Apologetics

Alex Jones is a former Pentecostal preacher who converted to the Catholic faith, along with his family and his congregation, in 2001. This presentation is a talk he gave a few months before he was formally received into the Church, in which he first publicly told the story of his conversion. It was his study of the Early Church Fathers, in particular, that brought him into the Church. It is followed by a dinner table conversation, including questions from guests - both Catholic and Protestant. Hosted by Steve Ray.

Many people are familiar with Dr. Ray Guarendi - psychologist, father of 10 and expert on family discipline. You may not know that he has a number of apologetics materials available as well.

Thomas Woods, Jr. wrote a book to amend the erroneous attitude prevalent in society today – the Catholic Church has had only a negative impact on Western Civilization. Titled, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, Dr. Woods, a history professor at a community college in New York, details the many contributions of the Catholic Church throughout history, primarily during the “Dark Ages” and “Middle Ages”.

This is a really nifty overview of the faith organized into 16 segments over 6 pages:

The Transmission of Divine Revelation
The Blessed Trinity
God the Father
God the Son, Jesus Christ
God the Holy Spirit
Creation and the Fall, Redemption
The Holy Catholic Church
The Four Marks of the Church
The Blessed Virgin and the Saints
The Seven Sacraments
Grace, Justification and Virtue
Catholic Moral Teaching
Sin
The Commandments
The Last Things

The sequel to Surprised by Truth provides even more stories of how the grace of God, the witness of others and important conversations about the truth, brought these men and women back to the fullness of the Cahtolic faith.

These are relatively short (usually about 20 or 30 pages each) autobiographical essays from Catholic converts. The stories cover a numer of converts who are becoming well-known for their vibrant Catholic ministries of various sorts, and so you may have heard the names Marcus Grodi, James Akin, Steve Wood, Tim Staples and Dave Armstrong before).

Plot overview: After the tragic death of Mick O'Shea, a Catholic fireman from Philadelphia, his widow Tammy and their children are invited to spend the summer at the Kentucky farm of Tammy's brother Les and his family. The catch? Les is the fundamentalist pastor of a small homegrown "Bible-only" church. He believes it is his duty to "save" his sister and her family from the Catholic Church. The story centers on 17-year-old Michael, who is chosen as the preferred point of contact.

Each packet of Friendly Defenders Catholic Flash Cards includes 50 cards covering 12 categories: Tradition, Church, Papacy, Eucharist/Mass, Salvation, Purgatory, Baptism, Mary, Saints, Confession, Statues & Holy Objects, and Holy Orders. The purpose of the cards is to assist children, ages 8 and up, and teenagers to be able to defend their faith with clear and easy explanations against the typical questions about the Catholic faith.

This is a really beautiful little book about morality and the Catholic Faith. It would make a great supplement for high school age or excellent reading for an adult. It's not too difficult to understand, but also interesting and really makes you think.

The author has this to say about the purpose of this book: