Seeking to equip themselves with the knowledge to defend their faith, more than one hundred young adults gathered from across Sydney’s South west to take part in an open discussion led by a panel of apologetics experts and enthusiasts.
St Catherine of Laboure Parish Priest Fr Greg Morgan, Sydney Catholic Schools Head of Evangelisation Dr Robert Haddad and Respondens Catolica Director Charlie Tahan engaged the young adults for over 90 minutes with their unique insights into Catholic apologetics, its effectiveness and role in today’s society at St Joseph’s Catholic Parish in Moorebank on 9 June.
Run by Somascan Movement Australia in response to the Sydney Synod’s directive for Deanery collaboration in evangelisation and formation initiatives, The Forum invites each panelist to speak on the topic for seven minutes, after which, questions are discussed between the panelists with further clarification from those present.
As a big believer in formulating, intelligent reasons for faith, Fr Morgan began the conversation by emphasising the need to understand the world if arguments are going to have critical leverage.
Catholics still struggle to communicate their beliefs in the public square, despite having a “philosophical backbone” behind what is believed, and continue to lose the culture wars, he said.
In order to be effective in defending the faith and evangelising those in your life, Fr Morgan suggested that one must know something about the culture, know something about the person you’re talking to and remember that the greatest witness is your life.
“When you are speaking to someone in apologetics, you’ve got to know what it is that’s holding them back from the faith,” said the Gymea parish priest.
“We might think I’ve got these great arguments so I’m going to deliver these arguments and they’ll be persuaded.
“But look, behind every human being is a heart.
“In the early church, when the pagans were putting out the dying, the Christians would go and hold their hands and the pagans would think, do you see how these Christians love people?”
“It was that which breaks the cold heart and then begins to raise questions of faith.”
Reinforcing this approach to apologetics, Dr Robert Haddad used his journey from an aggressively argumentative apologist who was focussed on winning arguments to one that was concerned with winning souls.
The author spoke on past popes who exhorted the laity to get involved in creative apologetics as an act of charity and Catholic duty.
“My advice to us as lay people when it comes to apologetics is to do anything, do something,” said Dr Haddad.
“Your calling to apologetics, evangelisation and witness is born in your baptism and confirmation.
“And it doesn’t matter if you make mistakes.
“I have always made mistakes and will always make mistakes in the future. It’s better to do something rather than nothing.
“We left the battlefield … we have to come back onto the battlefield with faith, hope, love and respect to win souls rather than arguments.”
Giving a different perspective to the discussion, Charlie Tahan spoke on the effects of apologetics and how his honest search for answers brought him and his family closer to the Catholic faith.
As a young man whose faith was more tradition than truth, Tahan was taken aback when his devoutly protestant wife Sarah challenged him on different aspects of Catholicism.
From the veneration of Mary to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, her recognition of biblical symbols within Catholic liturgy prompted her to question her husband who in turn seeked the answers to better inform his wife.
As a result, the two grew in deeper love for the Catholic faith which ultimately led to her reception into the Catholic Church.
“It was a beautiful thing that as I was trying to bring my wife to the Catholic Church, I was also learning myself,” said the RCIA catechist.
“Apologetics really taught me the depths of the sacrifice of the Mass and the apostolic succession of the priest.
Inspired by what they heard from the panelists, attendees fired questions for over 45 minutes that touched upon a number of areas such as apologetics in the schools system and in the family home, as well as approaches to those of different faiths.
The Forum was inspired by the ancient Roman Forum which facilitated discussion, debate and discovery, bringing together faith, culture and conversation in a fresh and engaging way.
The lengthy and engaging debate on apologetics showed the benefit of this platform of discussion between those of different expertise and experiences.
