Hillsdale Catholic Society will host author Joe Heschmeyer to deliver a talk in Plaster Auditorium on “The Faith of the Early Church before Constantine” March 26 at 7 p.m.
A soiree at the Phi Sig Pavilion, with food, drinks, and live music by senior Greg Whalen from 8:30-10:00 p.m will follow the talk, which was coordinated by the Hillsdale College Catholic Society.
Event organizer sophomore Luke Hill said the talk will “specifically address whether the early Christian church held the same or similar beliefs as the modern Catholic Church today.”
Hill said he is excited to meet Heschmeyer, noting that “Shameless Popery,” Heschmeyer’s combination blog and podcast, had helped him greatly in his own journey to Catholicism.
Prior to launching “Shameless Popery” and assuming his current role as a scholar with Catholic Answers, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering the Catholic faith in the 21st century, Heschmeyer was a high school and college debater, a seminarian, and a litigation attorney. According to Heschmeyer’s profile on Catholic Answers, after studying history as an undergraduate at Washburn University, he went on to obtain degrees in philosophy from Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, theology from the Pontifical Angelicum in Rome, and a J.D. at Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C.
Catholic Society secretary and sophomore Lizzie Putlock said the purpose of the talk isn’t merely polemical.
“He’s a Catholic apologist and is very skilled in debating,” Putlock said. “But our purpose in bringing him here is not to stir up division, but rather to present the opportunity to both Catholics and Protestants to understand the roots of their faith through hearing about the way that early Christians lived, how they worshiped, and what they believed.”
Putlock said topics such as the divinity of Christ, the Eucharist, Marian beliefs, and the structure of the Church would be touched on in the presentation, with the opportunity to meet Heschmeyer and engage further on these topics at the soiree afterward.
Sophomore Logan McVay said he is looking forward in particular to hearing Heschmeyer speak about the example of the saints and martyrs of the early Church.
“This period in time is when the church grew the fastest and the strongest,” McVay said. “I think that’s because there’s something in the human heart which longs for love, God, and the redemptive. This is part of the salvation story of Christ, and when you’re able to witness to that, you might suffer as a result, but death isn’t the end. That’s what gave so many of the early Christians their special courage. In our day, we need to remember — it is possible for the whole world to be wrong, and one man to be right — and I think that the early Christians witness well to that for us.”
