Greer, SC
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The following story and comes to us from evangelist Ernie with our team in Greenville, South Carolina:
On Saturday, I went to Mass and prayed the Rosary before meeting Caleb at the Barnyard Flea Market. The crowds were on the light side. Caleb made a sign asking if Halloween was good or bad. We were talking about the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, wondering about the differences compared to our American custom. Then a woman stopped to talk about just that. She said she was Mexican and celebrated November 1st (All Saints Day) and 2nd (All Souls Day) as all Catholics, which she was. But in Mexico, it’s about dead loved ones in one’s extended family, and not about monsters and scary animals.
There seems to be a societal unwritten rule among Protestants against discussing religion with strangers, especially Catholics. It takes a lot of personal effort for the general public to stop to have a conversation when they see distinctive Catholic items with a sign advertising “Catholic Truth”. Alternatively, we wish to draw people with clear motives, not surprising them that we are Catholic. After a while we agreed to hide the sign since our Rosaries and pamphlets still clearly conveyed our stand. A while after removing the sign, when Caleb was getting something to eat, Susan stopped to exchange ideas with me. She said she “goes to a Baptist church but is looking for something else right now because she doesn’t like the pastor’s stand.” She said the pastor is so against talking about politics that he doesn’t have a clear Christian message. She had the same usual Protestant objections about the Pope, confession, the Vatican, Mary, and more. She hardly stopped to let us answer before asking the next question. Caleb was able to explain some things to her. I was able to invite her to come to Mass.
Altogether, we gave about 25 pamphlets that Caleb had made on Halloween or “Allhallowtide” together with one on the Intercession of the Saints. We prayed with some people too and asked for people’s honest opinion on Halloween.
Praise God! Our next outing is November 1st – the Solemnity of All Saints!