[Faith-Talk] Trying to Help a Prospective NFB Member Who IsCatholic

[Linda Mentink]

Hi Brad and Kane,

Exactly.  That's why I suggested Xavier Society for the Blind in 
the first place.  I have very limited knowledge about what's out 
there for Catholics, especially ones who don't know Braille.  But 
I know that they have things available in audio which might help 
her on her faith journey.

We're not here to convert.  We're here to encourage and to help 
people get the tools they need if that's possible.

Kane, you might also check out God Touches, which is run by John 
Boyer, a deaf-blind man in Madison, Wisconsin.  I just thought of 
it.  He is also a Catholic.  I wish you success in your 
endeavorddBlessings,

Linda----- Original Message -----
From: Kane Brolin via Faith-Talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org
To: "Faith-talk, for the discussion of Blindness in faith and 
religion"<faith-talk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Thu, 10 Mar 2022 10:52:01 -0500
Subject: Re: [Faith-Talk] Trying to Help a Prospective NFB Member 
Who IsCatholic

Brad:

Thank you for your respectful approach here.

The starting point in helping this elderly woman to approach her 
faith
journey as a blind Catholic  is not to wreck her self-image as a
faithful acolyte of the Roman Catholic Church.
 Such would be a fool-hardy thing to lead with.  Had I led with a
Baptistic presentation of the gospel on the first day we met,
disputing the validity of her interpretation of Scripture or
attempting to change her conceptualization of what the true 
church is,
I would have lost the trust of this 81-year-old lady altogether 
and
probably the whole family's trust, too.  While my own 
interpretation
of Christian teaching is closer to that of a Baptist than it 
would be
to a Catholic--something everyone in this family realizes 
already--I
think it is critical that I approach Mary where she is now,
demonstrating that Catholic sources such as the Xavier Society 
have
direct links to audio Bibles--including the King James Version, 
the
New International Version, and the English Standard Bible.  I 
firmly
believe that God is perfectly capable of shining the light of His 
Word
into any places He wants it to shine, without my forcing the 
point.
The first thing Mary needs is to know she can maintain an 
informed,
self-motivated approach to cultivating knowledge and to 
strengthening
her faith even as a blind person.  Once she grabs onto this
revolutionary ray of hope, then a world of possibilities opens up 
as
she comes to appreciate what I have done to affirm her dignity 
and
independence as a person of faith even though I do not share the 
same
flavor of religious devotion she practices.  Once I have proved 
how
much I love and care about her, then this could open the door for 
a
frank and fruitful exchange of views regarding what the nature of
Christ's church is, how one obtains eternal life, and how God's 
love
drives my passion for helping blind people to live the life they 
want.
This must be approached with a little circumspection here, not in 
the
way a hammer approaches a nail.

Thank you, Brad and Sarah, for your thoughts in this regard.

Kind regards,

-Kane

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