Do you have a desire to sharpen your ability to defend our faith? Try putting this into action on the internet.

A few months ago, I noticed an article on the internet about the Catholic Church that tracked back to an infamous “news” site. The article was actually fair, but the comments below it were severely anti-Catholic.

I figured out how to register as a commentator and wrote a few remarks in defense of the Church. Within a few hours, my e-mail was bombarded with links back to my comments, showing the feedback I had generated. The majority were from atheistic secularists who are vehemently opposed to any positive mention of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. This made for interesting reading.
Over time, I learned that a few issues were most volatile – abortion, contraception, homosexuality, Pope Pius XII and the holocaust, the crusades, the Inquisition, the Priest sexual abuse crisis… you see the pattern.

My goal is to present the Truth on all issues. I do this by providing links to documents, and quoting articles that show the Church’s actual teaching or actions regarding the topic. Facts seem to  drive the “opponents” crazy. One of my favorite links is to the Summa on the New Advent website.

I pray before I engage in my writing and pray for those who read it. When I first started, I ended my comment posts by letting the original writers know that I was praying for them, but this really upset some of those who opposed my views. So, I stopped telling them I was doing so.

I always try to be courteous and caring with my remarks. Most who comment on my remarks ignore the facts and write based on emotion and the misinformation they have been fed.

Unfortunately, some of those I engage mistake my writing as being sarcastic. For instance, I have often written with sincerity that we all should “love the sinner and hate the sin.” This really gets them going – but it is the Truth, right?

I have had a few supporters who help spread the Truth, but we are outnumbered. This doesn’t bother me, I am a retired Marine and no problem taking on an uphill battle.

My Dominican spirituality and training on how to study about, contemplate on, and present a topic have helped me in this apostolate. I often ask for Saints Dominic and Catherine to assist me in this work. I certainly need their intercessions to help me remain calm and to help me focus on writing charitably.

See you on the ‘net!

VERITAS,

Angelico