How to Do Apologetics by Patrick Madrid

Author:Patrick Madrid
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
Published: 2016-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Catholic Apologetics

Making the Case for the Catholic Church

Now let’s focus on the structure and internal logic of Catholic apologetics, as distinct from natural and Christian apologetics.79 There is no need to recapitulate here the biblical and historical evidence pertaining to Catholic doctrines — the books I’ll recommend later contain that information in abundance. Rather, at the macrolevel, this chapter will consider generally the process of making a cogent, persuasive, evidential case for the Catholicity of Christianity.

Whereas all three branches of apologetics (natural, Christian, Catholic) rely on rational proofs, each also requires certain tools uniquely suited to achieving its particular goals. Natural apologetics (demonstrating the existence and nature of God) relies primarily on reason, natural law, and cosmology. Christian apologetics (proving the historicity, divinity, and Resurrection of Jesus) focuses mainly on historical evidence, Old Testament prophecies, and the person, teachings, and miracles of Jesus.

Catholic apologetics deals with those doctrines and practices of the Church Jesus established that are not “mere Christianity” in a generic sense but that are peculiarly and specifically Catholic. Generically Christian beliefs include the Trinity and Incarnation. Specifically Catholic doctrines include the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, purgatory, Marian dogmas, and practices such as infant baptism and the Rosary. Keep in mind that in Catholic apologetics you are dealing with baptized Christians for whom it’s a given that Jesus Christ is true God and true man and the Bible is inspired and trustworthy. So it’s not enough to simply quote Bible passages. You must show that the authentic meaning of those passages is what the Catholic Church has faithfully taught since the time of Christ and the Apostles. This is why doing Catholic apologetics effectively requires at least a basic command of the pertinent biblical and historical evidence presented in a clear, logical fashion.

There are different permutations of Catholic apologetics, each requiring a particular approach. For example, since Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestants focus mainly on the Bible, it is the common ground upon which we can build bridges of understanding. Because for them the authority of the Bible takes priority over all else, the case for the Catholic Church must be presented in a thoroughly scriptural way to be effective.

To be sure, you will also need at least a basic command of the facts of Christian history, necessary to strengthen your biblical arguments, especially by demonstrating that the early and medieval Christians were Catholic in every sense of the word.

Apologetics with Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestants requires the powerful combination of Scripture and history. Either one without the other is typically insufficient to do the job properly. For example, it is well and good to demonstrate the truth of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist with a thoroughgoing appeal to the wide and deep New Testament evidence for this doctrine; but your efforts may well be met with the standard “that’s just your interpretation” rejoinder or, worse yet, the “you’re just taking that passage out of context” reply. You can defeat that kind of

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