About – Fiercely Catholic

Fiercely Catholic™ is a Catholic apostolate dedicated to teaching and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith through evangelization, faith formation, catechesis, and apologetics.

Why Fiercely Catholic exists

Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings.
1 Peter 5: 8-9

And He gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.
Ephesians 4: 11-16

If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.
GK Chesterton

Something shocking and horrible has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests teach on their own authority; Yet my people like it this way; what will you do when the end comes?
Jeremiah 5: 30-31

Everyone needs doctrinal and apostolic training to follow his Christian calling. The Church has a duty to teach, and the faithful have a parallel duty to make that teaching their own. Therefore, every Christian should avail of the facilities for training which the Church offers him–which will vary according to each person’s circumstances.
The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries (Matthew 10: 5-15)

Jesus isn’t satisfied ‘going halves’: He wants the lot.
St. Josemaría Escrivá

There is no longer the conflict and opposition which is supposed to characterize us. We are influencing the world less than the world influences us. There is no apartness.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3: 15-16

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.”
Matthew 10:16

The process of secularization tends to reduce the faith and the Church to the sphere of the private and personal. Furthermore, by completely rejecting the transcendent, it has produced a growing deterioration of ethics, a weakening of the sense of personal and collective sin, and a steady increase in relativism.
Pope Francis

If others lose their savor, then your ministry will help them regain it. But if you yourselves suffer that loss, you will drag others down with you. Therefore, the greater the undertakings put into your hands, the more zealous you must be. For this reason he says: But if the salt becomes tasteless, how can its flavor be restored? It is good for nothing now, but to be thrown out and trampled by men’s feet.
St. John Chrysostom

The answer is simply Catholicism, in all its fullness and depth, a faith able to distinguish itself from any culture and yet able to engage and transform them all, a faith joyful in all the gifts Christ wants to give us and open to the whole world he died to save.
Cardinal Francis George

Piety has its own good manners. Learn them. It’s a shame to see those ‘pious’ people who don’t know how to attend Mass — even though they go daily, nor how to bless themselves (they throw their hands about in the weirdest fashion), nor how to bend the knee before the Tabernacle (their ridiculous genuflections seem a mockery), nor how to bow their heads reverently before a picture of our Lady.
St. Josemaría Escrivá

The faith of which our Lord speaks is not just intellectual acceptance of the truths He has taught: it involves recognizing Him as Son of God, sharing His very life and surrendering ourselves out of love and therefore becoming like Him. But this faith is a gift of God, and we should ask Him to strengthen it and increase it as the Apostles did: Lord “increase our faith!”. While faith is a supernatural, free gift, it is also a virtue, a good habit, which a person can practice and thereby develop: so the Christian, who already has the divine gift of faith, needs with the help of grace to make explicit acts of faith in order to make this virtue grow.
The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries (John 3: 14-15)

Children arriving at high school age today are often found to be on a level of religious ignorance comparable with that of the ancient pagans.
Sr. Mary Anastasia, OSF

The Catholic tradition is a very smart tradition. Intellectually profound…rich. We will not tell our own story effectively if we turn away from that richness. We must stop dumbing down our tradition if we’re going to make this story compelling.
Bishop Robert Barron

How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion! And on the other hand, how necessary and how beneficial is religious instruction! It is indeed vain to expect a fulfillment of the duties of a Christian by one who does not even know them.
St. Pius X

Be uncompromising in doctrine and conduct. But be yielding in manner. A mace of tempered steel, wrapped in a quilted covering. Be uncompromising, but don’t be obstinate.
St. Josemaría Escrivá

Now who is going to harm you if you are enthusiastic for what is good? But even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. Do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
1 Peter 3: 13-17

Sadly, it is not unusual to encounter Catholics who were raised in Catholic families, educated at institutions that identify themselves as ‘Catholic,’ and who may attend Mass regularly, yet do not necessarily know or understand their faith or believe it.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl

Today the current is against us. And today the mood of the world is, ‘Go with the world, go with the spirit.’ Listen, dead bodies float downstream. Only live bodies resist the current. And so the good Lord is testing us.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen

In my lifetime, I’ve had the privilege of knowing many good men and women of my generation—Christians, Jews, and people with no religious faith at all; people who have made the world better by the gift of their lives and their joy in service to others. But the biggest failure, the biggest sadness, of so many people of my generation, including parents, educators, and leaders in the Church, is our failure to pass along our faith in a compelling way to the generation now taking our place.
Archbishop Charles Chaput

