Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is best remembered as a pioneer of the electronic church. It is estimated that four million people regularly listened to him on " The Catholic Hour" a radio program that aired 1930 to 1952. When his" Life is worth living" television series aired his audience skyrocketed to about thirty million. This man, loved by people of all faiths because of his zeal for ecumenism, once said, " There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. that hate the Catholic Church, there are millions however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church -- which is, of course, quite a different thing." When Bishop Sheen made this statement he was speaking about how non Catholics perceive the Catholic Church. Perhaps this statement is even more true today than it was years ago when Bishop Sheen first said it. Now not only non Catholics but Catholics perpetuate errors and misconceptions.
Gone are the days when all Catholic schools were staffed by clergy and religious. Gone are the days of the Baltimore Catechism when even grade school children could give sound theological answers to simple questions. Gone also are many of our young adults from the pews in the Catholic Church.
The people who leave the Catholic Church usually choose one of five paths.
The first path many choose is to reject any form of religion. These people usually ignore prayer, ignore Christ and in essence commit spiritual suicide because they refuse to cooperate with God's grace.
Many rejecting the Catholic Church take the second path. These people join a non Catholic or non denominational church more in line with what they are willing to do or believe. This is the path that lets them pick and choose what they want to believe rather than follow all of Christ's teachings.
The third path are those who embrace the New Age or some form of eastern religion that promises enlightenment while rejecting most if not all tenets of the Christian faith.
The fourth path some choose is that of the cult. This group includes Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Unification Church and so many others that listing them all would require quite a bit of web space.
The final road which is becoming more and more popular is to become a "Bible Only Christian" Today many former Catholics seem drawn to the " Bible only" churches.
No matter which road or path these people take some if not all Catholic family members are left shattered in the wake of such a drastic move. Tears flow and parents blame themselves asking anyone who will listen "Where did we go wrong? What can we do to bring our children back to the faith?" The answer is prayer. Pray for all groups outside the Church but especially for those who have rejected God and who seem determined to commit spiritual suicide. Only intervention by the Holy Spirit can help. Although God will not interfere with a person's free will we must remember that Scripture tells us that He is long-suffering not willing that any should perish. He wants all to repent and return to Him (2 Peter 3:9). I urge you to trust in God and don't get discouraged and give up if you don't see results right away. Saint Augustine's mother, Monica, prayed over thirty years for her son to become a Catholic. Monica's prayers were answered when thirty three years after his birth in the year 387 Augustine was baptized. Four years later he was ordained a priest and in 395 he was consecrated Bishop of Hippo. Today this canonized saint is considered by Catholics and many non Catholics alike one of the greatest theologians in the history of Church.This article will deal primarily with those following the path of the "Bible Only Christians" those usually thought of by Catholics as fundamentalist or evangelical Christian. When a Catholic joins a fundamentalist or Bible only church the family members will see some very dramatic and positive changes at first. The parents are amazed to see that their child who would never go to Mass no matter how much they begged or nagged will now start going to church twice a week; Sunday for Church Service and Wednesday for Bible Study. Children in the family are shocked when they walk into a room and find their sibling on knees praying or reading the Bible. Gradually negative changes start to appear on the scene. Salvation tracts may be left on the table or in the bath room. You may even see some anti Catholic literature. Trust me it gets worse. The child you carried in your womb may soon be coming home telling you that you are not really a Christian and that you are going to hell if you remain a Catholic. You will be told that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon of Revelations. You will be called an idolater and every belief you hold dear will be condemned, mocked and challenged including the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The outcome of such confrontations usually result with the warmth and loved once displayed by family members being replaced by a coolness and disdain that had never existed in years past. What is so tragic in these scenarios is that each person involved loves the other, each is sincere, each is convinced they are following God’s will, and each worries about the others salvation.
Today there is much evangelization going on throughout the world, Sadly most of it being done by non Catholics. Jehovah Witnesses knock at your door wanting to share a Bible truth featured in their Watchtower magazine. Two very polite young men, attired in white shirt, tie and black slacks, stop to tell you about the Book of Mormon, the other Testament of Jesus Christ. Flipping through the channels on your TV a preacher says something that causes you to pause. He tells you that if you will just ask Jesus to become the Lord and Saviour of your life you will be saved and have Christ’s assurance of going to heaven when you die. Is it any wonder our children leave the Church with so many people enticing them to do so? Some may wonder if these evangelists have any real impact on a Church as large as the Catholic Church? Look around you and decide for yourself. How many of you have friends or family members who have left the Catholic Church to join main line Protestant denominations, fundamentalist groups, or even cults? How full are the pews in your local Church? Yes, evangelization does work. Many fundamentalists are ecstatic seeing the results of evangelizing Catholics. Catholic parents watch hopelessly as children with little or no knowledge of their faith leave the Catholic Church at an alarming rate with just the slightest coaxing and sound evangelistic techniques.
The Pope and many bishops of the world are encouraging us to evangelize. St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologiae, said that not only preachers but each believer is to teach to bring others to faith. That means you and me. We, the Catholic laity, are called to share in the work of evangelization commanded by Christ; but we cannot do it effectively. Why? The answer is simple. You cannot give to others what you, yourself, do not possess. To pass on our faith we must truly know what the Church teaches and how to explain it. Not all, but the vast majority of Catholics that I know have little knowledge of their faith and are scriptural illiterates. This is a fact well recognized by our non Catholic brethren. Many of my non Catholic friends tell me they are shocked by the average Catholic's ignorance of Catholic dogma. I am forced to agree with their assessment since I have witnessed it first hand many times. Some explanations, of Catholic dogma, made by Catholics have made me actually cringe.
