Well-known Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid headlined the most recent Assembly of Catholic Professionals in downtown Oklahoma City. Madrid hosts “The Patrick Madrid Show” on Relevant Radio every morning from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. In Oklahoma, the show is available on the Relevant Radio app.
“On my radio show, for three hours, it’s just you and me, and we talk about the issues of the day. I’m finding more and more non-religious people listening to the program,” Madrid said. “If I can get the people on the outer ring who are actively opposed to what you and I believe as Christians, then I figure we’ve got a good chance that they’ll at least listen. … God is waiting around all kinds of interesting corners.”
Madrid discussed the many different people who call into his show, which features no guests or interviews. Many of the callers, he said, are searching for meaning in their lives and have turned to other vices, including drugs, alcohol or sex, to fill the void.
“God is ready to surprise them, if only someone can speak the truth about the Catholic faith to them.”
Starting in the fourth grade, Madrid has been challenged by friends about his Catholic belief, so he started investigating the false claims to answer the questions. He wrote about his experiences in his book “Why Be Catholic?”
“I took ownership of my Catholic faith. It became a passion for me. I want more people to understand this; I want my fellow Catholics to know about this,” Madrid said. “It’s astonishing to see how many people have not heard the case for the Catholic Church.”
He encouraged people of faith to be courageous in sharing their joy and not to be afraid.
“You might say ‘I can’t do what Scott Hahn can do or I can’t quote the Bible like Tim Staples,’ but you don’t have to,” he said. “That’s not what helps people come closer to Jesus. It’s the personal authenticity in which you in your own limited way speak the truth, and you speak it in a friendly forthright manner. Little truths spoken in an understandable way can go a long way.”
Diane Clay is editor of the Sooner Catholic.
Assembly of Catholic Professionals Learn more or join at:
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