Pope Bucks at the Plaza
David and Tina had a good outing last Saturday at the Plaza. We worked from 11:00 to 1:00 and the time went by quickly. We gave out many Rosaries, Catholic Radio cards, Pope Francis bucks and met some interesting people. We also gathered prayer intentions from several folks. One woman in particular to keep in your prayers was named Lynn, who needs a home. We did make it a point of praying for all those who asked us for prayers. I also feel that it’s important to have all of you who read these posts to pray for Lynn, so please include her in your prayers. Thanks.
As for others we met, here are a couple examples-
We met a couple of men who were in a same sex relationship. One in particular was impressed in what we were doing and wanted to give us money. We told him he could give money directly to the ministry on line, so he took an Existence of God pamphlet so he could get the web address. “I am a homosexual, but I believe in what you’re doing!”, he told us. He said he was raised Jewish and Catholic and considered himself both. He asked us to pray for the goodness of all.
Met a couple who are Catholic but not attending Mass consistently. He took a couple of Rosaries and was great fun for us encouraging his Mass attendance. The wife wanted to know if we thought Supreme Court Justice Alito would resign since the Pope announce he would like to see the death penalty abolished since Alito is Catholic. I told her no, because the Catechism says that capital punishment is permissible. She was surprised to see the Catholic Church “proselytizing” and we shared with her about works of mercy and the upcoming Year of Mercy, and that this was a spiritual work of mercy.
Met a hand full of people who have a somewhat broad and vague spirituality that includes meditation. For them, we gave a more in depth discussion about the meditative aspects of the rosary.
Here are some impressions from Tina:
Always interesting to hear what people have to say when we are at the
Plaza (it’s the only site I’ve thus far attended). My biggest
take-away impression is that people appreciate our being there.
I do think for some folks when they see us it’s a sort of “prompter”
for them to take a 2nd look at their faith. There is almost a curiosity,
and if they’ve put their faith life on a back burner, our presence may
serve for “re-booting”. I don’t think people are used to seeing
Catholics out on the streets, so that’s positive we’re there and not
being overly pushy, just open to what people have to say, and to
provide a few tools for their journey.
One last impression is I feel people need to be heard, whatever their
stance is, and we’re available for that-and to provide encouragement,
share our own experience that perhaps they relate to theirs and we are
there because God’s Power is so good we want to share it with others!!
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