The Catholic Legate

The Catholic Apologetics section of The Catholic Legate is dedicated to providing our visitors with conventional Catholic Apologetics, including biblical, theological, and historical issues surrounding the Catholic Faith. Each topic-page is divided into sub-categories: articles, dialogues, debates, and Q&A. Visitors who are interested in suggesting an article or asking a question are encouraged to e-mail us their request. Should you wish to dialogue with one of our staff on an apologetics subject, please be sure to read our Limited Confidentiality Policy beforehand.

Anything to take down the claims of Christianity - no matter how far-fetched, weak, and absurd the "evidence" is - the MSM is there with bells and whistles and tambourines. After all, if Tom Hanks or James Cameron is involved, we all know it reaches the very heights of scholarly credibility, and everyone should just bow their heads and whisper a pious "Amen". The converse of their wholesale propaganda against Christianity is also certainly well known. They simply ignore, minimize, distort, or manipulate the real and authentic evidence that exists for the veracity of the Christian faith. The Shroud of Turin was written off twenty years ago by the gods of science and their carbon dating. Providentially, the carbon dating claims didn't stick as the other gods of science informed us. We heard a lot about the first gods, but not a heck of a lot about their ousters. Oh well, c'est la vie. First impressions, after all, must not be disturbed. T

Then there is the case of The Shroud of Manoppello. Never heard of it, you say? Come now. That's not surprising, given the political and moral sensibilities of those who are responsible for suppressing these little proofs of Christianity's claims. I shouldn't be so critical, however. I suppose that when the evidence started to mount that "Veronica's Veil" (as it is sometimes called) was indeed THE image of Christ, the main stream media placed this astounding news in the back pages of obscurity and amusement. This happened over twenty years ago.

I came to know about the "veil" in reading a little known magazine called Love One Another Catholic Magazine. This magazine which is published first in Polish and then translated into many different languages is well known for its high quality articles, and although it is focused on the youth, its devotional and scholarly articles have been a wealth of inspiration for me personally.

I highly recommend this magazine to anyone wanting to receive the occasional "shot in the arm" and encouragement. It does not shy away from tackling some of the most controversial issues of our time like homosexuality and abortion, and also the taboo issues like demonic possession. It did a remarkable article on the real Emily Rose, for instance.

It is a first-rate publication for Catholic families, and I cannot give it a higher endorsement. It's superb.

A few days ago, I requested and received permission from Love One Another Magazine to publish the three articles on the Shroud of Manoppello they featured in their last publication of the magazine (Issue No. 7).

Filioque: A Response to Eastern Orthodox Objections
In this lengthy tome, Mark Bonocore discusses the sources and misunderstandings of the East and West's understanding of the filioque. In the process, he shows that with a little context and deeper understanding, it was much ado about nothing. (Bonocore - 188KB - 06.12)

Christian Unity & Orthodoxy
Mark Bonocore offers this excellent article on why unity is so important, and how the bible and church history testify to it. Protestants claim that they are united in the "the fundamentals", but the question is: Is that enough? Does it meet the biblical standard? Mark shows that it does not. (Bonocore - 11KB - 04.03)

Our Tradition
Ouch. Our little inquisition of Tim Enloe's rather revealing comments seemed to hit a raw nerve with some Protestants. We have been asked to explain how the Catholic rule of faith has always functioned, and we are happy to oblige. With a little bite and drama, our director draws out the truth. (Pacheco - 11KB - 03.05)

One, holy, catholic and apostolic Church
Catholics say these words whenever they recite the Nicene Creed. This article gives a brief explanation and background of each word. (Hartono - 16KB - 02.11)

Genealogy of Jesus
Other than His divinity, the other question often raised about Jesus concerns Our Lord's two different genealogies as recorded in the Gospels. This article explores the controversy. (Hartono - 11KB - 02.08)

Who is Jesus?
This article examines who Jesus is to both Catholics and Protestants. Issues covered include His divinity and humanity, His mission, and His position in the Catholic Church. (Hartono - 59KB - 02.07)

Apostle: One Who is Sent
This article deals with the Protestant claim that, unlike Catholic priests, Protestant ministers are sent by God to preach the Gospel, for, as the Scripture says: "How shall they preach unless they be sent?" (Romans 10:15) (Pacheco - 53KB - 01.11)

Truth & Authority
Discusses the necessity of truth with authority within a Catholic paradigm. A good synthesis on the mutual complimentary of these two aspects of the Faith. (Pacheco - 08KB - 01.09)

$Easy Money$: A Response to Eric Svendsen's 18 Challenges
Sometime ago, Eric Svendsen offered a $100,000 reward to the contestant who could answer his 18 Challenges to the Catholic Faith. Well, John did it, but Eric hasn't coughed up yet. We're still debating whether to send over Guido or Luigi to collect. (Pacheco - 90KB - 00.02)

Matthew 18:17 & The Universal Church
This article turns the table on the use Matthew 18:17 to debunk the claim that the early Church was merely a loose collection of local churches. (Sippo - 6KB - 00.00)

