David Battistella Interviews Fr. Lawrence Carney III on The Catholic Controversy by St. Francis de Sales - Parts I and II

The Catholic Controversy. It’s a phrase that seems as old as the Bible and as modern as present day. The Catholic faith has never been short of controversy and over the centuries it has endured challenge after challenge from both outside and from within. One such controversy was when 72,000 Calvinists in Chamblais had separated themselves from the Roman Church. Their reasons were seemingly many, valid and justified, until a young future Saint, Francis de Sales, volunteered to re-evangelize the Calvinists. He was met with discord, made his home a fortress and was forbidden to preach. So he began to write in defense of the faith and slipped these notes under the doors of the good people of Chamblais, that they may reconsider their choice and come back into the faith. His arguments are incredibly detailed, laden with scriptural reference, humble, strong, tough, loving, raw and honest about what being Catholic means. Being Catholic is far from attaining perfection but rather instead falling constantly while striving for it. The text could have been written last week as nearly every argument presented in 1594 is relevant and true for our age.