by Douglas Jeffers
It will be most helpful to organize this section by the kind of person asking us questions. Bear in mind that these are frequently asked questions on the campus of Texas A&M - a fairly conservative university, other places would no doubt be very different.
Evangelical Protestants are by far our most common questioners. A few of them are a somewhat hostile or on edge. Most are genuinely curious. They usually ask questions about things that distinguish Protestantism from Catholicism – e.g., Mary and the Saints, the Papacy, Purgatory, the Sacraments, the priesthood, Sacred Tradition, etc.
We also frequently are asked questions about Catholic moral theology, most especially about sexual morality, homosexuality, contraception, abortion, etc…
We occasionally talk to people of non-Christian religions, frequently (but not always) they are foreign students. They are usually just curious about what we believe.
We also talk to atheists from time to time. They usually want to talk about whether there is a God, but occasionally about various other points touching on philosophy and science, e.g., evolution, ethics, whether religion is anti-intellectual, etc…
We frequently encounter Catholics, some of whom express an interest in our campus ministry (we invite them to do more than go to Mass), and also often we meet Catholics (particularly freshmen) who have not been to Mass in awhile, and we have the chance to let them know where our church is, and to invite them to get involved there. This is an important part of our evangelization.
Finally, we meet a fair number of people who ask what we are doing. They don’t have any particular question, but are impressed that we care enough to do what we do. This essentially presents a blank slate, and an opportunity to share the Gospel in its simplicity.
For specifics on answering questions, there are many valuable resources we will soon list in the sidebar
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