Starting an Apologetics ministry in my church

[RichSpidizzy]

as promised (albeit a little late) here is the advert from my bulletin:

Catholic Apologetics

Have you ever been placed in a position of explaining the Catholic faith? Maybe, you are at work and someone poses a question about the Catholic faith and they turn to you! Have you ever been at a loss for words? Not sure what to say? Or someone rings your doorbell and you ignore them because you do not feel “qualified” to begin a conversation with them. Have you ever wanted to read the Bible further, but are unsure where to begin?

Well look no further! In March Nativity will start an Apologetics group. What is Apologetics? Well the word has nothing to do with making an apology or seeking forgiveness; apologetics is about building a case for our faith. Apologetics is learning how to explain and defend our faith. Apologetics is also about exploring our faith in a deeper sense; exploring what the Church teaches and why the Church says what it says. Our Apologetics group will be meeting in the rectory and will be an intense “investigation and exploration” of the Catholic Faith! Father Colamaria along with Richard Speidel will be conducting the sessions. Future meetings will include guest speakers and perhaps small trips to meet other Catholic Apologetics Groups.

So if you are 21 or older and want to learn and explain your faith, why not give Nativity’s Catholic Apologetics group a try? First meeting will take place Tuesday, March 22nd at 7:00 PM at the Rectory. PLEASE R.S.V.P.

 

[Elzee]

Thank you Richie! Great advice!

 

[Elzee]

I forgot to ask - how do you think this would go if your priest was not in on the sessions with you? I doubt this participation would happen in my parish - not due to his lack of interest - but just because of how overworked he already is in such a large parish, which also supports a school, high school, and we’re also in the process of building a new church. He unfortunately doesn’t have an assistant pastor to share the load with.

Thanks!

 

[jax8686]

Good Job Rich

i am also starting an apologetix section of our Life Teen Ministry… its quite a challenge, being i am the youngest core member on our team(19), and i had no idea where to start… this has been very inspiring! Fidelis, thanx for puttin that outline on, if you dont mind, ill be using that as a guide for my talks, as i was having trouble deciding my topics. and Rich, do you mind if i use your bulletin announcement to post in our church?
Thnx
Jameshttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon6.gif

 

[RichSpidizzy]

Elzee:

I forgot to ask - how do you think this would go if your priest was not in on the sessions with you?

Hmmm, good question. Personally, I would not feel comfortable running the group without him there to back me up. Just like the situation with the woman who ended up storming out because she disagreed with the answer of one of the questions in the pop quiz, you never know what can go wrong and it’s always good to have a person of authority there to back you up. How about the deacon, would he be available to sit in with you?

I’d also like to mention that we only have meetings every other week and we are going to try and keep them at 1 hour because we don’t want to get overwhelmed. Maybe if you don’t hold sessions too frequently, and they don’t take too long, your pastor would be able to attend.

 

[RichSpidizzy]

jax8686:

Good Job Rich

Thanks!

Rich, do you mind if i use your bulletin announcement to post in our church?

Please do! I’m happy to help out a fellow Apologist!

 

[Fidelis]

jax8686:

Good Job Rich

i am also starting an apologetix section of our Life Teen Ministry… its quite a challenge, being i am the youngest core member on our team(19), and i had no idea where to start… this has been very inspiring! Fidelis, thanx for puttin that outline on, if you dont mind, ill be using that as a guide for my talks, as i was having trouble deciding my topics. and Rich, do you mind if i use your bulletin announcement to post in our church?
Thnx
Jameshttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon6.gif

You’re very welcome James. Glad to see people still benefitting from it. I’m thinking about posting it, along with the lesson outlines, on my new Catholic Scripture webpage at
members.cox.net/fidelis927/

RichSpidizzy-
Congrats on your new ministry-- sounds like a winner and I pray for it’s continued success. I’m thinking about reviving another session of Apologetics 101 at my parish as well.