Teenage author and apologist, Catherine Stewart took the time to tell us at I&F a little bit about her recently published book How To Become A Heroic Catholic (2014). Here she explains her inspiration for writing it, and gives us a few insights to the lessons she learned along the way.
I&F: Can you give a short introduction to you?
Stewart: Sure! My name is Catherine Michelle Stewart, I’m a 17 year old homeschooled highschool senior. I’m an apologist, pro-life advocate, actress, and became a published author last October.
I&F: How was your book published and what’s it about?
Stewart: My book was published through Rivershore Books. I decided to go with them because it was the best fit for what I needed. The book is called How to Become a Heroic Catholic, and it is a guide to the beliefs, teachings of, and defenses for Catholicism – examining the faith from both a biblical and historical perspective, using frequent examples from the Bible, the Catechism, and Church Fathers.
I&F: What’s your experience in Catholic apologetics?
Stewart: My experience in Catholic Apologetics…well, while I was taught Religion both through my Church Parish and through the courses my mom assigned as school work – neither prepared me to answer questions about my Faith. I learned almost everything I know about Catholic apologetics from reading books by people like Scott Hahn, Brant Pitre, Trent Horn, and Jimmy Akin. And I also learned a lot through online research via Catholic.Com and the like. My mom also helped me learn a lot, she had answers to many of the questiosn I was being asked about my faith.
You see – I got involved in Catholic Apologetics about 2 years ago, when an online friend began asking me about Catholicism (she’s a Protestant herself) and I couldn’t answer the basic questions she was asking. (Why the Pope? Why do we honor Mary? etc.) I had to start doing a lot of research on my own to answer her questions and that is where my experience comes from I suppose.
I&F: Do you plan to continue writing Catholic apologetics? Are there other ideas you have, or are working on already, for more books?
Stewart: I do! Heroic Catholic is aimed at highschool and college age people, I’d love to one day write a Jr. version of it for Middleschoolers, to help them develop a love for and understanding of their Faith at an earlier age.
My current WIP however, is a pro-life apologetics book written in the same vein as Heroic Catholic. Pro-life issues are so very prominent these days and many teenagers and young adults struggle to find their voice in it all – I hope to reach out to them with my years of experience and teach them the basics, like why to be pro-life, how to argue the pro-life view without being arrogant or annoying or just plain mean, the facts they need to know, etc. I’m about halfway through with the rough draft of that book, I hope to be done with it soon. But we shall see.
I&F: Has writing about the Catholic faith helped you to learn more about it yourself? Are there other important lessons you’ve learned from writing?
Stewart: Writing the book definitely helped me to learn more about my Faith myself. It has made me realize that I have only scratched the surface on everything there is to learn about Catholicism. There is so much more to learn, and I love that. My faith runs incredibly deep. It is always growing and becoming stronger. God has truly opened my eyes to the wonder and beauty of Catholicism and now there is really no separating my faith from the rest of my life – everything I do is centered around my faith. It’s who I am completely.
I’ve also learned a lot about patience. And dealing with constructive criticism. That was a hard lesson to learn but one that I needed. As well as perseverance and not giving up just because it’s not going as smoothly as I planned.
I&F: Do you have any advice you’d give to other new writers? Things you wish you’d known a little sooner maybe, or that helped you to persevere?
Stewart: Advice for new writers…
I’d say, Don’t give up. Realize that the rough draft will be the easiest part of the entire process – and enjoy it. The editing process, as long, heartbreaking, and endless as it seems is worth it. When I got my proof copy in the mail it was amazing. I was holding a physical copy of my own book. That made everything worth it completely. There is nothing like that feeling, the well deserved pride at knowing you did something that many will never do. You persevered and made it to the light at the end of the tunnel. Writing is epic. I love it, and I encourage all writers to nurture the love they have for it. Don’t worry about getting it perfect. You never will. Have fun, enjoy the processes, and learn. Good luck.
I&F: Some of the authors you mentioned before probably fall into this category, but could you tell us some of your favorite authors and people who inspire you?
Stewart: I have two different categories for my favorite authors: Fiction and Non-Fiction.
My favorite fiction authors would be people like Regina Doman, Christian Frank, J.K. Rowling. They write stories that I can engage in, and with Regina and Christian, stories I can relate to on a very personal level. I love that. It’s great.
Non-Fiction authors . . . Scott Hahn, Brant Pitre, Jimmy Akin, Trent Horn. They’re all incredible. The amount of knowledge and talent they have is amazing. Scott and Jimmy both converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, and reading their conversion stories is inspiring. I learn so much by reading about what made them choose Catholicism, what made them realize it was Truth, and it’s just great. Jimmy Akin and Trent Horn have emailed me several times, Jimmy even wrote me the review that’s on the back of my book – they are truly interested in helping out a teenage girl with her dreams and that’s awesome. Trent has offered to give me help and answer questions I have, I can email him at any time about what to do when I get nervous giving talks, and I love that. They’re not just famous people who write books – they’re all, Jimmy, Trent, Scott, Brant, interested in helping everyone realize what Truth is and reaching out to the individual. It inspires me so much. I want to be like that. And I pray that I will.
I&F: Speaking of wanting to be like that, what are your long term writing goals? Do you have a place you see yourself as a writer and Catholic apologist in the next 5-10 years?
Stewart: I see myself doing what I do now, only on a possibly bigger scale. I want to keep writing. In the next 5-10 years I plan to publish at least 2 more books, making Catholic Apologetics something anyone can learn. We can’t share our faith if we don’t first understand it ourselves – that’s a lesson I learned the hard way. And we all share a universal calling to spread Christ’s Word. I see myself talking to teenagers, college kids, helping them realize how God is calling them and what He wants them to be. Bringing others to Christ and doing the work God has laid out for me – that is what I see myself doing. God has been guiding me my whole life and all I have to do is be willing to say “yes” and do as He asks. He makes it all happen. I’m actually quite terrified of getting up in front of people and talking, yet God has given me the strength to do so. If I knew when I began writing Heroic Catholic that I would be giving talks on it to large groups, it never would have made it past the rough draft.
God is good. He shows me one step at a time and I follow. I plan to continue following the path He has laid for me and trusting in Him.
Catherine’s book is available on Amazon and at Rivershorebooks.com. You can find further information at HowToBecomeAHeroicCatholic.com and can email Catherine at [email protected] or look her up on Facebook by searching How to Become a Heroic Catholic.