You unlock this door with the key of Peter.
Beyond it is another dimension —
a dimension of faith,
a dimension of intellect,
a dimension of Spirit.
You’re moving into a land of both Spirit and Light,
of things and ideas.
You’ve just crossed over into . . .
the Apologetics Zone.

Rodney Sterling is a young man of about twenty-five. He’s bent over a text, trying to understand how and where the New Testament gives evidence of apostolic tradition. The TV blares away nearby, and he’s so wrapped up in this quest for discovery, he doesn’t hear Gram enter the room.

“Hey there, Sonny. Get your feet off the sofa. Let your old grandmother rest her weary bones. What are you doing, loafing around inside, anyway? You should be outside, probably, doing something all you young people shirk.”

“No, Gram, I’m not shirking. I’m studying. I’m reading up on a new apologetics book.”

“Apologetics? Now, what would a nice boy like you need to apologize about?”

“No, Gram, it’s nothing like that. Apologetics. The defense of the Faith.”

“Listen here, young man. The Catholic Church needs no defending. She’s got Jesus, Mary, and the saints. What she needs is following!”

“But, Gram, the Word exhorts us to be ready to give a reason for our hope. The defense of the Faith will win souls when we do it intelligently and with consideration.”

“Well, in my day, Sonny Boy, we didn’t need to defend the Faith. We were told to go to church . . . and we liked it! We loved it.”

“Gram, there’s so much growth available through studying and reasoning about the Faith. Listen to what I was just noticing: In 1 Corinthians 11:23- 27, St. Paul says, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This is My body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.”

“What’s that you’re reading? The Bible? (Sniff.) Young man, that paragraph has been part of the Liturgy of the Mass all my life. I could give it to you in Latin in my day, I could.”

“Yes, but Gram, notice the significance here. St. Paul wasn’t an apostle, not in the sense of the original twelve whom our Lord Himself chose.”

“Of course he was an apostle. He’s called the Apostle Paul.”

“But not in the sense of having been one of the original twelve.”

“Who were the ‘original twelve’?”

“What?”

“The original twelve apostles. Who were they?”

“Well . . . just a minute. I’ll find that in Acts.”

What you’ve just witnessed is more than an exchange between a boy and his doting grandma. You are seeing, perhaps for the very first time, an apologist in the making. Once the young apologist has uncovered a new idea, it’s paramount for him to try relating it first to someone who will listen with respect and ask some objective questions. This will give the learner a chance to refine his explanations, and to be ready for ideas he hasn’t thought of yet.

Rodney Sterling finds the information dear Grandma is seeking, and goes on to astound her with more of his recently acquired knowledge . . .
“So? St. Paul wasn’t one of the original twelve apostles. Okay. Where’s the revelation there?”

“Well, he says here that he received this account of the Last Supper from the Lord. Gram, he wasn’t present at the Last Supper. He never even knew Jesus before the Resurrection! This information was given him by a third party. And yet, he equates that with having received it from our Lord. So it would seem that even as early as the New Testament, there is evidence of an apostolic succession of Tradition, a handing on of ideas and development of doctrine.”

“This is a defense?”

“Well, yeah, a beginning, anyway. You see, many non-Catholic Christians — ”

“ — Boy, we call them Protestants.”

“Yeah, well, I was trying to be sensitive. Anyway, Protestants claim there is no biblical basis for the oral Tradition of the Church. Yet here St. Paul is saying that what he received by way of spoken tradition, he thought of as revelation from God. Then he goes on to develop an idea on top of that tradition. See, look what it says here in verse 29: “For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” This isn’t a piece of doctrine from Jesus or the twelve apostles. It’s a theological development from the oral tradition St. Paul had received. Who could argue with that?”

Knowing he’ll need to remind himself where to find these treasures of Scripture, Rodney pauses to mark in his Bible. He boldly uses a highlighter pen on the important points, and even writes an occasional note to himself in the margin. He has become very comfortable with his Bible in recent weeks and is in the habit of taking it with him wherever he goes. He knows from experience that it’s difficult, especially under pressure, to find the verses he’s familiar with in an unfamiliar version.

“Humph. Why would they?”

“Why would they what?”

“Argue. Why would anyone argue over this?”

“It’s a matter of evangelization, Gram. If non-Catholics are ever to understand the Catholic development of faith, they need to be exposed to our way of thinking and how doctrine unfolds. Now, I need to find a good way to frame this argument. You know, so I can bring it up gently, and with respect, like the Word says.”

“How about, I’m so sorry you’re not Catholic? Sounds like a good apology to me.”

“No, no, no, it won’t do to put anyone on the defensive. I need to learn to share these things with zeal, but without cutting someone else down.”

“Well, I agree. The Church has enough going for it that you needn’t be mean about it. After all, doesn’t it say in Romans 5:13 that everything exposed by the light becomes visible? I think, Whippersnapper, that if you’re simply concerned enough to show the truth of the Church, those seeking God’s truth will discern His own Church well enough.”

“Gram! Sounds like you’ve got this stuff down pat! Why didn’t you tell me you were an apologist?”

“Well, your old Gram’s got a few arguments of her own up her sleeve, yet. How do you suppose it was I ever got your old Gramps to convert? I had to show him, chapter and verse in his old Baptist Bible, where Jesus first gave us that Blessed Sacrament you’re reading about! Now, what’s that sheet of paper you’ve got there?”

“Oh, I’ve been compiling a list of the verses I find that support our faith. I refer to it a lot. I’m afraid I’m not very good at this yet.”

“You will be, Rodney, you will be. What you need now is a good group of friends with the same ideas.”

“Actually, Gram, I was just going to say . . . well, we’ve got this apologetics support group meeting tonight. I’d love it if you could come and share some of your experiences in your own defense of the Faith.”

“Apologetics support group? Oh, yeah, that sounds fun: ‘Pardon me, I’m Gram, and I’m an apologist.’ ‘Hi-i-i-i, Gra-a-a-am.’ I don’t think so.”

“Really, it’s a great group of Catholics. I think you would be just what we need. Each week, someone researches a different justification and presents it to the rest of the group. We’ve also pooled together some funds to buy books that circulate among the group. That’s where I got this one. C’mon, whaddya say — I promise you won’t be sorry.”

“Yer darned tootin’ I won’t. Let’s go.”

“Only one thing, Gram.”

“What’s that?”

“Would you refrain from calling me Whippersnapper? Just for tonight?”
emarkably, as often happens in this dimension, one apologist becomes two. Blood relatives go out to share the truth and cement the bond of faith. Join us next time, when Gram is overheard saying, “Well, excuuuuuuuse me!”

In . . . the Apologetics Zone.

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