Do we defend our faith?

Over the course of the past few days I have had a couple of opportunities to share my Catholic faith, explain her teachings and demonstrate my devotion to Christ's bride, the Catholic Church. Many times this comes easy to me; when I am engaged in public ministry, at the prison I visited, at various liturgical functions. My challenge however are those times when a friend, co-worker or even a relative, sometimes close relatives, ask a question, make a statement or outright challenge the faith.

I have found over the years that we must not shy away from these opportunities. We also must faithfully demonstrate the Catholic doctrine or teaching in question. And we must always, always treat those we are talking with respectfully. To be open, loving and respectful must never be allowed to be misinterpreted as weakness. We all could learn a valuable lesson from St. Peter: "always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverance, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. 1 Peter 3:15-16.

Most often I am never maligned; in fact I would say that even those who disagree or lack an understanding of the faith are very respectful. Occasionally this is not the case but it has never been confrontational. The most common discussions center around cultural things that dominate the secular life today; marriage and re-marriage, living together outside of marriage, birth control, abortion, gay issues, including if gays can marry and raise families, concerns over the clergy sexual abuse scandals.

And I do get the usual priests should marry, what about women clergy, babies should not be baptized, why do Catholics worship Mary, why we don't beleive in the Bible. All of these already identify the lack of understanding about authentic Catholic teaching. It was the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen who once said:
"There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church.":

In my youth, and related immaturity, I enjoyed arguing, debating for the sake of debating. I guess its some wisdom and a healthy dose of the Holy Spirit that now allows me to be patient, to answer questions as best I can, to admit that which I do not know, and to be respectful, caring and friendly to all who are seeking on the journey.

So we should defend our faith, by being able to give a defense with love and in the way we act and live our lives for Jesus and His bride, the Catholic Church!