people distributing miraculous medal's

dbnavan

Just emailed my local parish with this, wonder what others think....




To whom it may concern,

I arrived home the other night to my wife telling me she almost had to
be rude to get to people away from the door, who where distributing
miraculous medal's. My wife is christian however not catholic, I am
raise catholic, however with my personal views on the church and those
who run it I choose not to attend, this does not infringe on my own
beliefs. This is my choice and something I do not seek advice nor want
opinion on.

However my wife feels and I very strongly agree that she should not
have to explain herself to or answer questions of lay parishioners
calling to our door. She respectfully told them she was not catholic
and she wasn't interested in accepting a medal, and that should have
been the end of it, I would kindly ask that you make these people
aware that religion is a persons free choice and that they respect
that.

Regards
D

John Doe

There is an awful tendency in modern society to ignore peoples' right to privacy. This seems to be an expression of the belief that you are entitled to as much of anyone's time as you want, particularly if you are working on behalf of some organisation or other.
Not being familiar with the situation I'm not sure if the problem stems directly from the fact that the medals are religious. I of course agree completely with your wife's right to be respected in her wishes when these people are already imposing on her time by even asking the question. They should be prepared to take 'no' for an answer under any circumstances; it is not rude to be abrupt as these people have no right to know anyone's motives for refusing whatever it is they are offering.
I can empathise also with the still-existent belief in some parts of Ireland that everyone ought to be Catholic, and that if you're not they have the right to know why, and the right to attempt to convert you. They in fact have neither. Again, I'm not sure if this was actually part of your problem or if it was just plain pushiness.

dbnavan

John Doe wrote:

. Again, I'm not sure if this was actually part of your problem or if it was just plain pushiness.

Bit of both to be honest.

UU

My family used to live in Smithfield in Dublin around the late 1980s (when it was a much grimmer place!) and my mam often recalls the Legion Of Mary coming around knocking on the door with pictures of the "Sacred Heart Of Jesus", miraculous medals and other religions items . My mam being a "I do care about my religion" Catholic always politely told them that she wasn't interested and then they would start oppressing her into telling them about her beliefs so they could criticise her and say that she was going to hell which they did the first time but my mam never answered the door to them again! That was in the 1980s though when we were just becoming more secular and diverse but not quite there yet (and many people had funny permy hair too! )

Anyway, the Legion Of Mary called to my house a year ago and started questioning my mam's beliefs until I had to intervene. I simply told them that we're Jews and they looked at us in disgust and walked off. Not that we are Jews (I was lying, naughty me!) or we have any problem with Jews as a friend of ours is and is a really nice chap who hates Israel (?) but it worked wonderfully.

Try four opinions:
1) You are not interested and close the door in their faces.
2) Tell them that if they don't get off your premises in 10 seconds you'll release the hounds!
3) Tell them that you'll call the police for the laugh!
4) The opinion that worked for us: Tell them that you're Jewish and they won't bother you! Mormon, Jehovah Witness and Muslim work too. To give them an extra fright tell them that you're a Scientologist and ask them would they like to take a free personality test! LOL!

larryone

I've never had any religious nuts call to my house. If they did I'd probably invite them in for a cuppa, and have a chat with them. Just to see how mad they actually are. If I wanted rid of then, I'd probably tell them I am Satans representative on earth and start talking backwards...

UU

larryone wrote:

I've never had any religious nuts call to my house. If they did I'd probably invite them in for a cuppa, and have a chat with them. Just to see how mad they actually are. If I wanted rid of then, I'd probably tell them I am Satans representative on earth and start talking backwards...

Ha! You're very funny! I think it's hilarious just to take the p*ss out off them! There doesn't seem to be that many calling to the house anymore unfortunately. It looks like I'll have to find a new hobby!

Rev Hellfire

I find shutting the door solves the problem.

Whether or not you speak to them before shutting is purely optional.
I prefer not, since it gives them a nice bit of negativity to carry with them on their travels.

larryone

larryone wrote:

I've never had any religious nuts call to my house. If they did I'd probably invite them in for a cuppa, and have a chat with them. Just to see how mad they actually are. If I wanted rid of then, I'd probably tell them I am Satans representative on earth and start talking backwards...

I think if I had some free time I'd chat to them, otherwise just tell em I'm not interested and close the door...

Excelsior

Making fun of people is so much fun!

Rev Hellfire is to the point, as usual. If you don't want people at your door, shut it. The Legion of Mary who initially called to the thread starter's house would have certainly prepared themselves for that eventuality before starting knocking.

hairyheretic

Excelsior wrote:

Making fun of people is so much fun!

I could tell you a little story told to me (one of those friend of a friend stories) from back when I was at uni.

John Doe

Oh, do go on my good fellow.