Father Jeremy Hazuka, pastor of St. Michael Parish in Hastings, recently invited Dan Burke to Hastings to give a mini-retreat on the power of prayer.
Dan provided a lot of inspiration and many great insights into the importance and power of prayer, as well as numerous, very practical, tips anyone can employ in order to deepen their prayer life. At one point he said that he often prays that people will ask him questions about Jesus, prayer, and the Catholic faith.
As an amateur apologist (someone who defends and explains the faith) and an evangelist (something we are all called to be), I know that people need to be in the right frame of mind in order to receive the truth, beauty, and goodness of the faith in a way which will lead to conversion and conviction. It is one thing to offer the truth, beauty, and goodness of God’s plan for our salvation to someone, but it is a whole different matter if they come to you seeking answers to questions they have on their heart.
I thought Dan’s practice of praying that people ask him questions was brilliant, so I began the practice, too.
Exactly one week later, I was driving around my old hometown, looking for a possible location for my new law office. We are moving this summer, and as of yet, I haven’t quite settled on where I will have my office. Over the years, I have watched an old church in my hometown become more and more dilapidated, and wondered if they might be interested in selling it. The location would be great for a law office.
As I drove by, I could see that the back door was slightly ajar. I stopped and knocked on the door, and was greeted by a man who invited me in and offered to show me around. There were eight or nine others working on repairs and restoration in the church.
I learned that I was a few months too late in looking into the purchase, as the original owners of the church had just sold it to the new church. I was introduced to the pastor, the assistant minister, a couple of elders, and several teenage boys who comprised the construction crew for the day. Then one of the elders asked me if I was looking to join a church when we relocated in the summer. I chuckled and explained that I was Catholic. I think I actually described my family as “pretty die-hard Catholics.”
When that came out of my mouth, I chuckled even more, but the minister pointed back at the elder and said, “he used to be a Catholic.” I’ll call this elder Jim, though that is not really his name.
Jim told me he graduated from a Catholic school in Iowa, but he later discovered that he had been taught a lot of false things there.
I could tell that Jim was very eager to talk about his new faith as well as his lapsed Catholic faith, so I took the opportunity to ask him if he wanted to give me his most compelling reason for believing the Catholic faith was a false faith. He asked me if I had ever heard of the Kings James Bible. I told him that I was familiar with the King James Bible, and have read from it many times. There are some non-Catholics who believe that the only valid translation of the Bible is the King James translation (“King James Only”), and this church apparently subscribes to that belief.
Jim listed several things which had prompted him to turn away from his Catholic faith. He started by telling me that Purgatory did not exist because it is not in the Bible. It was obvious that not only did Jim believe in “King James Only,” he also believed in “Bible Alone” — which is a paradox because “Bible Alone” teaches that the Bible is the sole and definitive authority on all matters of faith, but the Bible does not say that the only valid translation is the King James translation.
Jim retrieved his Bible, and I pointed him to Bible verses which supported the Catholic Church’s teachings on Purgatory (Matthew 5:22-26 and 1 Corinthians 13-15), mortal and venial sin (1 John 5:16-17) and the sacrament of reconciliation (John 20:21-23). I decided not to mention 2 Maccabees 12:41-46 because Jim’s Bible does not contain that book of the Bible. Mentioning 2 Maccabees would have potentially derailed the whole conversation, so I limited my explanation to the 66 books in the King James version.
Both Jim and the pastor were very kind throughout the entire discussion, but it was obvious that neither of them had ever looked at these verses from any perspective other than that of the anti-Catholics who had created the myths about Catholicism long ago.
Eventually, they had to get on with their work and I had to go on as well, so we shook hands and I left without buying a church.
Afterward, I reflected on Dan Burke’s brief mention of praying for questions and thanked God for the opportunity to meet Jim and the pastor because of it. It had all started when Jim asked me if I was looking for a church, then I was able to ask numerous questions of Jim and the pastor.
You may have a family member or someone in your life who believes in myths about the Catholic Church. You too can pray that they not only ask you questions, but that they do so respectfully and with an open heart.
As for me, maybe I’ll pay the church another visit soon, and until then, I’ll continue to pray that people ask me questions.
