Young Upstart

What makes you think that you, as a young upstart priest with no experience, know enough to answer questions about the Catholic Church, Life, the Universe and Everything?

You have a point. The joke here is that, at nine months ordained and 28 years old, I’m the youngest and least qualified priest in the Diocese to write this column. The flip side to that is that I’m asking a hundred questions myself every day, so we may just as well throw yours on the pile!
Next question.

How does this work?
The good people of the Diocese of Marquette shall send me their burning questions concerning the Catholic Church, Life, the Universe and Everything. If you don’t have any questions yourself, then bring me the questions of the person whose conversion you are working toward. If you don’t have anyone whose conversion you are working toward, then start.
With your various inquiries in hand I shall then respond in a manner which is succinct, accurate, orthodox, and irresistibly entertaining. Or I won’t, and this column will be really short-lived.
I’m not going to give you complete answers with academic citations, or this would get way too boring, overly scholastic and longwinded! So when you write me your (brief) letters, do it like this:


1. Ask your Question. Be it from your own honest searching or the desperate hunt for a sensible reply to some seemingly solid stance against Church Teaching.


2. Explain why you want to know the answer, or at least put it in context. This is important so that other readers will see the situations in which they may also be called upon to know the answers to these questions, which will cause them to see how relevant and interesting my column is, which will then cause them to read it faithfully, which will cause them to be filled with an abundance of knowledge and a love for Truth, which will then cause them to desire holiness, become saints, and go to heaven where we shall have much fun.


3. Include your name, or how I should refer to you in my response (Extra points if you sign with a clever acronym which denotes both your disposition and location). I won’t be able to offer personal responses, whether it’s signed or not. Just keep reading the column.


So that’s the HOW, and here’s the WHY:
As a priest, I’m not the only one called upon to give readily apparent reasoning for Church Teaching on the fly. Be wary of the mindset which pigeonholes evangelization solely as the responsibility of the priest! You are the ones out in the world while I’ve got churchy stuff to do. I’ll do what I can to give you a hand though, so bring me your questions from the workplace, and from fallen away or faithless relatives, from doorstep evangelists of other religions, and from those suddenly deep conversations which threaten to sever the fragile ties of pleasantry that exist among acquaintances. Let us both get in the practice of prayerfully preparing our pithy, powerful and persuasive responses!
So, whether you yourself are questioning a specific teaching or tradition, or you know someone who is, the goal here isn’t to win the argument (that’s easy, and we’ll be doing plenty of that) but to win souls for Christ and to convert hearts, including our own. Lord willing, we’ll be doing plenty of that as well!