Pick your battles and be wary to not engage in friendly fire
We must remain diligent to not burn bridges in the pursuit of being "right".
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 RSVCE
4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This is a passage commonly used in weddings, but many don’t realize this does not depict the love of romance but rather depicts the everlasting love of Jesus Christ.
We who value traditional Catholic values must take care as to not immediately pass judgement on Christians who disagree with us. From time to time I will read posts from accounts I generally enjoy that mock or shame Christians who aren’t Catholic. Those Christians who go to mega churches, who are non-denominational, and the general evangelical Christians. While I also don’t agree with Christians who practice in this way, I don’t hold malice towards them perhaps due to growing up in a non-denominational church myself. I’ve come to understand from converting from that background to the Catholic Church that most people generally have been misled or misunderstand the teachings of Catholicism.
Who am I to judge or mock those who simply haven’t had the opportunity to understand otherwise?
Many of these Christians are still extremely faithful believers who go to church every Sunday, pray daily, and are very talented at bringing more people to the Faith. Certainly, there is more to be desired with regard to their theological understanding as well as their adherence to what Christ has called us to do (many are too quick to fall into sinful actions because of their ideals of assured salvation). This does not mean it becomes right for me or any other Catholic to shame or judge them because of their misunderstanding.
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
This isn’t to say that we should ignore obvious heresies or not defend our beliefs when challenged, but we also shouldn’t go looking for battles. Let me be clear: absolutely defend your beliefs when confronted, or if you encounter heresies such as Gnosticism or nontrinitarian beliefs such as Oneness Pentecostalism. However, remember that Jesus tells us to remove the log from our own eye before taking out the speck from our brother’s eye. None of us are perfect, and it does more harm than good to instigate arguments with our own brothers and sisters. That energy would be much better spent fighting and converting non-believers than further dividing Christians.
It’s important to remember that we must gently lead our brothers in Christ as to why we believe in the Catholic Church and why it’s so important to embrace traditionalism. God’s Will led us to this truth, and we must have faith that He will lead the rest to it as well. Certainly we can and should help others to get there, but we should do it from a stance of love rather than judgement. We must practice Fraternal Correction and not immediately post of the wrongdoings of our brothers and sisters online but rather privately and kindly lead them to the truth.