Bishop calls for new apologetics for new challenges to Christianity

Published: 2006-04-19

ATLANTA (CNS) -- Bishop Edward K. Braxton of Belleville, Ill., speaking to Catholic educators in Atlanta April 18, cited four areas where a new apologetics is needed: to counter what he called "the new atheism"; to use during times of "human suffering and the search for meaning"; to understand "the rapid growth of Islam and the uniqueness of Christianity"; and to realize "the priority of Scripture and tradition." The bishop gave the opening keynote speech April 18 during the National Catholic Educational Association's 103rd annual convention, held April 18-21 in Atlanta. Catholic teenagers in cyberspace could come across authors' negative descriptions of the bread and wine of the Eucharist as "a cracker" and "faded burgundy" and other mischaracterizations of Catholic teaching, Bishop Braxton said. A new apologetics on the Internet, he added, would "challenge our teenagers ... whenever they are there." Apologetics is the branch of theology having to do with the defense and proofs of Christianity.

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