Defensor fide

[athanasius]

As a Catholic theology student at a Orthodox Catholic university who is majoring in doctrinal theology, I love to defend the the truth of the churches Doctrines and dogmas. Over the past several years I have heard and learned both in the classroom and outside of it (throughs books and tapes from apologist and scholars Such as Fr Mitch Pacwa, Jimmy Akin, Dr Scott Hahn, etc) how to defend many of the doctrines. My love for the truth of the faith and apologetics was brought on by defending the Papacy from a group of (although innocently ignorant) rabbid anti-catholic Seventh Day Adventist in 1999 when the Pope Came to St Louis. I also had been doing research a few years earlier when I was dating a Baptist girl and attending her church.

I have found that my favorite topics to defend and discuss are the Holy Eucharist(both the real presence and the sacrificial nature of the Mass), the Papacy, Mary and the Marian doctrines, and Authority(the sola scriptura issue). I have friends and even pastors of other denominations whom I have friendly engaged in such talks. I find them very fruitful. I am very blessed to have such good non-Catholic christian bretheren. We keep each other strong.

Any other Catholic on this board want to describe their love for the truth of Christ and his Catholic church and how they came to love to defend and dialgue with others? By the way there is a great new book out on defending the truth of the churches doctrines by Dr Scott Hahn.

God bless,

Athanasius

 

[gmelrod]

I was a fairly strong Catholic as a child (as much as a child can be anyway) When I went away to Roanoke College in Salem VA (Go Maroons!) I majored in theater. My first semester did not go well. I finished with a 0.98 GPA, was placed on Academic Suspention and had to go home. During the interval I attended a local comunity college where there was a course on critical thinking. I enjoyed the class so much that when I returned to Roanoke I changed my major to Philosophy.

Now Roanoke is the 2nd oldest Lutheran College in the US and is not far from Lynchburg VA, home of Liberty University founded by the late Rev. Jerry Fallwel. So it was not an uncommon sight for students from liberty to come and evangelize students on campus. Armed with my budding philisophical skills I gladly engaged them whenever possible. My arguments from secular philosophy convinced many of them that I was going to hell and needed to be prayed for.

Later in my junior year as I was looking at gradschools I took a trip up to Catholic University in Wachington DC. I spent some time in the Basilica there and of course had to make a trip to the bookstore. There I found a book "Catholicism and Fundamentalism, an attack on "Romanism" by "Bible Christians" by Karl Keating (strongly reccomended) Here I found new arguments to use with the evangelising students using their own work, the Bible rather than "heretical" thinkers like Spinoza Kant and Hume. While I still remain a devoted student of philosophy and hold a fair bit of rational skepticism I am devoted to the apologetic writings of the church. They represent a tradition of thought and scholarship that I cannot help but be drawn to.

I may be a lousy true believer but I still call my self Catholic.

 

[athanasius]

I was a fairly strong Catholic as a child (as much as a child can be anyway) When I went away to Roanoke College in Salem VA (Go Maroons!) I majored in theater. My first semester did not go well. I finished with a 0.98 GPA, was placed on Academic Suspention and had to go home. During the interval I attended a local comunity college where there was a course on critical thinking. I enjoyed the class so much that when I returned to Roanoke I changed my major to Philosophy.

Now Roanoke is the 2nd oldest Lutheran College in the US and is not far from Lynchburg VA, home of Liberty University founded by the late Rev. Jerry Fallwel. So it was not an uncommon sight for students from liberty to come and evangelize students on campus. Armed with my budding philisophical skills I gladly engaged them whenever possible. My arguments from secular philosophy convinced many of them that I was going to hell and needed to be prayed for.

Later in my junior year as I was looking at gradschools I took a trip up to Catholic University in Wachington DC. I spent some time in the Basilica there and of course had to make a trip to the bookstore. There I found a book "Catholicism and Fundamentalism, an attack on "Romanism" by "Bible Christians" by Karl Keating (strongly reccomended) Here I found new arguments to use with the evangelising students using their own work, the Bible rather than "heretical" thinkers like Spinoza Kant and Hume. While I still remain a devoted student of philosophy and hold a fair bit of rational skepticism I am devoted to the apologetic writings of the church. They represent a tradition of thought and scholarship that I cannot help but be drawn to.

I may be a lousy true believer but I still call my self Catholic.

Awesome testimony thank you very much and welcome aboard. Catholicism and fundamentalism is also the first book I bought. Catholic answers apologist are wonderful. A equally as good book is called "Catholic and Christian" by Dr Alan Schreck of franciscan U at Steubenville. good to meet other Serious catholics.:yes:

 

[Quiddity]

I may be a lousy true believer but I still call my self Catholic.

