Apologist: Church has made itself easy target

The Toledo Blade ^ | 06-10-2006 | David Yonke

[CalCal]

One reason for The Da Vinci Code’s success it that the Catholic Church has made itself a vulnerable target over the last few years, according to Patrick Madrid.

Mr. Madrid, who will speak in Toledo on Wednesday night, is an apologist whose role is to defend and explain Catholicism.

He said in an interview this week that the church is still reeling from the “two black eyes” it suffered starting in 2002.

“First there was the priest scandal, and then the inept handling by bishops. I think the Catholic Church has gotten itself into such a mess, such a public relations mess, that it is in a position where this kind of negative attack [from The Da Vinci Code novel and movie] is going to play well with a lot of people who are already negatively disposed toward the Catholic Church,” Mr. Madrid said.

[cardinal4]

Im hoping the new Vatican leadership will reverse the negativity. Benedict has shown a willingness to get his hands dirty. But keep in mind, the Church will always be a target just based on some of their doctrines which offend liberals..

[x_plus_one]

Benedict-16 was right when he said that the world is forgetting and not taking seriously "the spirit". As in the spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and all things related.

The Davinci Code relegates belief in things spiritual to the trashcan of history. Unfortunately, its the other way around....

[TradicalRC]

Welcome to FR. Certainly the secretiveness dovetails nicely with the conspiracy aspect of the Da Vinci Code. Many Catholics pray for the Pope. Perhaps a few well aimed salvos in the right places would help.

[dangus]

I like Madrid. He's an accessible apologist... and a FReeper (!)
But I think he is wrong in one respect: The Catholic priest scandal did not happen a couple years ago; the REVELATION of the scandal happened a couple years ago.

Actually, almost 15 years ago, the preist scandal started to surface, and most Catholics, including myself, circles the wagon against what looked like a typical media assault. After all, it was presented in the news purely in the context of an argument about whether priests should get married, etc.

The scandal erupted wide when it was found out that Cardinals Law was continuing to aid and abbet pedophiles. Then people did not circle the wagons, but, instead asked, "What the HELL is going on here." Interestingly, it was the Catholics at National Review who re-ignited the whole controversy by the cover story, "Sins of the Fathers," by Rod Dreher.

[Dumb_Ox]

I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Madrid also said that content-free Religious Education has made Catholics extremely vulnerable to the first challenge to their faith, no matter how wrongheaded the challenge is.