Speaking Up

    "Catholic? Pshaw. Don't they worship statues?" Somehow the words reached Kay's ears from across the courtyard. She stiffened, straining to catch the reply.
    "Dunno. All I know is they're so self-righteous. I heard they think being Catholic is the only way to get to 'heaven.'" The speaker put on a high voice. "You won't get to heaven because you don't believe me." There was a laugh and high fives were exchanged as the guy's friends agreed.
    She was grimacing by now. Part of her wanted to go up and correct them, but the other part was afraid of their reaction. What she used to say in eighth grade religion class was all very well and good, but actually doing it was a whole different matter.
    "What's the matter, Kay? Mooning over Josh?" Kay jumped as her friend Andrea came up behind her.
    "What? No!" she replied quickly.
    "Good," said Carissa as she joined them. "That boy is mine." Kay rolled her eyes. Personally, she didn't think guys were all that interesting as more than friends, even if her friends thought otherwise. They were constantly talking about who liked who, during which times she thought sadly of Elle, her friend from junior high. They had both enjoyed laughing at similar conversations until they had gone their separate ways after 8th grade.
    As she walked home with Andrea and Carissa, her mind still lingered on the conversation she's overheard. "How many Catholics," she wondered, "hear conversations like that? I wonder how they deal with it? I mean, it's hard not to do anything, but it's harder to do something about it and not feel like an idiot."
    Hers was the farthest of the three homes from school, so she walked the last block alone. Still wondering, she let herself in. "I'm home!" she called over the general noise of her sisters as they argued (as usual) over something trivial. Her little brother was on the computer. "Time to get off, genius. I've got homework."
    He stuck out his tongue at her. "Write it out first."
    Kay wrinkled her nose. "Can't. It's research." She stood impatiently, tapping her foot as he slowly logged off, blew a raspberry, and stomped away. Kay sighed and plopped down in the computer chair.
    She logged in and brought up an Internet browser. "Advice for Catholics," she murmured as she typed. As the search results showed on the screen, she closed her eyes and clicked. A Catholic site came up with an advice column and a box for questions. Chewing her lip for a moment, Kay took a deep breath.
    "Dear Answer Man," she typed, "I'm a Catholic girl in a public school. Normally, it's fine, but today I overheard a bunch of people laughing and criticizing my faith. We used to talk about this in religion class, but...it's so much easier to talk about it than to actually do something. I want to say something, but I don't want to look stupid. Any suggestions? - Two-Shoe." She hit submit and closed the browser before she could change her mind.
    As Kay walked into the kitchen, her mom looked up from making dinner. "Lots of homework?"
    Kay shook her head. "It's Friday, puh-lease!" When her mom had turned away, she asked suddenly, "Mom?"
    "Hm?" Her mom answered but continued chopping vegetables.
    "If you were to overhear a negative comment about your faith, what would you do?"
    "Well..." The knife slowed. "Set them straight, probably."
    "That's Mom for you," Kay thought. "Someone says Catholics are weird and she'll march right up to them and give them a lecture." Out loud, she said, "But wouldn't you feel...you know, kind of weird about it?"
    This time, Kay's mom actually stopped chopping. "Doing what God wants you to do is not weird, Kay," she said seriously.
    "I know," Kay assured her quickly. "But...wouldn't it feel awkward interrupting someone's conversation?"
    "Honey, if they're talking loud enough for you to overhear, they're inviting an interruption." Kay's mom resumed chopping, indicating an end to the conversation.
    The weekend passed with an unusually small amount of activity until Sunday night, when Kay was surfing the Web and came across the Answer Man page again. She found her question and was surprised that is was marked as "Question of the Day." Curiously, she read the reply.
    "Dear Two-Shoe: You'd be surprised how many young people face your dilemna. Should we stand up for our faith or remain silent? If we say something, we risk being called a goody two-shoes and feeling foolish. If we don't say anything, we keep our reputation - but we leave others in ignorance, and have to feel the guilt of knowing we didn't stand up for our faith. The Gospel of Matthew can help you decide. Jesus says, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a bushel basket. They set it on a stand where it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, your light must shine so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Fahter." (Matthew 5:14-16) In other words, you were not put on this earth to cringe whenever someone makes a false statement about your faith.Whatever you do affects the opinion of others - you are a representative of your faith. It is your repsonsibility to politely inform others if they are misinformed. Notice I stress the word politely - do not put others down for being misinformed or unknowing.
    "As for what to say...as I don't know the situation or person, I can't help you there. What you say is totally up to you. If you need help, ask the REAL Answer Man - God. May you find the words...good luck!"
    Kay sat in stunned silence, absorbing the information. For such a simple answer, there sure was a lot of solutions. She walked to her room and shut the door, flopping onto her bed. She emptied her mind and closed her eyes. "Hi," she thought. "It's been awhile - sorry about that. I could really use Your help, though."
                                                        *****
    The next afternoon during English, in a lesson about debate, the issue came up. The teacher was a free-thinking man, but it was an unwritten rule that whatever was said in his class, stayed in his class. "Anything can start a debate," he began that afternoon. "For example, I have a Catholic relative." He paused, letting it sink in. Several hands shot up.
    "Do they worship statues?" blurted Josh.
    "Does she worship statues, Josh," the teacher corrected him. He looked around the room. "Any takers?"
    Kay raised her hand tentatively. "Actually," she said, growing firmer with every word, "Catholics don't worship statues at all..."