I once gave a lecture in a Northwestern diocese—up in the morning, back to San Diego in the afternoon, the entire trip taking only ten hours—and came away with a renewed sense that things were turning around. I had been invited by the diocese to participate in a series on Catholic apologetics. Talks were geared toward CCD instructors, parish evangelization leaders, and those engaged in adult education.
That a diocese would host such a series was itself a little surprising. Apologetics had been making a comeback over the prior decades, but most laymen interested in apologetics had the sense (not entirely unjustified) that dioceses and their departments generally were lacking in enthusiasm for this mainly lay-run movement. “...
