Recently, I discovered that a friend converted to another faith. I was sad about it. I wondered why did he convert. As I sought affirmation from others, I learnt that not only did this friend convert but a few other friends had converted as well in different occasions. I am rather disturbed by my discovery. I felt a little hurt because we used to share our faith life with each other in the past.
I don’t know these people who converted very well but I regard them as my friends through my encounters with them. As students, we journeyed together to discover who God is. Learning about their conversion makes me wonder what went wrong along the way? Why did they not continue to feel God’s presence in the Church? Is it because of culture? Is it because of language? Why could they not find friendship at all within the Church? What is it that is so attractive about the other religion? These questions always linger in my head whenever I hear of someone converting to another faith.
I have friends of different faith and I respect them. In fact, I enjoy learning about different religious beliefs and cultures. I am often fascinated by the different religious practices and I often walk into temples and prayer ceremonies to observe and learn. However, I have difficulty accepting the actions of my Catholic friends who convert to another religion. I do not hate them. I just cannot understand why they swap Christ for another faith.
I know no one would really be able to answer all those questions asked. Perhaps, I might understand it some day. For now, I feel sad. The feeling is as though my own sister/ brother disowned my family and calls another man Papa instead of my father. The pain is even greater when the person, at one point, helped me to grow in my faith.