up in the Jewish yeah tradition let's take our first email back that says dear Christine Rosslyn and Marcus I'm a convert to the Catholic Church six years but no one else in my family has followed me in fact my father who is dying of a terminal illness has no apparent faith in Christ what can I do to help him and the rest of my family believe sincerely in Christ Sarah from New Hampshire my guess is a lot of people who listening that have similar experiences of people and their family that they wish would accept the whole truth what do you think how what can I do to help him the rest of my family believe well that's my dad right there I mean they're talking about my own father who was raised Catholic and left the church when he was thirty and now he's 86 and he he knows a lot he knows about Jesus he's read the Bible he's been around Christians my mother was devout we were raised and he seems to have no interest you know and we can't help but want to ask our parents what's gonna happen you know so I I would say that the most important thing we can do first of all is pray and remember that to pray for the gift of faith yes because that is something God gives to us some people if you ask them why aren't you a Christian they'd say I can't believe it and that can believe it's not just a matter of the will it's a gift from God the ability to believe so as we pray for the people we love we pray for that faith that gift of faith and we depend on God's mercy and you begin by confirming the fact that this isn't it's common but it's not an easy question because there's the supernatural here there's the mystery of God's grace well I'm just thinking it's the hardest thing and Sarah's pointing out it's the hardest thing to to witness to your family they know you very very very hard in that case and I know this could be frustrating in a sense because we want things to happen if we could only make people believe but there's two things that come to my mind one is the most comforting fraud in the world to me Romans chapter 1 that God has put within the heart of every individual the knowledge of himself and st. Augustine's words that the heart is restless until it finds its rest in him is true for every individual on the face of the earth and when I meet people even who know I don't know about Sarah's father here but who are even confident their lives seem to be going alright I wish they had a need I wish they'd at least think they do have any but I wish they knew their need but whether they show it or not whether they are so aware of it or not I know that apart from Christ the human heart is empty it to a point that it recognizes it we will not have our beings fulfilled until we are joined back with the God who made us for himself so that's a confidence I have and just perhaps there as much as we can live before our family as witnesses of the unconditional love of God and there's Mother Teresa says preacher you know you just said it st. Francis not Mother Teresa preach the gospel always when absolutely necessary use words I've known families where it's been a very difficult case but after so long so much resistance one of them has come to the believing person and said what do you have what do you have it's it's difficult because especially many of us at one time in our life are are so you know bold with our faith with family and friends that we go through time and turn in everybody off they don't want to hear us anymore I did with my own family initially and so it's difficult and so later when you when a discussion has reestablished you're hesitant all right but especially as this this person wrote Sarah about her father who has a terminal illness it puts a pressure time you don't want to take it for granted but you don't know what to say and so you'll want to help the person you want to reach out to the person you want to talk to about your faith but then the time you have you also want the relationship so it's very difficult so I mean prayer is important but I suppose there comes a time when we have to figure out how to sit down and say we've got to talk about that I want to tell you about the most important thing in my life yeah it's hard so maybe the best you can do is when you're ready to do that get a bunch of other people praying behind yeah nice shoelace because again it's a gift of grace hmm I don't know why I believe in Jesus Christ I can't pat myself on the back it was God's grace each one of us and so we have to pray may be great to pray for healing for this person but I think sometimes that God holds back healing from people so that they've got to be able to understand why God heals them things that they ask and they want so that if they are healed they understand why it's happening and it may be the very ill No that finally brings them we offer prayer yeah to faint so we we would ask everyone who's watching to especially pray for Sarah and her father and family and I would I would say if I could say to Sarah's dad I would say to Sarah's dad that if there's a god and if he made us for himself a God of love who gave his son to die that we might live it wouldn't hurt or I'll translate that into you - it wouldn't hurt to all by yourself to say God if you're there and if Jesus Christ is your son and I can know that and know him would you show me that God will not refuse the prayer of a heart that turns to him that's right that's one the reason we have that picture behind us here in the stage of the prodigal son