The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life have published statistics that hurt.  Regarding basic knowledge of religion (32 questions), Catholics are pitifully low; we answer about half of the questions correctly.  In our defense some of the questions are outside of our normal frame of reference, such as can a public school teacher read the Bible as literature and which religion has Vishnu as a deity.  I guess we could be stumped by some of the Old Testament questions which offer personages that might seem close to the correct answer.  Notably, there are NO New Testament questions!  I wonder why?  Is this a religious bias by the Pew Forum designers?

On the other hand, how many of us would score well if there was a Catholic information questionnaire?  The thought is chilling.  There are complaints that religious education of the 70s, 80s, and 90s gave us a “good feeling” but inculcated little or no content.  It seems that the pendulum swing from a pre-Vatican obsession with sin and judgment, including a God of wrath, to a compassionate Jesus (lamb or child-holder), grace, and beauty of creation was so drastic and poorly thought out that it left an intellectual vacuum.  We are paying a dear price for this. 

Nowadays, many students are interested in apologetics.  This is not a word that you use on a daily basis.  Fundamentally, apologetics is “explaining the faith.”  Frequently, this term has been identified with defense of the faith, connoting a debate.  This connotation is associated with early Church figures like Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Augustine.  These believers were countering the misguided notions of the Faith from non-Christian attacks, hence, the sense of defending.  But there are also many texts of catechesis (teaching) of the truths of the Faith given to inquirers or newly baptized (neophytes) (cf. Cyril of Alexandria, Augustine, etc.).  Today, many university-aged students are thirsty to know the basics of the Faith, and they are finding answers from the internet, other media (e.g., EWTN) or certain schools (e.g., Steubenville).  These are not the only sources available, but these particular groups posture themselves as “orthodox.”  Too often other (moderate?) sources fail to embrace a title of orthodox, afraid that this is too strident and offensive to outside religious partners.  Whatever…it has created a faith community with different agendas, confusing to university students.

What would the score of this parish community be [you can take the online survey by going to Pew Forum]?  If the questions were about the Catholic tradition, would we know our faith?  Furthermore, would be know the ‘why’ behind the data/information?  This is crucial, because too often there is a sound-bite knowledge of facts that are quickly interpreted, pro or con, that has little understanding to follow.  Hence, we can be our own worst enemy when it comes to dialogue among ourselves or with other religious persons. 

Over the course of the next year there will be information shared about the new Roman Missal.  The Church prayers have been revised many times in the course of church history.  A new Latin translation was published in 2003 which invited every language group to assess its Sacramentary; hence the English liturgy re-visited the language of the Mass.  This is an opportunity to be knowledgeable about our faith, but also, and of equal importance, understanding of why we say what we say as a praying assembly.  Hopefully this will be one example of a community that studies our faith and is able to express it to others—true apologetes!