Just know that God uses what little you have and can roll with it. Here goes……

As an eight-year old who was preparing to do his first communion and was attending a church in a warehouse that was being rented out by a local Pentecostal church, I didn’t know the difference. My mom only made me attend communion classes and do my first communion because it was something that could not leave her alone in her own mind. My aunt was at her peak of her charismatic movement in a Pentecostal church and would bring me along from time to time. I can’t remember ever attending Mass as a boy and I do recall me asking my mom why I couldn’t go into that building that was so quiet, like a library. She would just say that we couldn’t and would say that I should go with my aunt instead. I never found out why. My aunt stopped attending because the lease for the warehouse was up and my aunt fell into worldly behavior. She just recently started attending again.

By the time I was 15, I was encountered by two of nicest guys I had ever met. To paint you a picture of how this took place, imagine an alley in a barrio (projects, ghetto, etc.) with 2 tall white (I only mention this because it was out of place to see any blonde hair blued eyed person in that area) Minnesota 19 year-old young adults talking to me about God. The alley smelled and was just full of graffiti. The very fact that they had the guts to go to the barrio, got my attention. This lead me to attend the Mormon Church and that only lasted for like 9 months or so. Left for undoctrinal reasons at the time. From the age of 15 until like 19 I attended different denominational churches (who ever invited me pretty much). I was attracted to this God they spoke of. I stopped attending for about two years (was struggling justifying my beliefs with my science classes and took some philosophy classes) and became quite secular (which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing). Then met my lovely wife at 20 years old. She is a cradle Catholic that I fell in Love with. Our opposing view points bumped heads (still had quite a bit of evangelical/anti in me) and she finally said “I am going to die catholic Victor. Go search for what you seek. If you find your answers, we can continue. If we still disagree, we will have to part.” So we continued to date while staying away from controversial issues. And although my initial motivation was the love to my wife, I got so drawn to the Catholic Church that even if it wouldn’t have worked out, I know would be catholic. But I would share what I would read (Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, Patrick Madrid, etc) and what I was struggling with. She would just be a perfect listener. Two and a half years later I did my confirmation and got married to her. That was 4 years ago and still growing in my faith. I LOVE being Catholic!!

Holy Father, thank you for extending your graces out to us and for not leaving us.
Thank you for accepting the little in me and magnifying it thru your Son.

The Least in Christ

~Victor Mesina

 

[athanasius]

Just know that God uses what little you have and can roll with it. Here goes……

As an eight-year old who was preparing to do his first communion and was attending a church in a warehouse that was being rented out by a local Pentecostal church, I didn’t know the difference. My mom only made me attend communion classes and do my first communion because it was something that could not leave her alone in her own mind. My aunt was at her peak of her charismatic movement in a Pentecostal church and would bring me along from time to time. I can’t remember ever attending Mass as a boy and I do recall me asking my mom why I couldn’t go into that building that was so quiet, like a library. She would just say that we couldn’t and would say that I should go with my aunt instead. I never found out why. My aunt stopped attending because the lease for the warehouse was up and my aunt fell into worldly behavior. She just recently started attending again.

By the time I was 15, I was encountered by two of nicest guys I had ever met. To paint you a picture of how this took place, imagine an alley in a barrio (projects, ghetto, etc.) with 2 tall white (I only mention this because it was out of place to see any blonde hair blued eyed person in that area) Minnesota 19 year-old young adults talking to me about God. The alley smelled and was just full of graffiti. The very fact that they had the guts to go to the barrio, got my attention. This lead me to attend the Mormon Church and that only lasted for like 9 months or so. Left for undoctrinal reasons at the time. From the age of 15 until like 19 I attended different denominational churches (who ever invited me pretty much). I was attracted to this God they spoke of. I stopped attending for about two years (was struggling justifying my beliefs with my science classes and took some philosophy classes) and became quite secular (which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing). Then met my lovely wife at 20 years old. She is a cradle Catholic that I fell in Love with. Our opposing view points bumped heads (still had quite a bit of evangelical/anti in me) and she finally said “I am going to die catholic Victor. Go search for what you seek. If you find your answers, we can continue. If we still disagree, we will have to part.” So we continued to date while staying away from controversial issues. And although my initial motivation was the love to my wife, I got so drawn to the Catholic Church that even if it wouldn’t have worked out, I know would be catholic. But I would share what I would read (Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, Patrick Madrid, etc) and what I was struggling with. She would just be a perfect listener. Two and a half years later I did my confirmation and got married to her. That was 4 years ago and still growing in my faith. I LOVE being Catholic!!

Holy Father, thank you for extending your graces out to us and for not leaving us.
Thank you for accepting the little in me and magnifying it thru your Son.

The Least in Christ

~Victor Mesina

That testimony made me smile! God works in awesome ways. May you continue to grow in your faith and relationship to Jesus. amen!

 

[Runlikethewind]

My turn!

