Defending the faith...

[sadie2723]

I am considering trying to get a class going in my parish in which I would aid in teaching methods of defending the faith. I am finding numerous examples in my community where our members are being publicly challenged about their beliefs. Let’s face it. We are not all trained to deal with these attacks, and I think that it may be time to get a group together on a local level to educate Catholics about how to defend themselves.

I was wondering if anyone had done this or even considered it. If so, how did it go?

Thanks.
B

 

[Fidelis]

My wife and I conducted an apologetics class at my parish last year using the *Beginning Apologetics 1 * booklet, found here:

shop.catholic.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/p-B0279.html?L+scstore+fmgl7661ff033603+1143769378

We used the questions from the available study guide. We divided it up into 12 weeks, at two hours a session every Wednesday night. The first hour I covered each topic where I thought the book didn’t give enough background , or where I thought I could provide more clarification or information. The second hour we went over the questions in the Study Guide.

Even though the turn-out was fairly light (we averaged about a dozen a night in a very large parish), I considered it a success. People that stuck with it said they learned a lot, and some said they would return it it was offered again. We even had at least one non-Catholic attendee decide to convert after the first few classes.

We are hoping to offer it again this year, but, unlike last time, I think we will offer it before summer. We had a lot of absences and other people who couldn’t commit because of traveling, etc.

 

[puzzleannie]

there are a few threads on apologetics courses offered, do a search on the apologetics forum, most of the successful ones used the Beginning Apologetics series, check out the CA homepage