Why Catholics are reluctant to share their faith... and what to do about it

By Alejandro Bermudez

Denver, Colo., May 5, 2021 / 10:00 am

First things first: this is the closest I have seen to the book I always wanted to write and never found the time to do. The title of the book is Web of Faith: A Curious Catholic's Answers to Theological Questions, and brilliantly brings together the two things that I see rank-and-file Catholics are craving: answers to tons of questions from all the fields of Catholicism and a book written so concisely that the answers can be read in the time it takes to clean the family table for dessert.

The authors, Fr. John Trigilio and Fr. Ken Brighenti, are hosts of EWTN’s Web of Faith, and the book is the result of their years of experience explaining the faith in a manner that can be not only understood, but shared with others. So, in the book, they decided to compile a comprehensive list of the best questions ever asked of them, responding to each with intellectual heft, spiritual acuity and charity.

In the introduction, Most Reverend Ronald W. Gainer, Bishop of Harrisburg, tells the story of a lively question-and-answer period following a conference on evangelization where the presenter was asked: "Why are we Catholics so reluctant to talk to others about our Faith?"

“His response,” writes the Bishop, “caught me off guard. He said 'Most often we are afraid of the second question.’”

There are indeed good Q & A Catholic books out there, but this one, in my opinion, is the best in dealing not only with tradition, but also with contemporary challenges to our Faith.  As Bishop Gainer writes, "the book you are holding is an excellent resource to help dispel any fear of the second, third or fourth question."

 The result is 400 pages of rewarding material touching on practically every major category of Church life and Catholic teachings. 400 pages? Fear not ye Catholics. The book is very well organized in four main subjects: Doctrine, Liturgy, Morality, and Prayer.

Thus, the book responds to questions from the impact of mental illness on living the faith, to questions about same-sex attraction, to the level of importance of "repetitive" prayers such as the Rosary or Litanies.

 And then it deals with everything in between such as:

• How to go to Confession and how not to

• What you must believe versus what you can have your own opinion about

• Sacred Scripture’s claims and mandates

• How to deal with family collapse

• Why customs matter

• Who the Church Fathers and Doctors are, and what they teach us

• Bad words and unwanted thoughts: what is sinful and what is not

• Psychics and their dangers

• How canon law applies to laypeople

• How to avoid the dangers of the Internet

The book is slated to be released on May 25, 2021.

Web of Faith - EWTN Publishing

Alejandro Bermudez is a Peruvian journalist who was the Executive Director of Catholic News Agency from its founding until April 2022 and the ACI Group, which includes ACI Prensa, ACI Digital, ACI Stampa, CNA Deutsche, and ACI Africa until December 2022.