A conference later this month addressed by a former Vatican ambassador and an acclaimed biographer of Pope Francis will hear calls for Irish Catholics to stand up for their Faith.
Entitled ‘How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice’, the conference which will be held in the Red Cow Hotel on Saturday, April 28, will aim to help Catholics frustrated by misconceptions about the Church in the media.
Prof. Francis Campbell, Britain’s former ambassador to the Vatican, and Dr Austen Ivereigh, who has written extensively on Pope Francis, will be amongst the speakers.
Controversy
Controversial issues will be addressed including the Church’s stance on abortion, same-sex marriage and female ordination.
Other speakers will include Senator Rónán Mullen, columnist Breda O’Brien, Maria Steen of The Iona Institute and Cora Sherlock from the Pro-Life Campaign.
The conference will look at some of the common criticisms of the Church – including the belief pushed by some commentators that the Church should have no voice in the public sphere – and offer coherent answers.
The event will look at the practise of ‘re-framing’ debates by trying to understand where critics of the Church are coming from and helping them to understand why the Church teaches what it does.
The event – which will run from 9.30am-3pm – will also see the launch of a new book by Editor of The Irish Catholic Michael Kelly and Dr Ivereigh with the same title How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice. The book offers credible answers to hot button questions and also encourages Catholics to take the lead in defending their faith in public.
Ahead of the forthcoming referendum on the Eighth Amendment, the conference and book will present the Catholic view on the right to life and help those advocating for a ‘no’ vote frame arguments in favour of the unborn for their colleagues or friends.
For more information see page 15. To attend the conference call 01 687 4028, email: events@irishcatholic.ie or log on to www.irishcatholic.com