At one of my That Man Is You! group sessions, I was recounting the story of why I began looking to deepen my understanding of the Catholic faith.  I explained that I did not feel equipped to answer the eventual questions that would come from my children, let alone the questions I got from full-grown skeptical, educated adults.

One of the men in my group suggested that I look into apologetics, specifically the Catholic Answers Live radio program.  After some blank looks, he explained that apologetics means “to speak in defense” of something and the program is a structured call-in show where priests, theologians, and other special guests answer questions about the Catholic faith.

A few weeks later, I found myself bored of the music on my iPhone so I punched up the Catholic Answers podcast.  I was in luck… it was a Q&A Open Forum for Non-Catholics.  That’s right… these guys take calls from non-Catholics and answer very tough questions with rational answers.  Sometimes they used Scripture to justify the answers, other times a long thread of historical teachings that pass down through the line of popes to Christ himself. It was eye opening.

As time went on, their podcast quickly became part of my day.  When I have desk work or programming to do, I turn on Catholic Answers.  In time, many of the exact questions that caused me doubt were asked repeatedly by many callers.  With each new guest answering the question, I got new Bible verses, Magisterial (from the teaching authority of the Catholic Church) documents, and perspective.

Now I love Catholic apologetics.  I love it when people ask me questions about Catholicism… What’s the deal with X?  Why does the Church teach Y?  Why do you Catholics do Z?  In fact, I welcome anyone reading this blog with a burning question to contact me and ask it.  I may try to answer it in a future article.

If you’re looking for some great Catholic apologetics right now, allow me to direct you to a few of my favorites: Jimmy Akin, Tim Staples, and Patrick Coffin.