A person I know was complaining of how several fallen away Catholics she meets regularly at the local coffee shop go on and on about how horrible the Catholic Church is and has been.
I told her on Wednesday that listening to these people was a chance for her to evangelize. She thought about that, but told me that those speaking against the Church had used contraception and one husband had gotten a vasectomy. Yet, this couple was going on and on about all the evil in the Church, especially the evils of the clergy.
Sad, but this woman could not stand up to the group. She felt "ganged up upon" as she told me.
I wish I could have had coffee with her and defended the true Church, the Bride of Christ.
This person also told me that all these people, this coffee group, felt impelled to talk against the Church at almost every meeting.
Wow!
Obsession indicates troubled souls. I explained to her that many people speak out against the Church as they are angry at themselves, their own lives, their own apostasies. I also explained that until one becomes humble and looks at one's own sins, the tendency is to "project" sins onto another person or group.
Humility brings peace and mercy to the soul, not condemnation and arrogance.
Pray for this Catholic woman, so that she can find a way to speak the truth to these people.
It is sad she is alone in her Faith in the face of this arrogant group of lapsed Catholics.