Do you ever hear this?

[Axion]

I was once in a Catholicbookstore where there was a separate section for nonCatholics which was designated by a large sign saying "CHRISTIAN"!!! So it's not just 'them' !!!!!

Unfortunate.

It does happen in odd places where Catholics get used to Protestants talking about themselves as "Christians", and about Catholic Christians as "Catholics." However this sort of accommodation with Protestants goes too far, for it confirms misapprehensions among some Fundamentalist Protestants, that Catholics are somehow not proper Christians.

Some Protestants do want to pre-empt the title "Christian" for themselves, since it reverses history, making them appear to be the "mainstream" Christians, and the Catholic and Apostolic churches as the deviants.

For this reason, we shouldn't allow fundamentalist Protestants to grab the name of Christian for themselves. We should use the title Christian more widely in our organisations, publications, bookshops etc. alongside the word Catholic. (which very few understand the real meaning of nowadays)

 

[KennySe]

Axion, I agree with you.

Earlier today, I changed my title here at CF.

 

[Axion]

Great!

 

[Wolseley]

I was once in a Catholicbookstore where there was a separate section for nonCatholics which was designated by a large sign saying "CHRISTIAN"!!! So it's not just 'them' !!!!!

When I was the manager of a Catholic bookstore, we called our section of non-Catholic books our "Ecumenical" section.

 

[JeffreyLloyd]

You manged a catholic book store?!?!?!

I would spend so much money!

 

[Wolseley]

Tell me about it.

The thing that used to frustrate me working in there were the people who would come in looking for something like a confirmation gift, and instead of buying something a kid could use and learn something from, like a Catechism or a short set of Aquinas, they automatically went for cheap, tawdry junk like a plastic statue or a plaster plaque, which was pressed out by the thousands in a sweatshop in Communist China and shipped over here in the hold of a freighter.

And then they'd stand there and complain because we didn't stock the color they wanted. You'd get these dear little old ladies who'd spend three hours dithering over whether to buy a piece of junk in blue or white, making innumerable comments like, "But I don't want that color! It doesn't match [insert other piece of Chinese trash here], and I want them to coordinate!"

I can't count the number of times I wanted to say, "Lady, what does the kid want? Does the kid really want a badly-painted plaster statue of a blonde boy with a blue suit and decidedly Asian features holding a plastic-injected rosary that doesn't have the right number of beads?"

Uh-huh. What do you think?

Or else they'd come in and say, "Father O'Shaugnessy gave me this medal when I was confirmed in 1942, and I want one just exactly like it."

It does no good to tell them that they stopped making that kind of medal in 1957, and that the Italian firm which made them went out of business in 1971. They want an exact replica, and if you can't provide it, then they get miffed.

Used to drive me nuts. I guess I'm just not cut out for retail sales.

But yeah----I used to buy a lot of books in there. Too many, to be honest.

 

[Aaron-Aggie]

The "catholic" stuff made in china always bothers me a little bit.

 

[JeffreyLloyd]

I just got that book you talked about "What went wrong with Vatcian II" looks good.

 

[Wolseley]

The "catholic" stuff made in china always bothers me a little bit.

Me, too. I think it's a little strange that we as Catholics will willingly buy merchandise made in Communist China, where they persecute Catholics, force women to have abortions, and run over people with tanks.

Why are we supporting that regime? I mean, if you want to buy a statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, then spend the extra $10.00 and at least get one that was made in Italy or France. Neither country is perfect, but at least they're nominally Catholic.

 

[JeffreyLloyd]

My friend Jon and I in 2000 while working for (then) Gov. Bush here in Michigan both made a goal to not buy anything that says "made in China."

When you really try and do it, it's hard. A lot of stuff is made there! But we still try and do it. I forgot a lot of the time, - last month however I wanted a playstation 2 game, but didn't get it because it was made there

 

[Wolseley]

I know what you mean. The stuff is ubiquitous. Even things that are made here in the United States are sometimes loaded with parts made in China.

It reminds me of the cosmonaut in one of those outer-space movies, where the US astronauts tell him not to mess with the control board, since it contains "American components".

The cosmonaut gives them a look and says, "American components. Russian components. All made in Taiwan!"

 

[Aaron-Aggie]

I got out at laugh out the glass at a pizza place i went to yesterday. The bottom said in big letters Houston, TX then below that it said made in China

 

[Spotty]

The cosmonaut gives them a look and says, "American components. Russian components. All made in Taiwan!"

That'd be Michael Bay's Armageddon. I'm a fan of that one.

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

Wolseley-

You are hilarious!

 

[prodromos]

I was once in a Catholicbookstore where there was a separate section for nonCatholics which was designated by a large sign saying "CHRISTIAN"!!! So it's not just 'them' !!!!!

How about finding books on Orthodoxy in the section titled "Eastern Religions" (not in a Catholic bookstore though)

The situation is slowly improving though

John.

 

[Bastoune]

How about finding books on Orthodoxy in the section titled "Eastern Religions" (not in a Catholic bookstore though)

The situation is slowly improving though

John.

Oh brother... although, hey, maybe one of those people in that section will stumble across an Orthodox book and come to know the Lord!

As for the "Christian" sections in "Catholic" bookstores, maybe that is just their way of saying "General Christian" (which is another way I've seen it), as in, it's Christian, just not necessarily Catholic (i.e. C.S. Lewis or others with compatible beliefs).

 

[Michelina]

How about finding books on Orthodoxy in the section titled "Eastern Religions"

That's horrible!

Are people getting dumber every day, or is it me?

 

[Michelina]

It does happen in odd places where Catholics get used to Protestants talking about themselves as "Christians", and about Catholic Christians as "Catholics."

My practice in coversations with nonCatholics is to refer to them as 'nonCatholic Christians' and to us as 'Catholic Christians' (at least once). No one has ever challenged me on it, even though I could see that some were not comfortable with it.

 

[MariaRegina]

How about finding books on Orthodoxy in the section titled "Eastern Religions" (not in a Catholic bookstore though)

The situation is slowly improving though

John.

At the California State Universities, we have these ecumenical conferences. The organizers place Catholicism, Protestantism, JW and Mormons together on one day. Then on the next day they place Buddhism, Islam, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Judaism, Sikhs and Hindis together. What a Tower of Babel!

 

[Swoosh]

I was once in a Catholicbookstore where there was a separate section for nonCatholics which was designated by a large sign saying "CHRISTIAN"!!! So it's not just 'them' !!!!!

In the local Mardel's (A Christian bookstore), Catholic Bibles are in the "Other's Section" along with the Koran. The other books on Catholicism and Catholic theology are on the shelf with "Cults and Secret Societies".