yeah the father whose arms are always old I'm not that son will come always thank you let's take our next caller hello what's your name and where you're calling from I'm Steven from Wisconsin hello Steve what's your question uh oh I'll try to make it quick um I'm getting married July 31st nice I have mm-hmm I'm sorry massa Mazel Tov good congratula thank you anyway I'm Catholic and my fiance is nondenominational but she was raised Baptist and I want to know my mother's coming to the wedding because she thinks she's it's a big sin if she goes to a non-denominational Church which is what we're getting married in and I want to know if there is a way that this what marriage can be blessed and because I really need her to be there and I want to know how I would go about doing that because she thinks I'm damned for doing this and the marriage isn't going to last more than two years so I need some suggestions on what to do all right thank you well we're not the illusions of Canon lawyers here you were a pastor I was a pastor all right you take it personal because I think and I'm in no way am i belittling this because of this thing that's happening very frequently in America especially today when we have we're surrounded by so many different traditions and sadly many young people are not getting the kind of rare premarital encouragement training that leads them into situations and what's your thoughts well I can tell you Steve as a married person I sincerely cannot imagine being happily married and not sharing my faith I've been blessed with a husband who shares my faith we married both evangelicals our journey to the Catholic faith was at the same time um it's I I feel for your mother I have children and I would be very sorry if they married outside of the church but as far as helping your mother understand whether you're damned or not she needs to talk to the priest maybe you and your mother and your priest and your dad if he's involved you could sit down together and talk about what happens when a Catholic marries another baptized Christian who's non Catholic that that would be my that would be where I would say to start right there in your own parish with your parish priest and your mother get that worked out so you know the facts Oh Steve and I'm single and have never been married but I you're starting on maybe what is a bit of a difficult road maybe not maybe not I don't know I don't know I I wish and I pray that God will bless your marriage you both have your faith in Christ you both belong to him for you as a Catholic to not be able to share the fullness of the faith yours in the Eucharist above all I always think of is is has got to be very difficult I know it's got to be deeply hurtful for your mother I I I understand that from my heart I would say respect her if if she cannot come in to the wedding because of her faith in her convictions I think you need to respect that and love her and do what you can after the wedding to build the relationship with her to have her get to be part of your family and as far as her thinking you're damned she's doing that out of the state that she's in at the moment and you might be able to help her in the future to understand certain things and and you might her priest it you might even be able to talk to her priest that someone that might be able to help her as well I'd like to say something to you also it first of all I would strongly encourage you to meet with your priest yourself to talk with him to answer this questions I think then your priests ISM is the informed one that God has placed in your area in your life to help you work through this my own feeling that this is the scripture says to not be unequally yoked there's great wisdom there because of how absolutely central and significant your faith is for your life for your marriage for your family for eternity it is not something to be put number three four five six or seven on your list of priorities it's to be number one and so you need to examine that in your own life because what you're doing is stepping outside of your faith marrying elsewhere and you're putting your faith as a lesser importance in your life and this is maybe a hard statement but Jesus called his followers that sometimes we have to set aside family and friends to follow Jesus and so you have to examine the purpose and the reason you're being called to this marriage is it becoming a contradiction to your own faith but I think you need to examine this with your priest your spiritual director to help you to make sure you're hearing God as you're being called to this marriage let's take our next email - please dear Marcus Rosalyn and Chris praise be Jesus Christ do you have any suggestions for evangelizing people within the church there seems to be an unofficial schism within the church in America that's very distressing to those of us who embrace our tradition traditional Magisterial teachings I personally know several church employees with degrees in theology consider who don't believe in the true presence the Eucharist I've been called UNAC you medical they reminded for insisting that the Protestant denominations don't have the Eucharist long live the Pope dreams gotta watch good how do you evangelize in the church people who are teaching positions they're contrary to the Church's teaching we love again Russell how do you evangelize people that are teaching contrary to the church with people within the church how do you break through those