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Hi, Calvin —
Thanks for the question.
As Mary Ann said, being a Catholic Apologist, (Someone who gives good reasons to become a Catholic), is a calling and a vocation.
One would never consider doing what we do, if they didn't have a knowledge and an appreciation for our divine Catholic faith and our Christian heritage that dates back to 33 A.D. and prior.
Sadly, many families, due to poor parental upbringing and poor parish education have never been taught the basic doctrines of the Catholic faith, let alone the finer points of doctrine.
Nevertheless, if one has the desire and the interest, there is nothing stopping them from being a Catholic Apologist. At a bare minimum, it requires:
- a good knowledge of Church teaching according to the Magisterium of the Church
- a good knowledge of the Scriptures
- being able to distinguish and discern between good and bad Catholic sources:
people, websites, books, CDs, DVDs, and audio cassettes, etc.
- a willingness to research and find answers, and
- living a daily prayer life and, at minimum, living the obliged sacramental life according to the Church. (Going to Sunday (and Holy Day) Masses as well as regular Confessions)
Finally, it requires having a solid library of references that you can go to for research:
- Bibles
- Catechisms
- books
- CD's, audio cassette tapes
- magazines, doctrinal and apologetic
- old Catholic commentaries, and
- books on the Early Church Fathers and saints of the Church.
Most importantly, you need a proper attitude based in humility. This means being willing say:
"I don't know the answer to that question, but let me research it and get back to you."
The other plus of a humble attitude is that we destroy the devil in our lives.
If you do pursue this vocation or avocation, I strongly suggest you seek out like-minded Catholics who have this similar interest and work as a team; that's how this website developed in the Boston area.
Back in the 1990's we were having meetings in Waltham, Mass. on how to bring Catholic Apologetics to the Archdiocese of Boston; this was obviously done with the approval of (at the time) Cardinal Law. Sadly, things didn't work out in the long run, so I founded my own Catholic support group called the Christifideles Pizza and Theology
Society (CPATS).
Talk to your pastor and the head of evangelization (in your diocese) about your interest.
We started brainstorming ideas with only five people!
Besides having a proper attitude in answering visitor's questions, you also have to have a good attitude among the colleagues on your Apologetics team. This means being open to the fact that you may have given an incorrect answer. One of the realities of life is, we don't know everything; only God does! Sure!, you can discuss things among your colleagues and have a few mini-family fights on how best to answer a question but the ultimate focus should be on a truthful answer that is faithful to the Church. This is why establishing Catholic support groups is so important and why
I emphasize this on my About Us page.
I would like to see a day where every diocese in the United States has a go-to diocesan database of questions and answers like the ones we have. Lay apostolates, that are officially separate from the Church, but faithful to the local bishop, cardinal and the Holy Father, should also be encouraged and are by Canon Law. I have put together a LinkedIn and Facebook page just for this reason:
Personally, I would be willing to bet that 98% of the Catholics in our diocese, even in the pews, don't even know what Apologetics is. They would probably ask:
"Why are we apologizing for being a Catholic?"
This has to change before our calling is appreciated.
You said:
- How do you make a living?
I currently work at Walmart as a Cashier and am able to make enough money to pay my monthly bills. Since our group started, this has been a calling, vocation, and avocation for me, though as Mary Ann said, all our work is done on a volunteer basis. We just can't get anyone interested in Catholic Apologetics in the Archdiocese of Boston!
We had a priest-friend who with a strong background in Canon Law helping us for years, but he was re-assigned to another position and I never heard back from the current priest in charge of Canon Law issues for the archdiocese of Boston. We would welcome any priest with a strong knowledge of Canon Law to consider joining our team. Just e-mail me.
There are costs involved in maintaining this website including paying for annual web hosting and domain name registrations. If you have been helped by our work and would like to contribute to some of our programs, you can do so here:
or if you wish to put in a good word for the work we do, you can go here.
Hope this helps and answers your question,
Mike
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