A non-Catholic friend of mine posted a link to the recent news story about the Catholic high school teacher that was fired for undergoing IVF treatment. With the link, he posted two comments: 1) an invitation to his friends and followers (twitter) to comment and 2) a claim that the story demonstrated an institution "out of touch."
Now none of this is unique; we've all see these types of comments. What got me was my initial reaction to shy away from the online debate for fear of the facebook status war that would ensue. This wasn't a question of me not knowing what to write, because I do. I just didn't want to deal with the negativity. I walked away.
After sleeping on it, I thought I began to hand write a potential response, but I never posted it. Since then it has continued to bother me. This was a lost opportunity for me to set the record straight or at least to take a stand to clarify the Church's teaching on IVF. My gut tells me that well-informed Catholics have a responsibility to address these issues head on when they are faced with them, even if it is in the context of responding to a friend's facebook post or a tweet. If we walk way - like I did - then we allow the uniformed to frame and influence the conversation, the debate.
If we find ourselves ill equipped to address our friends and families, then perhaps that's a wake up call to get trained. I believe this is an integral part Christian apologetics and of the New Evangelization. By this I mean helping other Catholic men and women learn their faith, so they can live their faith and share their faith. And yes, sometimes this even means defending their faith!
One of the main things we can do is get plugged into organized formation opportunities in our parishes and dioceses like Joe Catholic and Why Catholic? or even attending some RCIA sessions. The Knights of Columbus have a free, online programs called Harts and Veritas series that allow you to sort through a number of topics. Finally, if you feel inclined to seek more formalized training, I recommend the Ave Maria University IPT program.
I would like to close by saying that I am not advocating that we go out there and pick fights or seek out confrontation. Instead, I am simply saying we should be prepared to answer with sound, authentic Catholic doctrine. What do you think?
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