I have played the apologist now for over thirty-five years starting way back when I first met my wife and her Evangelical relatives. When I say my wife has evangelical relatives I don't mean people just attending the local Evangelical church. I mean good, God fearing, Bible reading people. Some are ministers, evangelists and missionaries. The first time I had the opportunity to meet most of my wife's relatives was at a family reunion shortly before we were married. I had been warned that her relatives didn't think much of the Catholic Church or Catholics in general. I thought she was exaggerating. It became very apparent she had not exaggerated when one of my wife's cousins on learning that I was Catholic asked, "How did you ever get involved with that bunch?"
During the next several meetings with members of my wife's family there were several discussions about Jesus and religion in general. Some discussed among themselves what they thought Catholics believed. I heard things that were not only misconceptions but lies that these good people had heard about Catholicism over the years. These false teachings and misconceptions had been spread during the Protestant Reformation and I was amazed that some people still considered them true. I am sure there was no deliberate malice intended on their part. They were just repeating misconceptions or untruths that they heard over the years and considered true. Occasionally I would be asked a question. Many questions were prefaced with the Bible says this so why do you Catholics do this.(e.g. The Bible says you are not to bow down before graven images. Why do you Catholics kneel before statues? They are graven images.)
I was able to answer to some questions, thanks to the efforts of the Dominican Sisters who taught me at Our Lady of Mercy Grade School in the Bronx. They made sure their students had a thorough knowledge of the Baltimore Catechism. I feel I would be remiss in my duty as a Catholic Christian if did not pause here and thank the Dominican Sisters who taught me. Sisters, thank you! Even with this knowledge imparted by the good Dominicans I usually felt as though I was a complete moron when I discussed religion with my wife's relatives. Surrounded as I was by these "Bible Experts" the reality that I knew next to nothing about what the Bible contained soon became very clear. The thing that bothered me most was that I didn’t really know much about Catholicism despite my Catholic education.
Over the years things have changed quite a bit. Thanks to my wife's family I had to study and learn Catholic teachings to answer the questions they asked. I now know what the teachings of the Church are and I feel my explanations of Church teachings have dispelled many misconceptions. My knowledge of my faith has grown considerably over the years and I am confident that I have given the Church’s teaching to the best of my ability. I am now familiar enough with the Bible to back up my answers to questions with scripture.
The surprising thing is that I am no longer the only Catholic in my wife's extended family. I wish I could claim the credit but the fact is some of my wife's cousins married Catholics. My wife's relatives now have sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, in-laws and grandchildren who are Catholic. Catholic members of the family are no longer asked how they got mixed up with those Catholics. I am now asked, how is your son doing? I heard he is studying for the priesthood. When will he be ordained? Isn't it wonderful? Times change, situations change, erroneous ideas and peoples misconceptions about Catholicism can change as well.
This website does not contain the answers to all questions non Catholics may ask you. That website doesn't yet exist to my knowledge. It is my intention that this section on apologetics be beneficial to all interested in obtaining a very basic and accurate knowledge of what the Catholic Church teaches. For non Catholics it is perhaps an aid to clear up some misconceptions they might have. For Catholics who know little about their faith or for those who want to review the basics it is a primer. For those interested in evangelization or basic apologetics this page on apologetics may be beneficial. This section of our site contains Scripture verses and quotes from the Early Church Fathers that I have used for over three decades to help clarify common misconceptions and errors some very good Christian brothers and sister have about Catholicism. Hopefully for them it will be a decent research resource or primer on Catholicism.
The secondary purpose of our apologetics section is to present my position on some beliefs held by many evangelicals and fundamentalists. I will make statements and give scripture references about some beliefs fundamentalists and evangelicals hold sacred and why I think they are in error. The scripture verses I use will be taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV). I have not chosen this version because I think it is the most accurate translation. I do not think it is. I have chosen the KJV because most non Catholics consider the KJV the only trustworthy version and are skeptical or suspicious of quotes from Catholic versions. In most cases I will quote the entire scripture.
My reasons for quoting the entire scripture verses are:
1. I realize there are times when a Bible is not available to see what the quoted reference actually states. When this happens to me I become frustrated. I wish to spare you this frustration.
2. There are times when I am reading a book that does gives a scriptural reference and a Bible is available. This situation does not frustrate me but it annoys me. The annoyance lies in the fact that I must juggle two books on my lap or sit at my desk and read two books concurrently. I wish to spare you this annoyance.
3. I hope to provide a quick reference resource by presenting information in a complete, concise, clear and simple manner.
Right now you are probably thinking that I am a really nice guy for being so considerate. Before that thought becomes too ingrained in your mind I wish to remind you that I said in most cases I will quote the entire scripture. I also feel obligated to give you the opportunity to see what lies between the covers of the Bible you dust so often. To ensure this is done there will be times I will just give book, chapter and verse in the hopes that God will stir your curiosity and you will actually start reading the Bible if you are not reading it at this time.