Priest's goal is to help Catholics 'know your faith'

	FAITH PRESENTATION: Fr. John Girotti addresses Catholics during a "Know Your Faith" presentation at St. Bernard Church in Green Bay Jan. 8. Two more presentations are scheduled this winter: Feb. 5 in Oshkosh and March 19 in Laona. (Sam Lucero photo)

Editor's note: Fr. John Girotti, pastor of parishes in Tigerton, Marion, Wittenberg and Leopolis, has been offering presentations on Catholic beliefs since 2002. The presentations, called "Know Your Faith," serve to help Catholics respond to questions people - particularly evangelical Christians - have about the faith. Through funding from the Bishop's Appeal, Fr. Girotti is offering his presentation at parishes around the diocese this year. His most recent stop was at St. Bernard Church in Green Bay Jan. 8, where he met with The Compass to discuss the success of Know Your Faith.

Q Tell me a little bit about the Know Your Faith series; how it started, when and why.

A When I was in college (at Lawrence University in Appleton), it was the first time that I had been challenged because of my Catholic faith. I had gone to Catholic grade school and Catholic high school. You get the impression that everybody in the world is Catholic, and then suddenly you go to college and you have people disagreeing with you. That hurt. I knew what I believed, but I didn't know how to explain it to those who were saying I was wrong. I was so upset by that I just decided to start studying ... what we believe as Roman Catholics. I learned so much that I just fell in love with the church and fell in love with theology. The more I studied, the more I thought about the priesthood.

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