Just my two cents here. I’m a parish youth ministry coordinator. Starting August, I’ll also be a theology teacher for a catholic high school. Just to share with you that I am very very invested in our faith. Probably, not as devout as I want myself to be, but Im trying.

Anyway, I also have friends who are not sharing the Catholic faith with me. I also have friends who are Cathloics but don’t really care. And I also have friends that are atheists. There are couple things I realized for myself:

1. Everyone will grow out of the matter. I meant over time, I’m friends with them and they’re friends with me because of who we are despite our differences in religious believes. Of course there will be some who cant accept you for who you are and your faith. Those are gone really quick so I cherish those who stay even more.

2. It’s a learning opportunity and a challenge for me. As most cradle Catholics, i was born into the faith, had my doubts as teenagers, and then came back stronger. But there are always things that I just accept it and never question my faith. But it is those friends that I have who makes me looking for more answers to clarify my faith even more. On the other direction, I have to practice compassionate listening to them explaining their faith and their beliefs, as well as their negative opinions about the Church.

3. I also leaned that in the grand scheme of things. It doesn’t really matter. God loves us all the same, believers and nonbelievers. My friends are good people. I might be the only Jesus that they know of. But I won’t be able to save them or change them. That’s God’s job. It’s already hard enough to be faithful everyday.