Hi y'all,

We had an incredibly busy day out this last Saturday at the Barnyard. I'm not going to go into too much detail on all the interactions mainly because I can't recall all of it! I do believe some ground was made. I will give you my spin on the events of the morning.

Friday was a busy day at work for me. If you didn't know already, I'm a wound care nurse. I'm also on salary. At times our census may be high and at times low. Friday was busy because of complexity and I was running late, but looking forward to coming home to prepare for our Saturday outing by packing supplies and drawing on our new chalkboard sign the question of the outing - "What is the purpose of suffering?" - part of an idea given to us by an acquaintance during our last outing. The idea was to push the table back farther, sit down in some chairs, and let the question on the sign do the work.

My wife calls me at 4 pm, "Aleah (my daughter) would like to go out to eat for her birthday and bring a friend - would you be willing to take them downtown to a nice restaurant?" Do you think I would say no? I made a bargain, my daughter would do the sign while I finished up work. We ended up eating at a fancy restaurant and got home by 11 pm. That's about 2.5 hours past my regular bedtime, but it was worth it until...I woke up at 3 am puking my guts out. Food poisoning. Woke up at 7 am and got ready to go to the Barnyard.

We have to be there by 8:30 am to set up or possibly lose our table. I got there just on time. Fr. Davison showed up. We set up the table and before finishing my prayers for the week for God to bring more people to our table were being answered when a gentleman asked us if he could say just one thing - I felt this was a loaded question but was caught off guard and gave him free reign.

He then went into it about the Catholic Church adding the burden of extra work to our salvation and getting in the way of one's relationship with Jesus. Said he was an ex-Catholic. A lady standing by with her husband was also interested and joined in. They even at one point argued with each other as to whether God still performed miracles. But they were in agreement that they were anti-Catholic. I tried to counter their arguments with Socratic questioning (i.e. where in the Bible does the Bible teach it is the sole authority on faith and morals?) or explanations of why we believe what we believe, but was often interrupted or they would quickly switch to another subject before I could finish. The man left before the lady, the lady left when I pulled out my Bible to start giving her some Scripture verses. This was after she had gone on a tirade about the Blessed Virgin and whispered in my ear, "she had sex" like it was a dirty secret.

Oh the joys of apologetics when you aren't a professional apologist (it wasn't only a few months ago when I mentioned the 7th Ecumenical Council as being in Constantinople to later discover it was actually in Nicaea - the controversy starting in Constantinople - and didn't know that the Council of Trent had actually reiterated the teaching on the veneration of holy images - I have only read the part on justification - and that made since as I did know some Protestants were iconoclasts). But these people seemed more interested in venting than having a meaningful dialogue. Maybe telling someone they are wrong, and then not allowing them the time to explain, and then threatening them that they believe a false gospel is a great way to win them over to your cause. Honestly, I was a Protestant evangelist myself once - maybe I would have been more successful using this method? But I didn't, because even then I understood the meaning of 1 Peter 3:15 and I'm not Jimmy Akin.

Now I did get a bit rude myself during this whole exchange when I interrupted the man after he switched subjects on me and started to use the 3 forms of water (solid, liquid, gas) analogy for the Trinity. Before he could finish I asked him if he was a Modalist. He looked at me puzzled so I explained that this was a heresy that believed that God was one being who manifested himself as either the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit - as modes of being and not co-existent Persons. I told him that today Oneness Pentecostals believe this. He denied he was a Oneness Pentecostal and still looked puzzled so I explained to him that I once used this analogy ignorantly (I wasn't a Modalist and didn't even know anything about it) and was accused of being a heretic. I assured him I wasn't accusing him of being a heretic but wanted to make him aware that many analogies about the Trinity fall short, and that this one is used by a specific heresy. I hope this helped him as it helped me.

I've been through this many times. Someone comes to the table, protests something about Catholic dogma (shouldn't be surprised - they are called Protestants for a reason), but then when you start to give both Biblical and reasonable explanations, they switch to a different subject before you can finish (maybe I take too long). It's a common tactic. So I'm determined to make some rules. They never introduced themselves nor gave me the opportunity to introduce myself so...Rule #1 - "Before we begin my name is...Your name is? Nice to meet you." Rule #2 - "We will begin with a prayer and we will end with a prayer." Rule #3 - "You are only allowed one subject at a time." Rule #4 - "You have to allow me to give a complete answer without interruption. I will give you a simple statement as to what Catholics believe, then an explanation which may include questions to you on the same subject as well for clarification. If I cannot give you a complete explanation I will point you to the resources that can. If you do not have enough time or patience to hear me out, then you have to agree to take a pamphlet on the subject if there is one available." Rule #5 - "You are allowed to ask further questions or state disagreements about the original subject, but you are not allowed to change the subject until I have given a full explanation." Tell me what you think...

