Defending Catholic faith to those who question it

Some of the early fathers of the Church were labeled “Apologists” because the focus of their work was on a defense of the faith or, more specifically, a defense of the teaching of the Church on a particular tenet of faith or morals. If we take a look at the work of the apologists, they were not against Greek philosophy but desired to show that Christianity and philosophy were not mutually exclusive. In addition to Origen and Tertullian, early Christian apologists include Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria. St. Athanasius and St. Augustine.
Before we can defend what the Church teaches and why, it is imperative that we first know what the Church believes about a particular doctrine. A hypothetical case in point would be the following. A fundamentalist Christian alleges: “Catholics worship Mary and are therefore idolaters.” An apologetic response would be: “Catholics only worship God. Still, we venerate Mary because she is the sinless mother of Jesus and, by His mandate from the Cross to the beloved disciple, our mother. By the graces given to her from Christ, she is our advocate. Mary has complete God-dependency and is for all of us, a model of what a Christian should be. Because she is our mother, and has attained beatitude in Heaven, we call on Mary to intercede for us in prayer.” Notice how in the above “defense” there is no name-calling, no derogatory or pejorative words.   
Apologetics does not equate anger. Having knowledge of the faith is the pre-requisite to apologetics however, it is necessary to argue a point intelligibly, in terms another could understand, calmly and yet thoroughly is the proper way to defend the teaching of the Church.  
The problem today is that we have a whole segment of baptized Catholics who do not know what we believe. All too often, students approaching confirmation or, even marriage for that matter, are clueless when it comes to a grasp of what the Church teaches in the realm of faith and morals. Since parents are the primary educators of the faith in the life of their children, it follows that they should have a thorough grasp of what the Church teaches. To acquire this knowledge, I highly recommend purchasing a copy of “The Cathechism of the Catholic Church.” It is a great reference book. It is easy to read and explains, in detail, what the Church teaches or, from another perspective, what we believe.  Following the structure of the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, “The Catechism of the Catholic Church” parses each tenet of the faith, explicating both its origin and how it took final form in the Creed.
It is not realistic to leave apologetics to the traditional teachers of the faith: priests, deacons, religious, lay people with advanced degrees in theology. These individuals are a support team.  However, their task is to take what begins at home and broaden the discussion of what we believe to a larger arena, such as the people in the pews at Mass or, in adult education classes, to elicit discussion, entertain questions, and find creative ways in which to bring this teaching of the Church to life in a meaningful way.
Is there room for apologetics in the classroom? “Yes.” Is there a place for apologetics in preaching? “Yes.” Is there a need to incorporate apologetics in the religion curriculum of both Catholic schools and religious education programs? “Absolutely.” The whole point that I am trying to make is that apologetics is the domain of everyone in the Church. It is the fodder for discussion at home, in the classroom and from the pulpit. The Church craves apologetics and we, who are the Church, need it now.
Apologetics is not just a strategy of argumentation to be used with anti-Catholics. Within the Church, there are many Catholics who disagree with the teaching of the Church concerning the following topics: weekly Mass attendance; the need for baptism; abortion; in vitro fertilization; physician-assisted suicide; having Catholics only as baptismal sponsors; Communion after divorce and remarriage [without an annulment]; gay marriage; treatment of ashes following a cremation. Many of these individuals are in our families, workplace and parishes. Once more, we are not called to be aggressive, nasty, antagonistic. We are called to know what the Church teaches and defend this doctrine diplomatically, accurately, concisely and charitably.
Father Comandini is managing editor of The Catholic Spirit.