Fr. Gregory Pine

Even like hardline relativists, I think like what a lot of relativists want is non-intervention.

They just don't want you dictating the terms of my life.

So what they want is a kind of tolerance.

But they often trot out a philosophical theory for the practical end which they hope to obtain.

I don't think most people actually think that, even the ones who profess to.

Yes.

And so I think it's, like...

Yeah, I find, I mean, in conversations that I'll often have with people regarding hangups to Catholic conversion.

So it's like this person's an atheist or this person's a Protestant or this person's Orthodox and they're thinking about becoming Catholic, but they've got this one doctrinal hangup.

Sometimes I'll just, I'll try to figure out if there are actually practical considerations in the background.

Because it's like, you're talking to the atheist, like, do you really care about worship vis-a-vis God and the Blessed Virgin Mary?

Or, you know, because like I acknowledge the fact that if you become Catholic, you're going to have to change your life.

And that's burdensome, or at least it seems burdensome from this vantage.

Because, you know, you think about Protestants who are thinking about becoming Catholic.

That will entail a reorientation of a lot of relationships, you know, because while they may recognize, you know, that becoming Catholic is not the worst thing in the world, there may be some individuals in their family or in their friend group who think of it under that aspect.

And that's really hard.

And so they're going to be told you're hateful.

They're going to be told you're intolerant.

They're going to be told you're being brainwashed.

And I mean, like, what are you going to say back?