By Mary Stadnyk | Associate Editor

Recognizing that talking about faith with others can at times be intimidating, St. Catharine Parish, Holmdel, has introduced a way to help folks overcome their fear.

Starting Sept. 18, the parish is hosting an eight-week Defending the Faith series that is an introductory, interactive, apologetics training course designed to enable all Catholics to joyfully discuss their with family, friends and even strangers without anger, argument or ill feelings.

“Its focus is to avoid arguments and provoke thoughtful discussion about the truths of our faith,” Deacon Chris Hansen said. “We will focus on natural and Christian apologetics and on questioning beliefs and worldviews in order to reaffirm our Church and our faith.”

The impetus for offering the series, said Deacon Hansen, is based on how the parish has offered Scripture studies, numerous adult faith formation programs as well as studies on the writings of Pope Francis in the past few years. In addition, the parish also has an active evangelization ministry that has focused young families with small children. While it was beneficial for St. Catharine Parish to make so many offerings available, Deacon Hansen said that at the same time, it was also discovered that when it came to talking about the faith, most people, even those with years of Catholic education, did not know where or how to begin. The people, he said, also wanted to avoid arguments and strained relations with family members who are on the margins or had fallen away.

“While the focus of evangelization is about making converts and the new evangelization is about bringing back the fallen away, it is nearly impossible to make converts or bring back the lost if we are not even having conversations about matters of faith,” he said.

“In addition, most people with whom I discussed evangelization firmly believe that others, especially Evangelical Protestants, know more about their faith and the Bible than we do. I know this is not true, based on research I have done and the conversations that I have had with others,” Deacon Hansen said.

“This series is a first attempt to get people talking about the truth, which is Jesus Christ.”

The weekly series, which concludes Nov. 13, will be offered on Monday mornings from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and again in the evenings from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The discussions will begin with “knowing the truth, then believing what we know,” and will continue with listening for worldviews and countering errors in worldviews.

“Then we’ll learn how to put a pebble in the shoe of those who know so much that simply isn’t true, and we’ll finish up with strategies and answers to the most commonly held misbeliefs,” he said.

“The objective is to have participants become confident and non-defensive regarding Christianity, the Bible and our wonderful Catholic faith.”

There is no fee to attend the course, but participants will be asked to make a free-will offering to cover refreshments and supplies. Due to seating capacity, morning and evening series are limited to 40 participants.

For additional information on the Defending the Faith workshop, contact Deacon Hansen at [email protected].

St. Catharine Parish is located at 108 Middletown Road, Holmdel.