I just returned from a Christian Encounter weekend. I've been on these weekends several times as a worker, and I made my first weekend five years ago. These weekends are always awesome. We had about 60 guys from all over the area. Some of the guys give talks, and we hear a few talks by priests. We eat well - which is an understatement. And we bond as Christian men; we laugh, talk, and reflect. Some of my favorite pictures of Jesus show Him smiling or laughing. My words do not do justice to the power and fun of these weekends - yes, I said fun. Having good, clean fun is an important Christian value in my book, and we have an abundance of that. Women bond when they cry, but men bond when they laugh.
The weekend is Catholic, but all Christians are welcome. It is not meant to convert anybody, but rather to strengthen your relationship with Christ. Men and women go on separate weekends. No one has ever knocked a protestant church here. Of the 60 guys here, only a handful of us are protestant, yet I have always felt belonging and acceptance. These past five years of attending these weekends has opened my eyes to the Catholic Church.
In some of the protestant churches I have attended in the past, Catholicism got a bad reputation. Especially as a child I was told that Catholics aren't true Christians. They worship statues and the Virgin Mary, and they don't believe that Christ is risen, which is why they show Christ still on the cross in the crucifix, instead of the empty cross of the protestants.
I now know that these things aren't true, but it took time. When you are taught these things in church as a child, you grow up believing them. In fairness, The more recent protestant churches I have attended were not Catholic-bashers. I hope this is because people are more educated than they used to be. I hope we are all becoming more united as Christians.
U