Gary DeMar Is Chasing Shadows: A Response to His Very Misguided Defense of Sola Scriptura - Part 1 & Part 2
In late August, Mark Bonocore was invited to be a guest on Stu Epperson’s Evangelical Protestant radio show, TruthTalk Live. The topic of the show was to be why Evangelical scholars seem to use of the writings of the Church fathers inconsistently. As anyone interested in Christian media is well aware, over the past year, a score of Evangelical writers and speakers have appealed to the testimonies of the early Church fathers to counter the ridiculous historical distortions presented in Dan Brown’s infamous book/movie, The DaVinci Code. Well, to make a long story short, Mark's opponent, Gary DeMar, demonstrated the same old tired defenses of sola scriptura and objections to Catholic oral tradition. In this two part rebuttal, Mark tries to keep Gary DeMar's boat from floating away into obscurity. (Bonocore - 100KB & 46KB - 06.10)

The Land of Doctor Lareau
In this free-wheeling exchange, Staff Apologist Mark Bonocore has some fun with some loonie modernist and liberal ideas all rolled into one! (Bonocore - 98KB - 05.10)

The Protestant Pickle
So just what is a Prot Pickle you ask? A Prot Pickle is a situation a Protestant finds him or herself in when confronted with a foolproof argument dealing with matters of religion. From time to time, we will present a new question for our Protestant audience and we encourage each one to try and respond as best they can. Selected submissions will be posted on this website.

Our Question:

St. Paul commanded the Thessalonians in 2 Thes 2:14 to keep the traditions that they had been taught either orally or in writing.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by epistle.

The protestant dilemma is to come up with a citation from Scripture where an Apostle changes this command to limit our acceptance to written tradition only. Of course, if an Apostle had given this command, it would have disqualified his very own preaching at that very moment! Be that as it may, let's see what our Protestant brethren can come up with. Submit an Answer.

Pastor Billy Gets A Patristics Lesson
Mark Bonocore pulls the plug on some dirty water. Read how Mark masterfully defends both the Catholic Church's authority and sacramental baptism through his appeals to early patristics. (Bonocore - 73 KB - 04.11)

A Cloudy Day: A Protestant Challenge Answered
A Protestant sensationalist by the name of David Cloud has issued the following series of questions as a "challenge" for Catholic apologists to "chew on." Evidently, Mr. Cloud is under the impression that Catholics will be unable to answer them. However, as Mark Bonocore easily illustrates, this Cloud's objections don't seem to float. (Bonocore - 58KB - 04.09)

Apostolic Succession Defended: A Response To An Apostate
Mark Bonocore provides us with a stirring defense of the Catholic Church's belief in Apostolic Succession. Despite the claims of the liberal, secular critics, Apostolic Succession is indeed historical and true. In this lengthy apologia for the Faith, Mark easily dismantles the equivocations and the bad reasoning of a former Christian who has lost his way - badly. (Bonocore - 154KB - 04.09)

Authority & Justification
In this interesting dialogue, Art Sippo explains how the Protestant foundational belief in the bible is predicated on the authority of the Catholic Church. Art shows his opponent how it's both or neither. Later in the dialogue, Art discusses some nuances in the Catholic view of justification. A very interesting and enlightening read. (Sippo - 56 KB - 04.03)

Our Sacred Traditions
Frank Jerry traps a poor Oneness Pentecostal and gets him to fess up that the Church is the keeper of those unwritten traditions the Apostles handed down. This dialogue will certainly be nominated for the "Catholic Apologetic Zinger Awards". (Jerry - 9KB - 04.03)

Anglican Succession Discussed
Mark Bonocore offers his views on the problems with Anglican Orders. With the recent auto-demolition of the Anglican communion over same-sex "marriage", this once lively debate between Catholics and Protestants is becoming a rather moot point. (Bonocore - 15KB - 04.02)

Discussing the Catholic Faith
In this rather lengthy exchange with an inquiring Protestant, Art Sippo defends the Church's teachings in a number of areas. The focus of the discussion centers around the nature of Church Authority and Sacred Tradition. (Sippo - 61KB - 04.02)

A Confused Protestant
We recently received a request to reply to a "confused layperson" regarding some factional in-fighting within the Catholic Church. After reading the layperson's letter, one will be able to see that this person really has not understood the Catholic teaching of doctrinal unity, but has been fed a silly caricature of it instead. (Pacheco - 35KB - 02.10)

Church Challenge
A former Catholic thinks that he has found major issues which debunk the Church's claims over unity and truth. Read how he is instructed otherwise. (Sippo - 64KB - 00.00)

The Lord's Day
Sabbatarians believe that the early Christians got it all wrong. We should have kept Saturday as the Sabbath, they claim. Find out if that is kosher. (Sippo - 11KB - 00.00)

Church Chat with James White
Sippo and White discuss a number of issues including ecclesiology, justification, the papacy, and Scripture. (Sippo - 63KB - 00.00)

The Anglican Question
The following piece is a collection of excerpts from a longer dialogue with an Anglican apologist named Karl. The main subject revolves around the validity of Anglican orders but also includes issues relating to the authority of the Catholic Church. (Pacheco - 156KB - 99.01)