Random Access - Our Readers

Evangelization is a Ball
Readers share their experiences of random opportunities to share the Catholic Faith with others.

A full-court press
Every Sunday evening, a group of friends and I get together at a local gym to play basketball. Since we're all die-hard Catholics, our games don't have the foul language and dirty tricks that are sometimes present in those kinds of things. One evening, we noticed a guy in his early 20s hovering around the court. We asked if he wanted to play, and he happily accepted, introducing himself as Steve. The game was fast-paced, and Steve really displayed some net skills. Afterward, we all went out for a drink. When our new friend found out that we were all Catholic, he said, "I knew there was something different about you guys. You don't swear or stare at women. It's pretty different from the people I usually hang out with."

Steve went on to tell us that most of his friends live really immoral lives, sleeping around and using drugs heavily. He's surrounded by it all the time. Lately, though, he's been wanting to get away from that kind of thing — to try to live a different way. So he was thankful that he just happened to be at the gym the day we were playing. He really seemed to have a good time that night, and we keep inviting him whenever we go out. Since then, he's been with us a number of times, and he always comments on how great it is to be around wholesome males. We can see Steve is really searching in his life, and that he really needs good male peers. It's great that God brought him to us. Not only have we had the chance to witness to him with our lifestyle, but we've gained a good friend as well. Please, keep him in your prayers.
Michael Soeherman, Silver Spring, MD

The silent treatment
One Thursday evening, two men from a local Protestant church came to my door. They invited me to their church, so I told them I was Catholic. The older man asked me, "If you died tomorrow, do you know for sure if you would go to heaven?" I did my best to give a good Catholic response, but was caught off guard. My husband is the apologetics expert, not me. So I asked the man to come back and talk to my husband. A couple days later, the man dropped off an anti-Catholic tract with the stamp of the local Protestant church on it. My husband John showed the tract to his friend Michael, and the two of them decided to invite the man over to discuss it.

John and Michael were all geared up on the night of the visit. They had a few Bibles out, their apologetics magazines, the Catechism and various other books. When our guests arrived, they weren't the men we'd expected. Instead, in strode the pastor of the church and a young man whom my husband and I immediately recognized. He used to be a member of the youth group at our parish when John and I were the youth ministers. We'd sadly watched him leave the flock for the Protestant church. The young man didn't recognize us at first, but my husband shook his hand and called him by name. The pastor, however, refused any hospitality and seemed very hesitant to sit down. He asked in a stern voice, "Why am I here?" Michael noticed immediately that the pastor wouldn't make eye contact with any of us. John tried to explain that we were Catholic and felt there were things in the tract we knew to be untrue.

Before John was able to finish, the pastor asked, "Are you deeply entrenched in Romanism?" He then went on to verbally assault us. He told us the Roman church is a cult and he had no interest in talking to us because our response would just be "goo goo ga ga." The pastor said we murdered millions of his people in the inquisitions and we would murder him if we could. Apparently, only the U. S. Constitution was preventing us from doing so. We were all stunned and sat in silent prayer as this man went on and on. I'd never seen such animosity up close, especially not in my own home.

At one point I tried to speak, saying, "We invited you to our home and have offered nothing but kindness and hospitality. If you are a pastor of a Christian church, you should be a representative of Christ. Christ never treated people this way." I think I was shaking a little as I said this. Finally, my husband stood up and told the man to leave. Up to this point, we had not said one word even remotely unkind. We didn't even have a chance to use any apologetics. As our guests were walking to the door, my husband's emotions were evident as he told the young man, "I hope you took notes on how to be a bigot."

When the men left, we were all shaken. We've since talked about how the young man seemed genuinely embarrassed at his pastor's behavior. Perhaps our silence with the pastor, in spite of his aggression toward us, was a witness to him. "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven . . . a time to keep silence, and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7). I think this was a time to keep silent.
Marilyn Evanoff, Rohnert Park, CA

Hardly the Way to peace
Every week in our parish, a group of young adult Catholics meet to discuss issues and hear speakers. One evening, we had a guest come and discuss techniques of evangelization and apologetics. It inspired a great deal of discussion as we gathered for snacks and conversation afterward. During this time, I noticed a man off to the side, gesturing frantically in a lively conversation with a friend of mine. I went over and introduced myself. He told us his name was Eric, and that he had just returned to the Catholic Faith after a long time away. We talked about his past, which involved participation in The Way International, a strange cult that claims to be Christian but denies the divinity of Christ. Eric was anxious for all Catholics to know about this group and how they go about evangelizing people. Apparently, they invited him to a Bible study, where he was bombarded with verses that "proved" Jesus was not God. He argued and offered counter verses, but they wouldn't listen. Eric showed us the outlines to the talks they gave, and demonstrated how they would be used. It was all very interesting.

The conversation took a different turn, though, when he began talking to us about the struggles he has had returning to the Faith. It's not that he was objecting to any particular Catholic doctrine. Rather, he had some questions about the Bible and salvation. He pointed to Hebrews 6:4-6, which says, "For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and powers of the age to come, if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt." Eric was afraid that, on the basis of this verse, the sins he has committed since becoming a Christian would bar him from heaven. He said that he prayed constantly that God would kill him before he committed a mortal sin.

I pointed out to Eric that the verse wasn't talking about everyday sin, but rather, apostasy, or total rebellion against God. This is the same thing Jesus was talking about when he mentioned the unpardonable sin (Matt. 12:31-32). In other words, these people were rejecting the Spirit's call to repentance and, therefore, could not be forgiven for their sins.

If those passages were condemning all Christians who sin, we'd all be in trouble, since we all sin. I reassured him that God is happy to forgive us whenever we come to Him, and was sure to mention the consolation that one experiences after a good confession. My words seemed to give Eric some peace, and his mood lightened visibly. I also recommended that he read Romans 5 and 8, to see what God had to say about the peace that comes from following Him.
Sean Cenkner, New York, NY



E-mail your Random Access encounters with friends, coworkers or family members to brianpl@erols.com, or mail them to Random Access, Envoy Magazine, P.O. Box 640, Granville, OH 43023.