Dear Christina:

This comment is for everyone: Forgive me for my pickiness, but G-d is not a word. This practice of not spelling out the name of God is done by some Jews and Muslims in a misguided notion that it is an offense spell out God's name. Even within their own faith traditions, this practice is going to far, and is rather silly. I mean, if we spell God as G-d, or God, or whatever, we are still referring to God. I do not think God is fooled or impressed by referring to Him as G-d. If we truly do not wish to use the name of God, then we need to avoid any derivation of His name and perhaps refer to Him has He instructed Moses -- to call him "I am".  By the way there are 100s of names for God, including Creator, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Savior, Counselor, etc. If it is disrespectful to spell out the name of God, then simple logic would suggest the same for all the names of God.

Anyway.....

I am sorry to hear about your sister. You cannot force or nag her back into the faith. Even God will not force her. You need to pray for her, support her if she asks questions, and avoid unproductive argumentation.

No matter how many prayers, blessings, or Masses are said for your sister, none of this will guarantee her return to the Church. God forces no one.

What these prayers, sacramentals, and Masses do is to try to lift the fog that is around your sister so that the Holy Spirit can have a more direct influence upon her.

Your prayer when you use the Holy Water is called a Proxy Prayer. You are saying the prayer on behalf of your sister. That is not, however, the same thing as her praying for herself, which is obviously better.

The intensity of your sister's reaction implies some psychological and/or spiritual issues going on. I recommend that you pray the Hedge Prayer for Return of Wayward Catholics, and also the Proxy Deliverance Prayer for a Friend or Relative, and any other prayer in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog that you find useful.

There is always one hope should none of these prayers facilitate her coming back to the faith. That hope is called "diminished capacity" or "diminished responsibility." This is where a person who commits grave sin will not be punished for it as a mortal sin because of some impediment in their ability to make a totally free and unfettered choice. Your sister may have a psychological impediment that prevents her from making a true free will choice to reject God. When that happens the person can still go to heaven.

This is similar to a person found innocent by reason of insanity. In fact, that concept in criminal law came from Catholic theology.

One cannot be held accountable for a mortal sin if they are lacking in the ability to make a full, conscience, and unimpaired choice to sin.

In the Catechism examples are given of an atheist and a prostitute who may still go to even because of diminished capacity or responsibility.

Do not lose hope.

There is hope for your sister even if she never visibly returns to the Church.

We will pray for her also.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary