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I have been caught up, recently, reading not one but two very long comment-discussions about Catholicism as Christianity. There is an astonishing amount of misinformation about Catholicism out there, and we are certainly not helped by the disgraceful ineptitude and weakness of our administrators in handling all of the sexual abuse scandals. But still, I am appalled at the casual nature of the insults that are flung our way -- and how the insult-slinger will simply shrug off any accusations of ignorance, in essence saying, "It doesn't matter what you think, you're Catholic, and therefore, damned."

The first I found via Ambra, over at La Shawn Barber's Corner. La Shawn had posted this comment on the Pope's death:

While I am not up to theological discussions about the matter just yet, I will say, preliminarily, that if the Pope believed Christ died for his sins, and that we are saved through faith alone in Christ alone by his grace alone, the Pope, like anyone else who believes these things, will be spared from God’s righteous and just punishment.

This comment sparked quite a few hard feelings among La Shawn's Catholic readers. I can understand why. She's essentially calling the Pope a hypocrite with that "If the Pope believed..." construction. And then she's also requiring a salvation-by-faith-alone belief, as well, completing ignoring the Grace we receive via the Sacraments. The clearest thing that comes through in this comment is that La Shawn doesn't have the faintest idea of the basis of Catholic teachings. The other thing that comes through here is the whiff of bigotry, which is ignorance that refuses to be educated. I read through the lengthy comment trail, frustrated at my own poor apologetic skills, and let it go.

Then, today, I came across a similar thread on RedState, in which redstatesoccermom asks, Catholics v Baptist, help me out. She talked about having seen this lovely little ditty on a Baptist church's sign:No Truth, No Hope, Following a Hell-Bound Pope. Great, huh?

So I descended once again into the comments, which were fun in the same way that you just love it when you stop banging your head against that brick wall. No, seriously -- it's a snake pit, that discussion. There are so many people who do not understand even the smallest things, like our veneration of Mary, or the Communion of Saints. They brands us as idolators, and say we do not worship Christ. What do they think is the point of the Mass, and the Eucharist?

They don't have a clue.

It's only going to get worse, and it makes me squirm. I need to brush up on my apologetics, especially Scott Hahn's excellent defense against sola scriptura. Patrick Madrid had this great series, Pope Fiction that was just perfect for the kind of discussions we're going to be seeing a lot of, these days.

I need to prepare. I need to learn the material, and I also need to find a way to convey the information in some non-inflammatory way. I always end up pissing people off, when that is very rarely (I won't say never) my intention. It doesn't do any good to insult someone you're trying to educate. Of course, the very attempt at education is an insult to someone who is already sure they know everything, so right from the get-go you've got a bad situation in a lot of these internet debates. Yet, the attempt must be made. So far I've been content to let others fight these battles, but if one lands on my own doorstep, I won't back away from it.