The Toxicity of Apologetics

Over the last few years, one thing that I have noticed about myself is that I have developed a passion for Apologetics. For those who are unsure of what Apologetics is, in the Christian faith, it is the intellectual defence of one's faith, and it is usually considered to be a branch of theology. For Catholics, it is the defence of Catholic Teachings as a whole, and it is usually associated with the fundamental theology of the Catholic Church. 

Most people would liken Apologetics to be about the differences between Catholics and Protestants, which of course, I am passionate about. It's no secret that despite placing their Faith in the same God, there are some major differences in theology. Many Protestants believe that the Catholic Church is unbiblical and governed by man-made laws and doctrines. It does not help that the state of Catechetics in the Catholic Church is simply not the best. When a good number of Catholics are questioned by their Protestant friends about their beliefs, they are simply unable to answer. We find that quite a number of "weaker" Catholics leave the Catholic Church to become Protestants, as they too become convinced that the Catholic Church is unbiblical and clings to traditions which do not make sense. 

There is a real need for Catholics who are formed in the faith, to defend the Faith and to share the love of God with others through dialogue about the Church. Surprisingly, many of such Catholics are converts from other denominations of Christianity. Not many are Cradle Catholics. This is because for many Protestants, when they go looking for answers to their theological questions, they come to the realisation that the Catholic Church has all the answers. They come to the realisation that many of the things they had been taught about the Catholic Church were simply untrue. 

There's also another branch of Apologetics that I am passionate about. This is none other than Liturgical Apologetics. There are Catholics who term themselves as "Traditionalists", and a good number of them (though not all) completely disagree with the doctrines brought about by the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II. Many of them want to restore the "Holiness" in the Liturgy and do not approve of the changes brought about by the Council. Such changes include the Liturgy being celebrated in our own languages, the option for the Priest to celebrate the Mass facing the people, many many other traditions being "done away with", such as the Altar Rails, the use of Latin within the Mass, and the list goes on. There are others who claim to be "Modernists", who are huge fans of the changes brought about by the Council, but many of them don't know what the actual documents of the council intended to bring about. Such people feel that Vatican II was a response to a changing world, and it was the Church's way of getting with the times. 

Unfortunately, Catholics having different and opinionated views on the Liturgy causes much division in the Church, which is rather sad, especially when the Liturgy is supposed to be the very thing that unites us as believers. Rejecting the Second Vatican Council, which was verified by the Magesterium, is as good as rejecting the Magesterium. There is a real need for Catholics who are formed in the Faith to defend what Vatican II actually set out to do. There is a need for Catholics to share with their fellow brothers and sisters that the holiness in the Liturgy never disappeared and that the liturgical abuse which goes on in the parishes have nothing to do with the Council. There is a real need for Catholics who are bold enough to speak out against liturgical abuse, so that the faithful may come to a deeper encounter with the mystery of Christ through being active agents of participation. There is a real need for Catholics who understand that as much as there were a few traditions done away with, many more traditions were restored. In fact, if we think about it, the Norvus Ordo looks a lot more like the Mass of the Early Church as compared to the Tridentine Mass. However, this will probably require a separate musing which I am planning to write next month. 

There are many other branches of Apologetics which I shall not go into, as this post is already rather long. But as much as I am passionate about these things, I cannot help but notice that a lot of the time, my conversations with others about apologetics can be rather toxic. I've come to the realisation that with apologetics, there is a very real temptation to push for the agendas that we believe in, without being open to learning things from a different point of view. Many of us, Catholics as well as Protestants, get into conversations about apologetics with the aim to prove that we are right, and we refuse to back down even when others prove that what we believe is untrue. In other words, we are afraid of admitting that we have been wrong. 

I think that as much as we should cling on to the tradition of the Church, and that we are very much obliged to defend the faith that we profess, the true mark of a Christian is not solely about being right about what he or she believes in. The true mark of a Christian, be they Catholic or Protestant is their love for their neighbour. When we defend the faith, we need to be aware of our motives for doing so, because if we are doing all things purely out of love for one another, there's no way that our conversations can become toxic. When we approach apologetics out of pure love, we wouldn't be so concerned as to whether or not the other party gets the point we are trying to make. On the contrary, we'd be open to hearing things from different points of view, and we'd be a lot more compassionate and understanding to others who struggle to agree or come to terms with adjusting their beliefs. We'd be a lot more sympathetic to those who need time to process what was brought to light in our discussions. And we'd also know that love entails respect for one another. 

Perhaps for those of us who get into apologetics, this might be the challenge for us. Myself included. Perhaps it's time to purify our intentions.