Finally, Something to Cheer About
I had the great privilege to be able to attend the recent conference in Long Beach, and I cannot tell you how much it has meant to me to have been able to participate in such an event. After many years of isolation in a mission parish in the Protestant “Bible Belt” of North Louisiana, it was tremendously affirming and uplifting for me to hear such articulate, intelligent, and moving defenses of the Catholic faith.
Christine Saucier
Ringgold, Louisiana
Out of the Wasteland
There are no words to describe the magnificence of your first Catholic Answers convention. For far too long we Catholics have been in a vast, barren wasteland, with little water to quench our thirst for intelligent persuasions and eloquent defense of our Catholic faith.
Catholic Answers to the rescue! Out of the ashes of maybe twenty years of Catholic mental retardation the phoenix begins to rise, to wake up the sleeping giant, to bring new life, clear thought, and scholarly knowledge of our faith. May God be praised!
With future workshops like this past one, perhaps our separated brothers and sisters will come to warm themselves at our hearth of love and truth in the true Church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church. The weekend was beautiful. I recognized a deep spirituality present in the speakers, the leaders, and the people.
Jeannine Veraldi
Burbank, California
The Real Catholic Moment?
Thanks for making it possible for me to attend the Catholic Answers workshop in Long Beach. It was first-rate and extremely rewarding for me. Besides all the wonderful speakers, there were many fine resources available.
There is a great hunger and need for solid apologetics on behalf of Holy Mother Church. I agree with Richard John Neuhaus that this is “the Catholic moment,” and I believe that Long Beach was the start of something big.
Tom Phillips
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Arming a Friend with the Facts
I would like to tell you how much I enjoyed the “Go Forth and Teach” workshop. I received so much knowledge and inspiration from it. Two days after the conference, a good friend of mine was told by a Fundamentalist that she was going to hell if she didn’t leave the Church and join this Fundamentalist church.
It felt terrific to be able to help my friend through this crisis. I let her borrow my copy of Catholicism and Fundamentalism and the tape of Scott Hahn’s conversion story. She now feels much stronger in her faith, and for that we thank you.
Mark Bourgeois
Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Editor’s reply: A report on Catholic Answers’ “Go Forth and Teach “workshop appears in the inaugural issue (dated April 1990) of InsideStory, our new newsletter.
InsideStory is sent free to subscribers of This Rock It not only tells you what Catholic Answers has been up to and what we have planned, it gives you valuable how-to tips and shows you apologetics and evangelization from the inside.
The immediately preceding letter mentioned two items you should have: Catholicism and Fundamentalism and the Scott Hahn tapes. See this issue’s Mini-Catalogue for more information about them.
“I Don’t Wish Him Success”
I sent the videotape of the debate between Catholic Answers’ Patrick Madrid and Mormon President Gary Coleman to a very devout Mormon friend of mine. He recently responded in a letter I thought I’d share with you:
“I found it very interesting that a group of born-agains were waiting after the forum to chide Madrid for ‘going too easy on the Mormons.’ I admire Madrid for honestly expressing his views in a civilized way. (But I don’t wish him success in converting Mormons to Catholicism!)
“Madrid has a valid point – Mormons are much more likely to listen to calm, rational discourse than to haranguing by Fundamentalist Christians. The only thing that the anti-Mormons are even remotely successful at is scaring non-Mormons away from the Mormon Church, but I don’t know how successful they really are because the Church is growing faster than ever and a lot of Protestants as well as Catholics are joining. ”
Jim Graves
Orange, California
Mother Church a New Ager?
I need apologetics materials to defend the faith to other Catholics. The more devout members of the parish are heavily influenced by Bible study fellowship participation.
We have a Thursday night lecture series, and so far every guest speaker has been anti-traditional Church.
One, a nun and blatantly New Age, was videotaped and is to be seen on local television. Those of us with Protestant friends expect to be given a hard time about it.
This is a fledgling group here concerned with evangelism and being able to give Catholic answers. But how can we lead people into what we assure them is the true Church when they will be confronted with New Age and anti-orthodox people in leadership positions?
Linn Szenter
Kalispell, Montana
Lending Truth in Africa
Some months ago I was delighted to receive a parcel of books from your office with the excellent suggestion that we start a small lending library for our parishioners. The books that you sent will form the nucleus of such a library.
On numerous occasions since I have received these books I have had call to use them, and six or seven of my priest friends have asked to borrow some of these publications. We are also using your magazine as the basis for an apologetics series in our weekly parish bulletin.
Fr. Harrie Hovers
Bothasig, South Africa
Prisoners Call for Help
Our small community has had both its ups and its downs, but we are persevering in the “good fight” and also continue to thank God for the gracious benefactors he has blessed us with in the past.
We received your latest catalogue and noticed there were a number of tracts which you now carry which we have never seen – some specifically concerning the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are quite active here. There were others also which some of the guys have voiced a desire to get.
Therefore, our next question: Do you still have sponsorships for prison ministries? As we have shared with you in the past, we do not have any funds available with which to purchase religious materials, whether Bibles, rosaries, scapulars, religious literature, or the type of literature your organization publishes. We must depend entirely on the generosity of our brothers and sisters for donations of these kinds of things.
Deacon Ken Hinz
Boise, Idaho
Editor’s reply: Yes, we still give our materials free to prisons. (The sects are especially active in prisons, and Catholic inmates desperately need resources of their own.) If readers wish to contribute anything (including cash to underwrite books and tracts), please send donations to This Rock, P.O. Box 17181, San Diego, California 92117. Earmark them for the “prison ministry. “