Barry well you know as you were even reading the email the word that flashed the neon lights before me is love we can't approach anyone if our heart the thing is what you said before Marcus why I when I when God brought me to Christ to begin with I would walk the streets of Los Angeles and look at everybody that was lost and say why did he do why did he save me why did he bring me into a relationship with him and now into the Catholic Church when everyone who mentored me is an evangelical who swim circles around me theologically in every other way and their love for God why did he bring me into the fullness and if if God has so graced us that we love with all our being our Holy Father and the teachings of the church and we will not compromise that is a grace and we are the richer children for it so my first thought is if we come across people who aren't teaching that why they're not teaching that we don't know yet we don't know that but they're by the grace of God yo I so my is to love them to come to understand why they believe what they believe and we would say in a sense earn the opportunity to begin to tell them teach them show them what you think is is a true way I couldn't agree with you more because we try and figure out why they're where they're coming from or why and their motives it's very difficult it's we've gotta love them it's not easy though especially when you see decisions being made at the local level that are seemingly hurting people in the parish it's very difficult and I recently heard someone tell what mother Angelica's advice was at one point when someone was so upset because of what was happening in their mass locally what do you do you start you know lighting torches and getting the turn feathering on it would he do and she said well okay I'm not sure this is all her advice I can't speak for mother but what I was told was that she advised the person to close her eyes in the midst of the mass and pray you know you can't get caught up on on the stuff that's going on if you pray you Center in on concentrate on the mass and realize what's happening the reality of Christ here in the Eucharist you can receive from that Eucharist and then in that midst of that prayer the power of God can bring changed into a situation let's take our next call hello what's your name and where you calling from oh yes Denise from New Jersey hello Denise what's your question for um well I I raised Catholic and when I was 17 I left they went to defrost in church because I'm so unfulfilled and I'm 35 I'm married navigator my I married a Catholic man and we got married in a Catholic Church and since my daughter was born sixteen months ago I've been feeling pulled back to the church bazaar I understand where this is coming from and I really don't like the Catholic Church and I'm confused but I've talked to a friend of mine who's very Catholic and very I guess knows or as I would put it right and she's been mentoring me but I'm having a couple difficulties with certain teachings and I'm really Purgatory's one of them the absolution that the priest gives you is really being difficult for me and that chasm of children because I didn't baptize my child and that's another thing that that is drawing me back I don't know for some reason I want her baptized but I don't know where this is coming from I'm assuming it's all coming from God and that he wants me back here maybe my daughter is going to be a nun or a saint or something and I mean it sounds funny but you have to know though I was a real Catholic basher for a long time well first thing we do is we're going to pray for you in the midst of your journey because we've been there and we know the struggle especially with some of those topics because where we came from we think purgatory penance well absolution we're going to talk about all of that on our series but she can't wait that long God has God has the answer the Catholic Church has all the answers to all of your questions it's just a matter of time it's all there every single piece of the puzzle is in the box I promise you and it just takes a while to find them all is it Katherine okay I didn't know I'm sorry didn't get um this purgatory when I make a comment on perfectly and and just a preliminary comment I want to say to you don't be afraid don't be afraid it's our Holy Fathers three words don't be afraid don't ever be afraid to seek truth there is only one who is true you never have to be afraid when we seek God with all our heart we don't have to fear and I say that now forgive me if I were so I'm very afraid that I was being led astray I was very afraid that I could be be via being deceived by the enemy of our souls but but when we said it was Christ I clung to those four and a half years of my journey and and then we seek truth God won't let us go astray purgatory is extraordinarily beautiful mm-hmm it's extraordinarily beautiful and let me just say if I zeroed in on the difference between the evangelical understanding of what happens after death and the Catholic we know that when we die as an evangelical or Catholic we know that as much as God has saved us to conform us to the image of his son and we strive to be holy and perfect we're not and not a one of us well some perhaps but most of us won't be perfect at death you were pointing at me oh yeah most people go but when we leave the earth when we die physically as a Christian we know we're going to heaven but we die with sin when we stand before