In our politically correct world, we think everyone’s going to Heaven. ‘Do whatever you want.’ ‘Try to be a nice person.’ ‘Everyone’s going to Heaven.’ Where does it say that in the Bible? What great saints of the Church proclaimed that, ‘Oh, everyone’s going to Heaven. You don’t have to strive to be holy.’ That’s never been said in the last 2000 years so why does everyone believe this today?
Fr. Mark Goring

So we are at war and we have two options. We can fight or we can go to hell.
Matt Fradd

In the past, in the West, in a society deemed Christian, faith was the context in which people acted; the reference and adherence to God were part of daily life for the majority. Rather, it was the person who did not believe who had to justify his or her own incredulity. In our world the situation has changed and, increasingly, it is believers who must be able to account for their faith.
Pope Benedict XVI

Young people need clear guidance to navigate the complexities of today’s world while remaining rooted in their Catholic identity. We must provide them with a solid foundation in Catholic moral thought. By offering instruction that addresses their unique challenges, we equip them to face societal pressures, temptations and moral dilemmas with confidence and wisdom.
OSV Editorial Board

Faith that is just a cultural or social habit is no longer enough today; we need a faith that is a radical personal decision for God that will allow us to discover the light and the strength we need to face the challenges of today.
Fr. Jacques Philippe

Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. The kingdom of heaven is for those who are determined to enter it. As I said 10 years ago here on this Mountain of Joy: Do not be afraid to be holy! Have the courage and humility to present yourselves to the world determined to be holy, since full, true freedom is born from holiness.
St. John Paul II

With the amazing naturalness of the things of God, the contemplative soul is filled with apostolic zeal. ‘My heart was warmed within me, a fire blazed forth from my thoughts.’ What could this fire be if not the fire that Christ talks about: ‘I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?’ An apostolic fire that acquires its strength in prayer. There is no better way than this to carry on, throughout the whole world, the battle of peace to which every Christian is called, to fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.
St. Josemaría Escrivá

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.
GK Chesterton

To truly live, to live a noble life…. How many young people try to ‘live’ and destroy themselves by following things that are fleeting. Some think that it would be better to extinguish this impulse — the impulse to live — because it is dangerous. I would like to say, especially to young people: our worst enemy is not practical problems, no matter how serious and dramatic: life’s greatest danger is a poor spirit of adaptation which is neither meekness nor humility, but mediocrity, cowardice. Is a mediocre young person a youth with a future or not? No! He or she remains there, will not grow, will not have success. Mediocrity or cowardice. Those young people who are afraid of everything: ‘No, this is how I am…’. These young people will not move forward. Meekness, strength, and not cowardice, not mediocrity.
Pope Francis

Catholics are meant to stand out, not blend in. Blending in speaks to conforming and making concessions so our faith becomes part of the mainstream…and we need to fight it!
Randy Hain

What zeal people put into their earthly affairs: dreaming of honors, striving for riches, bent on sensuality. Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle-aged and young and even children: all of them the same. When you and I put the same zeal into the affairs of our souls, we will have a living and operative faith: and there will be no obstacle that we cannot overcome in our apostolic undertakings.
St. Josemaría Escrivá – The Way

Today the Church must face other challenges and push forward to new frontiers, both in the initial mission ad gentes and in the new evangelization of those peoples who have already heard Christ proclaimed. Today all Christians, the particular churches and the universal Church, are called to have the same courage that inspired the missionaries of the past, and the same readiness to listen to the voice of the Spirit.
Pope John Paul II – Redemptoris Missio

But in this area the supernatural impulse will afford good results only if it couples itself with all the resources of human knowledge, experience and wisdom; and experience has shown us often enough that it is very often choked, or at least slowed down, by the contrary forces. On the other hand, the role of the Church, especially in the person of her ministers, cannot be reduced to such a task; however urgent this may appear in certain cases it is never anything more than a secondary end — even when in the temporal order it may have to be put first, here or there, so as to open up a path to the Gospel. Otherwise the Church would be unfaithful to Christ, who did not preach the Kingdom of God [in the word of George Hourdin] ‘in order to provoke a general liberation of his people and to vanquish the Romans once for all.’ She would succumb to that ‘temporal heresy’ which as Péguy observed (Péguy, who understood so well the value of the temporal) consists in proposing that the temporal should end up by ‘absorbing the eternal’. Thus losing her own soul, she would be reduced to a mere human organization, and a totally ineffective one at that.
Henri de Lubac – A Brief Catechesis on Nature and Grace

