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What is Contemplative Apologetics?

The purpose of apologetics is to offer a reasoned defense of the Christian faith, but far too often in the age of “hot takes” apologetics becomes just another weapon we use to beat people over the head. Apologetics is a form of theology, but the heart of theology is prayer, wherein we encounter the God who turns the world upside down with His love for us. Contemplative Apologetics is an experiment to see if it is possible to think like a Catholic and act like a Catholic at the same time.

It is Catholic

The world is alive with the presence of God, and the Sacramental life of the Catholic Church reveals this to anyone willing to seek it. The good news about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not merely a proposition for us to ponder but the heart of reality itself. This project seeks to be faithful to that reality by being faithful to the teaching of the Catholic Church.

It is Ecumenical

In his encyclical Ut Unum Sint, Pope St. John Paul II said, “The Catholic Church embraces with hope the commitment to ecumenism as a duty of the Christian conscience enlightened by faith and guided by love, Jesus himself, at the hour of his Passion, prayed 'that they may all be one' (Jn 17:21). This unity, which the Lord has bestowed on his Church and in which he wishes to embrace all people, is not something added on, but stands at the very heart of Christ's mission. Nor is it some secondary attribute of the community of his disciples. Rather, it belongs to the very essence of this community.”

This project embraces that teaching wholeheartedly. The modern division of Christians is a sad state of affairs that harms our witness to the world and runs contrary to the express teaching of Our Lord. That does not mean that we should avoid the hard topics that hold us apart from one another. Indeed, this project will seek to address some of those topics head on. But the starting point will always be love and a recognition that God has given gifts to Christians of various traditions that are meant to build up the Body of Christ as a whole.

It is about Beauty, Truth, and Goodness

These three aspects of existence transcend our cultural blinders and attract us to that which is holy. Contemplative Apologetics endeavors to highlight beauty, truth, and goodness wherever they are found, both inside and outside of the Church, in the sure conviction that these transcendentals will always lead us inexorably back to God.

You can find out more about where this project came from by reading this post.

About Father Jonathan Mitchican

I am a Catholic priest of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. I am also a husband and the father of two boys on the autism spectrum. The Ordinariate is part of the Roman Catholic Church and in full communion with the pope. Though the norm in the Ordinariate is the same as it is throughout the Roman Catholic Church, that priests are to be celibate, I am fortunate to have received—along with a number of my brother priests—a special exception from the Vatican.

I am also a huge comic book and Star Trek nerd. I have written for a number of publications, including Our Sunday Visitor, First Things, Aleteia, Dappled Things, Geez Magazine, and The Living Church.

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An exploration of beauty, truth, and goodness.

People

Catholic priest. School chaplain. Writer. Former rapper. Unabashed Star Trek nerd.