Tips for Apologetics: Know your sources, but don't mention them

When engaging in apologetics it is important to know your audience.  If you're speaking to non Catholics you'll want to tailor your approach differently than if you're making an argument to Catholics. And if you're trying to educate faithful Catholics, you'll approach the topic different than if you're talking to nominal or dissenting Catholics.  Generally you're talking to non Catholics so here are some things to keep in mind.

We all want to give credit where it's due.  None of us want to be accused of plagiarism.  Sometimes a Pope or a Bishop or Priest spits out a great one-liner and we want to give proper attribution.  But I don't think you should lead off with that. You can leave that for followup.

You don't need to quote the Magisterium.  You are talking to someone who doesn't accept the authority of the Pope and who treats the Popes and Bishops as nothing other than pundits or experts they may see on a TV talk show.  Furthermore, they may actually be opposed to the idea of the Pope. Or they may have heard something negative about a specific Pope (Benedict was a Nazi or Francis is a Socialist).  Consider the situation is someone said "Barack Obama said that all Americans should honor the sacrifice of our veterans", but you don't like Barack Obama.  You'll get all wrapped up about the various controversies surrounding our president and won't pay any attention to what is undeniably a bipartisan patriotic American sentiment.  So it's not necessarily going to do any good saying "Pope John Paul II said this" or "Pope Francis said that". You can just say "The Church teaches this or that".   If they want more details, you can point them to whatever document is relevant.

There's another trap in quoting a Pope.  You can inadvertently give the impression that the Pope is a king.  You can give the impression that Pope John Paul II legislated some teaching on life, or sexuality, or the priesthood and another Pope can come along and change them.  Similarly since Pope Francis is already known far and wide as a reformer, you can give the impression that whatever he says is his own agenda: an agenda that previous Popes didn't share and which a subsequent Pope can change.  Unless you read the National Catholic Reporter, you should know that that's not how things work.  And regardless, you shouldn't encourage that idea in non Catholics.

It won't help to quote Vatican II.  I once had a brother-in-law from Ohio visit me in Dallas and he was shocked that the Cincinnati Reds weren't on TV.  Where he lived, the Reds were on TV all the time, so he assumed there was a TV channel in Dallas that would also show their games.  It was cute and exasperating at the same time.  Similarly, as a Catholic, you may assume that everyone has heard of Vatican II.  If you're like some people I know, you probably celebrate The Annunciation on January 25, the date John XXIII announced Vatican II (and that's really when salvation was assured, or so I've heard every day for the last 20 years).  But non Catholics don't know what a "Vatican II" is.  When you say "Vatican II" they may think "I thought there was only one Vatican?" or if they understand that this is the 2nd in a series, they'll approach it was a movie: when was Vatican I and is Vatican III being planned, and if James Cameron is going to direct it.  Again, instead of going on about what "Dei Verbum" and "Lumen Gentium" says, just say "The Church teaches that ...."  It's true, after all.  Again, if someone wants more detail you can point them to the documents, or (better) a more accessible summary of the documents.

I hope to post some more tips in the future.