St. Joseph Catholic Church

Sandpoint, Idaho

Home Columbarium K of C Donate Staff

Catholic Apologetics

We are called to be witnesses, to actively share our faith. We are also called to defend our faith. Sometimes it seems like most people have some sort of objection to religion in general, to Christianity in general, or to Catholicism in particular. Apologetics is the process by which we witness and explain our faith in response to objections.

The first step to witnessing and defending our faith is mindset. The mindset of the witness and the apologist is critical to the mission, and has two main qualities:

1. It is presuppositional. This means, simply, that you start all your arguments from the position that our faith is true, and that it is the objector who is in error. Since the objector almost always gives no credence to our faith's position, this levels the intellectual discussion field. Engaging in Apologetics is not making apologies.

2. It is centered in God's love and the Savior, Jesus Christ. You are not trying to argue, or compete - you are trying to inform a sibling in the way of truth.

Beyond those two principles, the issue is almost always specific to the objection. Here is a set of resources from religious authorities, philosophers, and apologists to help in our calling:

This will get you started. This page will continue to evolve with more information and links, so please check back soon!

Make online shopping count for St. Joseph Catholic Church!
Weekly Bulletin Feedback