I am a cradle Catholic, born and raised. When I was 9 years old I wanted to be an alter boy so bad that I actually cried when my parents told me that our parish wanted the alter boys to be at least 10 yrs old. Thankfully Fr. Rodriguez made an exception for me and so I started serving at 9 and didn't stop until I was 18. That had a profound influence on my faith, combined with the fact that my dad was a very orthodox and devout Catholic. Anyway in High School I got mixed up with a bad crowd and after I graduated I was working at McDonald's. I realized I had no future without taking drastic measures to change my life. So at 19 I joined the Marines, best decision I ever made.

I spent 4 years in the Corp as a driver in an artillery unit. It was during this time that I came into confrontation with several evangelical Marines. Thankfully God has blessed me with a strong faith in the Church with my upbringing. I knew that Catholicism was right and I found myself time and again saying in answer to the challenges to my faith that the Church had a good answer all I had to do was to find it. I started spending money at Catholic Answers, what a great organization. I subscribed to This Rock and the first book I got from them was "Catholicism and Fundamentalism", (and I agree with everyone, great book!). Half of my personal library came from them. I was raised with a strong faith and I was strengthened in knowledge of my faith through the challenges brought on by others around me in the Marines. When I was young I had the desire to one day become a priest but that desire had all but disappeared by the time I reached High School. But this journey that I had made in my faith and in my life as a Marine rekindled that desire stronger than ever. So one day I mad the decision that when I got out of the Marines I would take the GI Bill, go to school and purse this calling. I put my trust in God to lead me where He wanted and I would follow as best I could.

After the Marines I began to pursue a degree in philosophy beginning at Mt Hood Community College and ending at Portland State University in Oregon. I found that I had a talent with philosophy and I enjoyed it immensely. Last year I was coming up on graduation and realized that I had no idea what I was going to do next. So I sat down one day and rather than think about what I wanted to do or what I thought God might want me to do in the future, I began to look at myself. I stopped asking where am I going? and started to ask who am I and where do I fit, where do I belong? This was a revelation to my. I realized that I was being called not so much to the priesthood but to religious life, it all made perfect sense, it just seemed right. So I began to research monastic orders to see which one would best fit me or rather which one I would best fit in. I came across the Rule of Saint Benedict and it just called to me. The only Benedictine Monastery that I knew of was Mt Angel in Oregon and I had heard there was another in Idaho. I wanted something local, something in the Pacific Northwest so I could remain close to family and I just love this corner of the world. Coincidentally (if you believe in coincidence, I don't) while I was researching monastic orders I filled out a little test on a whim at http://www.vocationsplacement.org/ where my name and contact info was sent out to a bunch of different communities. There very next day I got a call from Fr. Paul the vocation director at St Martin's Benedictine Abbey in Lacey WA.

I had been thinking of contacting Mt Angel since I figured it was nearby and since I thought that the monks there might teach at their seminary and teaching was something I feel that I might be able to do. When I got the call from Fr. Paul it sounded to good to be true. A Benedictine monastery just 2 hours from home with a small Catholic University, and I had no idea the place even existed. It seemed to good to be true, a local Benedictine monastery with the possibility that I might one day teach wow! And so on the 4th of July last year I came up to visit for a day. I visited many more times before school started again in September and the place and people here grew on me. I knew almost right away that this is where God wanted me. I promised that I would follow God wherever He lead and I truly believe that this is where He wants me. I graduated in December with at BS in philosophy and a minor in geology and in January I moved into the Abbey of St. Martin's. I will become a novice in July of this year and will remain so until July of next year when I take simple vows.

So that amounts to my life story. I just love God and all I want to do with my life is to surrender completely to his will. It is very difficult thing and I am still trying to overcome my own affections and to discern God's will. I said before my dad was very orthodox, one could also say he was very conservative and I followed in his footsteps. I started to become more liberal in his eyes as I was going to school and also St. Martin's is also fairly liberal community in many regard, (not too liberal otherwise I wouldn't be here). So at this point in my life I am a bit confused. I desire to remain faithful the the truths of the Catholic faith but I seem to be testing the limits and pushing the boundaries to see where they are and how far they go. But I am not worried, I am still young and God has blessed me with a strong faith in His Church. If I ever get to far out of line I will have no problem correcting myself, I hope. I don't know I am still learning. Thankfully that is the life of a monk, to continually seek God each and every day. I am reminded of a prayer from one of my favorite Catholics, Blessed Niels Stensen (Nicholas Steno) and I will close this long post with that.

"Lord, without whose knowledge no hair falls from our head, no leaf from a tree, no bird from the air..., until now you have lead me by ways unknown to me. Guide me still, whether I will it or not, along the paths of your grace. It is easier for you to guide me where you will than for me to renounce those things which I hold in my affections. Amen". (Niels Stensen circa 1666)

 

[Quiddity]

That was a joy to read RLW!
Thank you very much for sharing and you are truly blessed.

I felt rather lonely out in deep waters. Testing the limits myself. Being in this forum for two years has a tendency of doing that to you. But here I am...:shout