How effective is apologetics in evangelism in your opinion?

Very effective. There are quite a few members here at CAF who came into or back to the faith mainly from apologetics interactions with some of us. (one dear brother embarrasses me often by claiming that I carried him across the Tiber on my back. )

Evangelism isn't the same as apologetics. It's more like apologetics is a vital part of evangelism since by definition apologetics is explaining the Catholic faith and I can't imagine any of us fulfilling Our Lord's commission in Matthew 28:19-20 without it. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

Emphasis above is mine of course, but isn't teaching explaining? First one has to know the faith in order to effectively share it with others and part of that catechesis is apologetic in nature.

Why was I a bit embarrassed? Because I know that it was not me but the Holy Spirit that accomplished it. (See Luke 17:10)

I'm not sure I believe in "cold calls" per se. If you look at most of the conversions in the New Testament you see Our Lord and the Apostles personally interacting with people wherever they are, (i.e. the apostles mending their nets, sitting at a tax collector's booth, drawing water from a well, sitting in a tree in order to see Jesus, and even crying out to Him begging for mercy) so, though I will often carry and leave Catholic Tracts with folks I meet, I generally prefer to follow the advice of Father John McCloskey who says that Friendship is the Key to the Evangelization of Men. Having done street evangelism about 40+ years ago as a "Jesus Freak" and seeing the approach of many n-Cs who "witnessed" on the street, I came to prefer getting to know people in order to share the faith with them.


How effective is the Catechism in evangelism/apologetics?

Someone said that they were disappointed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church because it didn't go far enough in depth but I'll have to disagree with you about that since the footnotes can and do lead to ever deepening studies.

I am pretty sure that the Catechism is designed to be a compromise between concise information and brevity (and I think it cuts it pretty close on the brevity part. Look at the difference between it and the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church). The catechism is not intended for evangelism anyway, but general instruction of Catholics.

The fact is that the study of our most holy faith is a lifetime personal project.

On Catholic Evangelism

Baptism does not start conversion. Conversion begins with the work of the Holy Spirit and His gift of faith. Baptism is the logical and scriptural step in response to that gift, whether to an adult convert or the parents of a newborn blessed enough to be born into a Catholic family.

As a Catholic I am always involved in evangelism. I use a wide variety of means to communicate the Gospel and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I seek to call them to a deep conversion and right relationship with God through the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I endeavor to carry out the mandate of Matthew 28:19-20 which plainly tells us...[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

RCIA, as well as other teaching aids, including both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other studies such as the Catholic Home Study Service assist in doing precisely that, so that the people get the fulness of the Gospel as found in the New Testament.

In a nutshell the following 2 brief articles on my blog sum up my position.

How Is A Catholic Saved?
Who REALLY Preaches "A Different Gospel"?

BTW, the Church does indeed teach that our first mission field is to those of our own households. IOW we are to seek to train up our children in the way that they should go. (See Proverbs 22:6 to see what we are committing to when we have our children Baptized.) We start there and expand to the whole world around us.

My Catholic Tract

Thank You…

Thank you so much for your concern for my soul. I deeply appreciate it, however with all due respect and all charity, the fact is that in spite of your misunderstanding, we Catholics are Christians, and part of the same Christianity that the early Apostles practiced. Our faith is the same one that began with Our Lord Jesus Christ and has endured for 2,000 years.

We Catholics believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God; that God is a Trinity that consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that we are saved by a personal relationship with the risen Lord Jesus Christ. We are “born again” and we do our best to live out that relationship by producing fruit worthy of repentance. None of us are perfect; we’re still all too human , but we confess our sins to God in obedience to the scriptures and make a moment-by-moment effort to be the best Christians that we can.

There are differences between us…They are the result of a division that occurred about 500 years ago called the Reformation. Prior to that we were all Catholics, a name which is Greek for universal and was used for all Christian churches and can be verified by the letter of Ignatius, the Bishop of the church of Antioch that he wrote to the church at Smyrna in about 107 AD. (Remember Antioch, the church in Acts 11:26 where we were first called Christians to begin with?) This name stuck in order to differentiate between the church of Christ and other heretical groups such as the Gnostics.

The difference between us is simple and fundamental. The core of the differences are the Protestant doctrines called “Sola Scriptura” (meaning Scripture Alone) and “Sola Fide” (Faith Alone). The first has to do with the verifiable fact that the early Christians relied on verbal tradition until the 4th century when the Council of Carthage settled the matter of the canon of the Bible with the 73 books that consist of the 46 books of the Alexandrian text of the Old Testament (also known as the Septuagint,) which was in Greek (not Hebrew) and the 27 books of the New Testament. As a result, the Apostles encouraged the early church to hold fast to the traditions that had been taught to them either by word or letter. Keep in mind that the last verse of Saint John’s Gospel says that not all that Jesus said and did is written down and that the entire world could not contain all the books if they were. Sacred Tradition helps us properly interpret the Word of God. It is not the “traditions of men” that Jesus condemned, since it in no way sets aside the laws of God, but along with the Bible confirms what they mean and helps to guide us into right doctrine.

2nd Thessalonians 2 :14 “Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.”

2nd Thessalonians 3 :6 “And we charge you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received of us.”

The other is the doctrine that we are saved by “faith alone” and that our works have no merit before God. The fact is that a breakaway priest named Martin Luther developed both doctrines on his own authority, ignoring the fact that no one in the 1500 years of Christian history had believed any such things. In fact Luther had the audacity to add the word "alone" to Romans 3:28 in his German translation of the Bible so that it said that we are saved by faith alone, knowing full well that the Greek text does not say that at all. In fact, the only place where the words “faith” and “alone” are used together is in James 2:24 where it says, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” He also removed 7 books from the canon of the Old Testament and 4 from the New, including Jude, 2nd Peter, James, and Revelation. Most of the confusion between Catholics and other Christian churches is “trickle-down effect” of these doctrines.

This is just a brief overview, but rest assured that if you are willing to do some research into authentic Catholic writings like the Catechism of the Catholic Church you will find that there are very good reasons for what we believe and practice. You can also check out authentic Catholic teachings online at Catholic.com and Vatican.va (The official Vatican Website!). For the truth about the Catholic faith, ask us, we have nothing that we want to hide. We do not attempt to proselytize people though we will readily dialog with anyone and try to answer any questions they may have concerning Catholicism. Our focus is on insuring that everyone hears the Gospel. The rest is up to the Holy Spirit.

The harvest is indeed plentiful, so let’s be about Our Father’s business.