Writing about the Catholic Church, a radical writer says: ’Rome will have to do more  than to play a waiting game; she will have to use some of the dynamite inherent in her message.’ To blow the dynamite of a message is the only way to make the message dynamic. If the Catholic Church is not today the dominant social dynamic force, it is because Catholic scholars have taken the dynamite of the Church, have wrapped it up  in nice phraseology, placed it in an hermetic container and sat on the lid. It is about time  to blow the lid off so the Catholic Church may again become the dominant social dynamic force
Peter Maurin – The Dynamite of the Church

There are regions of the world that are still awaiting a first evangelization; others that have received it, but need a deeper intervention; yet others in which the Gospel put down roots a long time ago, giving rise to a true Christian tradition but in which, in recent centuries with complex dynamics the secularization process has produced a serious crisis of the meaning of the Christian faith and of belonging to the Church.
Pope Benedict XVI – Homily

Us being casual is the death of our faith. There are people who believe Jesus will save them. And there are people who believe Jesus won’t save them. And in a sense, they’re both right. because faith is the difference. Let’s not think we’ve figured all of this out.
Fr. David Michael Moses – A Priest’s Biggest Pet Peeve

‘Duc in altum. Put out into deep water!’ Throw aside the pessimism that makes a coward of you. ‘Et laxate retia vestra in capturam. And pay out you nets for a catch.’ Don’t you see that you, like Peter, can say: ‘In nomine tuo, laxabo rete’: Jesus, if You say so, I will search for souls?
St. Josemaría Escrivá – The Way

And yet, there is a lingering legalism in Church life today, one that has affected many in my generation. This legalism is a kind of zombie Catholicism that primarily lives on in certain liberal Catholic institutions where the rules are still (kind of) enforced but in a way that conveys that no one believes in them anymore.
Terence Sweeney – Understanding the Church’s Laws Is the Antidote to ‘Zombie Catholicism’

So today, be proud to be a Catholic. Not with arrogance, but with gratitude. The Church is not perfect. But she is Christ’s Bride. She is our Mother. And in her we find life, truth, and the hope of salvation.
Fr. Francis Maple – Are You Proud To Be Catholic?

It often happens that Christians are more concerned for the social, cultural and political consequences of their commitment, continuing to think of the faith as a self-evident presupposition for life in society. In reality, not only can this presupposition no longer be taken for granted, but it is often openly denied. Whereas in the past it was possible to recognize a unitary cultural matrix, broadly accepted in its appeal to the content of the faith and the values inspired by it, today this no longer seems to be the case in large swathes of society, because of a profound crisis of faith that has affected many people.
Pope Benedict XVI – Porta Fidei

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.
2 Timothy 4: 1-4

I rejoice greatly, dear brother, at the outstanding zeal that drives you to promote the glory of God. It is sad to see how in our times the disease called “indifferentism” is spreading in all its forms, not just among those in the world but also among the members of religious orders.
St. Maximillian Kolbe – Letter

Brothers and sisters, Christendom no longer exists! Today we are no longer the only ones who create culture, nor are we in the forefront or those most listened to. We need a change in our pastoral mindset, which does not mean moving towards a relativistic pastoral care. We are no longer living in a Christian world, because faith – especially in Europe, but also in a large part of the West – is no longer an evident presupposition of social life; indeed, faith is often rejected, derided, marginalized and ridiculed.
Pope Francis – Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia

There are lots of your fellow Catholics who are pretty ignorant of their faith. Maybe they’re Catholic because their grandfather was Polish or their grandmother was Irish. You get the idea. Their knowledge about the faith is minimal and their commitment level low. Furthermore, they are pretty resistant to any attempt by their pastor to correct the problem. People blame “the church” for poor catechesis, and that is no doubt a problem, but the other half of the problem is that now we have a slew of excellent materials, resources, speakers, study course, books, videos, conferences and programs to catechize, encourage and assist, but the vast bulk of Catholics simply stay away. They can’t be bothered. If they practice the faith at all it looks like the Democratic party at prayer. Step around them and work with the people who do want to know more and love the faith. As a convert you may have the gift of sharing your conversion story or starting a study group to help the ones who do want to grow.
Fr. Dwight Longenecker – Ten Problems for Catholic Converts

