Further to the Mormon thing.

Now, I was going to let my lost Mormon post quietly disappear, until a friend sent an e-mail inspired by it. She wrote of an experience involving people she knew at a small Protestant denominational church. She visited her friends at their Church, and was treated to an anti-Catholic/anti-Pope John Paul II sermon that seemed clearly directed at her presence there that day (her friends had mentioned to the pastor that a Catholic would be attending with them). I greatly appreciate her reaction as she compares the scene to a car accident - you just have to stop and stare at what's going on because it's so incredible. Later, when discussing it with her friend, she related how she had never (since converting to Catholicism) heard a Catholic priest trash-talk another denomination's religious leader (despite some apparently deserving it, as this episode reveals). Although I would like to hear stronger words of truth from Catholic priests in Sunday homilies, I deeply appreciate the effort by Catholic leaders not to foment hate and misunderstanding towards our separated brethren.

I shall also mention that when I was flirting with leaving the Catholic Church some 15 years ago, the anti-Catholicism (pretty mild, compared to my friend's experiences) of those seeking to 'evangelize' me is one of the things that kept me from doing it. The other thing was the anarchy that results when you have 20,000 different groups interpreting the Bible in their own ways. The Baptist Church I spent some time at changed the words of Scripture spoken during their communion service because it didn't suit their theological interpretation. I have too much respect for truth to be willing to sell my soul for the most convenient interpretation.

Anyway, I am far too full of myself here - there are many great saints who have lived holiness and witness heroically. Look to their lives and see if the truth of Catholicism is not God's own truth.