Whatever the case, I don't feel that I was the sharpest on my feet that morning. I'm not sure my line of Socratic questioning helped them (hopefully it didn't sound like an interrogation). I'm not sure the right answers came to me. I certainly was feeling frustrated and it probably showed. But the only thing that keeps me glued to this ministry when things like this happen, is knowing I too was once in their shoes. I too thought the Catholic Church was wrong in so many fundamental ways. And yet it was the arguments with a college friend who was Catholic that was the first seed to reconciliation. I just pray they will dig in and study what the Catholic Church actually believes (not what they think it believes) and God willing find it both reasonable and true, even if it takes a lot of arguments to get there.

Even if this episode wasn't for them (or me). Dave, our regular next door (table) neighbor, who always asks us a question every time we're out, chimed in, "Boy, you've been busy this morning. They really gave you a run for your money..." At the end of the day, all he could say was, "Boy, you got the patience of a saint! I would have cussed them out." Skeptical Dave is honest and let me know he won't commit because he wants to be free to think and not feel like someone is telling him how to think. Yeah, Dave - don't forget you still have one of our Rosaries hanging on your rear view mirror. We've prayed for him and with him. I think it's only a matter of time. Karen, too, the woman two tables down whom we've had great interactions with, had a very meaningful discussion with me at the end of the day after giving me a hug sharing with me some bad experiences she had with the Catholic Church and why her family drifted away. I was able to help clarify some things for her. She is very New Age, but hopefully with time and building trust we can help her back into the Catholic Church.

Well, after all the excitement Ernesto was with me (Fr. Davison had to take off). I finally set up the chalkboard sign with the question of the outing (in English and Spanish). Ernie and I sat down and took a breather. It wasn't too soon after, that I felt inspired. Walking by, a man with what appeared to be a Christian shirt, stopped and stood right next to my chair. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. I asked, "Hi, do you believe in God - do you believe in Jesus?" His eyes lit up, I shook his hand and stood up. "Are you alright if we pray together?" "Sure." "My name's Caleb, what's yours?" "Greg." "What can I pray for you about?" "A business transaction." "Father in Heaven, I thank you for Greg and I pray for him asking you to bless him, may your will be done through Christ our Lord Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen. (Making the sign of the cross) In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

We got to talking. He is a Pentecostal pastor in the low country and was up here selling a house. We talked about the Holy Spirit. We talked about miracles. We talked about suffering. His son is disabled and he has seen much suffering, but also has seen God answer many prayers. I got to share some of my faith (some about the Mass and the Real Presence) with him and he shared some very encouraging Scripture verses. He then ended by pointing out that we make the sign of the cross when we pray. I gave him a brief historical explanation, and he went into various foreshadowings of the cross that he had learned in Scripture and in nature. He respected what we did. We both agreed that the sign of the cross was so important because it pointed to Jesus, our God, who was willing to suffer for our sake. God turns the greatest suffering into our greatest good. What a blessing. That very weekend the Church is liturgically celebrating the Cross. I pray that one day Greg will also venerate the true relic of the cross like I was able to at Mass and one day receive his Lord and Savior in the Holy Eucharist.

These were just a few of the interactions we had that day. Doing the same thing I prayed with and encouraged several others: Lyle a 9th grader and a Christian, Elia - a Russian immigrant and a Christian, Emma - a nursing student struggling with biochem. All were very gracious for the prayers and also surprised, maybe bewildered that Catholics would pray with them like that. As usual others took our Gospel cards, or a Rosary and how to pray it.

Ernie had a good exchange with Katie and her mother Stella. Katie is not Catholic but Christian. She loves to study the Bible but is having a hard time accepting the Church. Ernie did a good job of trying to help her understand that it's kind of hard to accept the Bible without accepting the Church that gave it to us. Her mom is very Catholic and told me she often has recourse to St. Monica. After Ernie had to go, Katie and I spent some time finding common ground on multiple subjects.

The biggest thing we do out there is not winning arguments, but making ourselves available and hopefully building trust while witnessing through our actions and our words. Please continue to pray for us and for those we have met or will meet on future outings. And if you feel the urge, come out with us, we would love to have you.

Peace,

Caleb