Christ we will be without sin will be totally perfectly pure when we stand face-to-face with him we won't be dung Hills as Luther taught covered over with righteousness because dunk Hills don't get into heaven we were perfectly pure and perfectly holy yet we leave the earth without being perfectly pure and perfectly holy the question then is what happens between our physical death and our standing face to face before Christ in heaven how do we get from still having sin to entering heaven with no sin where nothing unclean will enter heaven how do we get from one state to the other and when I've asked my evangelical friends that they would say what I said God will do it and that's the Catholic answer God will do it the question is how it begins with a P but purgatory could I just say purgatory is love purgatory is the fire of God's love purgatory is God's love purging us for the from the remains of self which is the cause and root of all sin and the pain of purgatory my understanding that the greatest pain of purgatory will be that we all have left the earth we we want nothing of it anymore nothing of it and our focus is on God because we've never been so close to God as we will be and we will never love him as much we will never long for him like we will when we're there and the pain of purgatory is the pain of a heart that soul loves and longs for God and can't have him fully yet that's the pain it's the pain of love I will encourage the listeners to pick up the catechism because there you're going to hear the heart it has a wonderful description and the Catechism bill to cover all those other topics and be nice if they had a catechism along with your series as you're you're following it let's take maybe this last email because we're the time goes so short here dear journey home I am 32 and was recently married in a Catholic Church my husband is what I tend to call deeply Catholic you ladies a period to have such peace with your decision I am tremendously conflicted about my journey towards Catholicism today I am an RCIA and what I am learning makes sense however I experience emotional upheaval when I think that I believed in correctly in my Pentecostal Protestant belief system I also quote accepted Christ at age five and devoted my life to living a christ-like life from that moment on I buried myself a study of the word and in youth ministry on your journey when did you feel here's the question when did you feel quote D conflicted about your decision to become Catholic I want to know this is the right decision god bless you I don't see your name on the email in D yeah so we've been there when did you feel can I tell you truth yeah about six months ago we only have two minutes well I'll tell you why because it's a whole nother world it's a whole nother world and to think that I came to know God who totally changed my life and I didn't know him what as I said before what God did I knew I know the right guy but he is so bit much bigger and different it seems and so I meant that now even though I'm going to keep the Catholic Church and I knew it was right I had to let my feelings kind of be on the sidelines I understood it was right and I'm Catholic and I've never regretted that but for the longest time I even felt like an outsider and I still do a little bit because it's such a different world it's such a different world but do I want the guy that I came to know in a sense as I came to know him as I perhaps fashioned in my mind because I was taught that way or do I want at any cost the God who is in all his fullness and of him I don't have to be afraid even though it may take me time to see him in a new way he's still the God who gave his son so when were you detached um culturally I think I'll always feel a little bit like a foreigner because I wasn't born Catholic there's a sense of foreignness about it but I would say it was that the when I knew I was going to become a Catholic when we decided we have to be Catholic there was no question anymore we had to do it and when I received Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time it was the best moment of my life one of the reasons that we call both this program the journey home in the book that the coming home Network journeys home is because it is a journey it isn't just journey to the Catholic Church this is really centrally a journey of following Jesus Christ wherever you lead us sometimes a place that we don't want to go or uncomfortable or as to leave things behind they were so important but it's a journey home the journey home is coming to a quick end tonight thank you so much both of you your program the household of faith yes we'll be uh uh maybe tentatively showing this fall god bless thank you so much we pray for the program but the Spirit will speak through you and boy maybe I get you back on the program then when you're here you know we can talk more about issues of the faith thanks again thanks man we thank you for joining us on the journey home you're always a welcome part of this journey as we talk about our journey of faith and especially an open line First Fridays you in so much an important part thank you for your questions and until we meet again on the journey home may God bless and guide you as you follow Jesus Christ Oh

Channel: The Coming Home Network International

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Id: B6SYCHoCN8g

Length: 56min 19sec (3379 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 20 2014