Let us reject, therefore, the suggestion that the Church, ignoring the Sermon on the Mount, seeks a purely human happiness on earth, since we know that her only task is to bring men to eternal glory in Heaven. Let us reject any purely naturalistic view that fails to value the supernatural role of divine grace. Let us reject materialistic opinions that exclude spiritual values from human life. Let us equally reject any secularising theory which aims to equate the aims of the Church with those of earthly states, distorting its essence, institutions and activities into something similar to those of temporal society.
St. Josemaría Escrivá – In love with the Church

“Scribe”: among the Jews a scribe was a religious teacher, a specialist in sacred Scripture and its application to life. Our Lord here uses this word to refer to the Apostles, who will have the role of teachers in His Church. Thus, the Apostles and their successors, the Bishops, are the “Ecclesia docens”, the teaching Church; they have the authority and the mission to teach. The Pope and the Bishops exercise this authority directly and are also helped in this by priests. The other members of the Church form the “Ecclesia discens”, the learning Church. However, every disciple of Christ, every Christian who has received Christ’s teaching, has a duty to pass this teaching on to others, in language they can understand; therefore, he should make sure he has a good grasp of Christian doctrine. The treasure of Revelation is so rich that it can provide teaching which applies to all times and situations. It is for the word of God to enlighten all ages and situations–not the other way around.
The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries (Matthew 13: 52)

So Christianity, sometimes, we’ve just one too squishy and soft. And we don’t challenge people. And to do that we actually have to put duct tape over the mouth of the Gospel. So we silence the Gospel from letting out its full demands. Jesus was extremely demanding during his life, extremely.
Fr. Columba Jordan – Don’t Reject Jesus Yet

It has been observed that we live once again in a pagan culture not unlike that of the apostolic age or the age of the Church Fathers. Marked by hedonism and unfettered concupiscence (our tendency toward sin after the Fall), our cultural values have eroded from those illuminated by the Gospel to those governed by fallen impulses and limited human reason.
Angela Jendro – The Need for Christian Formation

If you were to fall into the temptation of wondering, ‘Who’s telling me to embark on this?’, we would have reply, ‘Christ Himself is telling you, is begging you.’ ‘The harvest is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few. You must ask the Lord to whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting’. Don’t take the easy way out. Don’t say, ‘I’m no good at this sort of thing; there are others who can do it; it isn’t my line.’ No, for this sort of thing, there is no one else: if you could get away with that argument, so could everyone else. Christ’s plea is addressed to each and every Christian. No one can consider himself exempt, for whatever reason–age, health or occupation. There are no excuses whatsoever. Either we carry out a fruitful apostolate, or our faith will prove barren.
St. Josemaría Escrivá –Friends of God

Anybody that has the mission, the mantle, of trying to communicate the Gospel to the modern world, and try to share the faith, that we look like the fool, we look like the clown. We look like the clown dressed up in medieval robes, clinging to past traditions, trying to tell people that something very serious is happening. We’re just up here up trying to say, ‘There’s something very serious happening!’ That was the image that came to my mind. Honestly, it comes to my mind a lot as a priest in this modern world.
Fr. Patrick Schultz – Why It’s So Hard To Convince People Something Serious Is Happening

While dioceses in America have made undeniable progress in preparing people for the sacraments of Christian initiation, the Synod Fathers nonetheless expressed regret that “many receive them without adequate formation”. In the case of the Baptism of children, efforts to catechize the parents and godparents should not be spared.
Pope John Paul II

About Dr. Marc Tinsley and Fiercely Catholic

Dr. Marc Tinsley is the director of Fiercely Catholic™. Dr. Tinsley is not a perfect Catholic, a great Catholic, and maybe not even a good Catholic. But he is undeniably, enthusiastically, and unapologetically Catholic.

It is too true that I who write about the devout life am not myself devout, but most certainly I am not without the wish to become so, and it is this wish which encourages me to teach you. A notable literary man has said that a good way to learn is to study, a better to listen, and the best to teach. And St. Augustine, writing to the devout Flora, says, that giving is a claim to receive, and teaching a way to learn.
St. Francis de Sales, An Introduction to the Devout Life

He is tired of the world influencing the Catholic Church instead of the Catholic Church influencing the world.

For decades, he has served his parish as a lector, extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, catechist, RCIA leader, newsletter publisher, social media coordinator, Baptism preparation instructor, and in a variety of other ways.

In 2003, he was nominated by his pastor and awarded the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh’s Manifesting the Kingdom Award by the Bishop of Pittsburgh.

He is a husband, a father, a son, and a brother.

He is a professional speaker and writer.

He looks forward to presenting a Fiercely Catholic program at your next conference, retreat, or other Catholic event.