"How can you still be Catholic?" Cradle Catholic Christopher Sparks takes the question head on, addressing an array of controversial issues and offering the same answer given by St. Peter 2,000 years ago: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:60).
Sparks asked Facebook friends to finish the question: "How can you still be Catholic when ... ?" Here are brief answers to their questions, including recommended reading for those who want to go deeper. These questions touch on some of the biggest issues people grapple with when they think about the Catholic Church, such as:
· the Inquisition;
· the Crusades;
· the Church's role in a state;
· homosexuality;
· procreation;
· women's place in the Church;
· and much more.
For practicing Catholics, Sparks will equip you to give a defense for the hope that is in your heart. For doubting souls, you will be happy to learn there are perfectly good answers to your perfectly reasonable questions. For those who have fought the Church tooth and nail, yield the floor a moment to Christopher Sparks. Hear him out. It's time to move beyond the myths!
How Can You Still Be Catholic? 50 Answers to a Good Question is available in paperback as well as e-book format (for iPad, Nook, Android, and other epub friendly e-readers; for Kindle and other mobi friendly e-readers).
Interviews and Press
- Always Be Prepared to Defend Your Faith, Celeste Behe's blog, National Catholic Register
- How Can You Still Be Catholic? from the Summer 2017 issue of Marian Helper magazine
- Author Christopher Sparks at the 2017 Catholic Marketing Network by DaTechGuyBlog Published on Jul 23, 2017
- Barb Ernster, A Facebook question – a book full of answers, Soul magazine, World Apostolate of Fatima
- John Lundeen, September 11, 2017: Christopher Sparks, How Can You Still Be Catholic? 50 Answers to a Good Question, Morning Drive, Mater Dei Radio
3 comments:
If you are looking for question ideas for your next book, consider this one.
How can you still be Catholic when I am told that I can't get remarried in the Church when I am already living with another woman/man to whom I am married civilly. In every respect, I am practicing the faith, and my priest doesn't say anything to me at all. If he doesn't care, why should I go through all that and pay at least $500 to do it? What will it accomplish anyway?
Why don't the Protestants make their people to do it at all?
My husband purchased your book hoping it might speak to our son, who is currently not in communion with the church. While he was raised Catholic, received all his sacraments, attended weekly Sunday Mass and got married in the church, he has since strayed away. He doesn't seem to be able to reconcile some of the dogmas of the Catholic Church with his worldly beliefs. For example, being gay/transgender and same sex marriage is readily accepted by society today. I see many young adults turning away from "organized religion" because it doesn't seem to accept people as they are. So, I was particularly interested in reading how you would tackle question 7 in your book, "How can I still be Catholic when homosexuality is clearly genetic?" Unfortunately, I think you dropped the ball which may leave un- or poorly catechized individuals confused at to the Churches full teaching on this subject. You rightly recognize that the Church is made up of sinners, that sins can be forgiven and that while the church and society may have been once been openly hostile to homosexuals, the truth is the Church embraces all sinners, regardless of their sins. However, you seem to gloss over any specifics regarding the need to live according the the teachings of Christ and His Church. Let me explain. While it is true to say the Church is made up of sinners, it is also necessary to state the Church's mission is to assist these sinners in leaving their old ways behind and live according to the laws of God, not man. This necessarily requires the sinner to do a number of things. First, they need to admit their sin. Next, they need to be sorrowful for having sinned because it is a great offense against God, who is all Good. Then the sinner must make a firm purpose of amendment to go and sin no more. Now, while our fallen natures usually bring us back to some form of sin time and again, we must, to the best of our ability and with the Grace of God, fully detach from and detest any and all grave/mortal sin(s) we have committed. For example, we can't confess to murder, repent, be absolved and then go out and murder again. Likewise, same-sex attraction in itself is not sinful, but rather, acting on the attraction is. Such a lifestyle necessarily requires the repentant homosexual to fully and completely abandon any and all active homosexual relations and, moving forward, live a chaste life. Now, while that person may, at some point fall into sin again, it is necessary to repent and re-commit to a chaste life. This person has, as do all sinners, a responsibility to grow in faith and virtue. They cannot be content to remain where they are. This growth requires a strong commitment to learning and understanding the Truths taught by the Church, by frequenting the sacraments and developing a strong prayer life. It is absolutely necessary to follow through with an explanation of what they are being called to. Anything less only fosters further confusion.
The North American Catholic Church has fallen into this strange trend of relying upon pusilanimous, socially awkward and highly intellectual individuals to accomplish Her mission of bringing the Gospel to the world.
When I watch this video of Christopher Sparks, I have no desire to get to know him as a person. There's no display of ability to care for his physical self, he doesn't seem to have any sense of fashion, and his personality seems to be quite underdeveloped.
He prides himself in having tackled the most difficult questions that Catholics face on the regular, but has most likely done so by reading books and abstract arguments rather than actually speaking with individuals struggling to accept the Church's central teachings.
Meanwhile, a simple look at the Church's history shows that the greatest of Saints were actually quite gifted, attractive, normal and empathetic individuals who were able to live in the world without being of it. St. Gianna Beretta Molla was looking at fashion magazines hours before dying in labour to heroically birth her daughter; St. Francis Xavier was a gifted athlete and the most popular student at his prestigious university prior to being swayed by St. Ignatius of Loyola; St. John Paul II went on camping trips with young couples and took part in plays; St. Ambrose was a prominent statesman before reluctantly accepting his role as Bishop of Milan; St. Augustine of Hippo cohabitated with a woman and asked the Lord to give him chastity, "but not yet", because renouncing fornication was just that difficult for him; St. Therese of Lisieux's parents were successful business owners that could afford hired help in their home to raise their holy children.
Mr. Sparks perpetuates the erroneous assumption that being in the world automatically implies that someone is of it. It doesn't matter how in touch with God he may think he is. If he is completely out of touch with the people and culture around him, all he will be able to accomplish is preach to those like him, and push the doubters and seekers even further away from the Church.
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