Project Dominic:
Upholding Catholic teachings in the spirit of charity

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

The call to the New Evangelization by Pope John Paul II is not meant just for priests and theologians, but also for everyday Catholics who make up the mystical body of Christ. Members of Project Dominic, ranging from seminarians to engineers to graduate students and even a police officer, have taken this call to ‘put out into the deep’ seriously.

It is for this reason that Project Dominic has recently published a book called “The Bible versus the Catechism: A controversy”, which is a response to a Reformed Baptist’s theological dissertation claiming the Catholic Catechism is in opposition to Scriptures.

Less than a year ago Dr. Noé Acosta — a Reformed Baptist Church seminary instructor and missionary — led a presentation on the “Errors of Catholic Doctrine” in front of 35 people, including several Catholics. It was there in a Philadelphia Pizza shop, that the idea for Project Dominic was formed. Dr. Acosta, a former Catholic, handed out his dissertation as an evangelization tool, which was filled with misinterpretation and misrepresentation of Church teachings according to Project Dominic members.

“I don’t have a degree in theology but I could tell the errors he was preaching about the Faith,” said 33-year-old Michael Rafferty, Philadelphia Police Officer, boxer and contributor to the book. “It’s such a shame when you break away from the Truth because you become open to so many distortions.”

In his dissertation, Dr. Acosta claims, among other things, that the Catholic Church eradicated the second commandment in order to justify her practice of making graven images and as a result leading many people into idolatry.

It was claims like these that brought together a diverse group of people with nothing more in common than the love of their Catholic Faith and a desire to, in the spirit of charity, help clarify what the Church really teaches.

“I first heard about the dissertation from a Presbyterian friend who wanted me to read it while I was thinking about becoming Catholic,” said recent protestant convert David Chang, a graduate student at University of Pennsylvania and contributor to the book. “I have seen from the other side how Acosta has given this dissertation out and Protestants take it as a solid and scholarly work, so it was necessary to respond with the Truth.”

To respond, Project Dominic was formed taking its name from St. Dominic because of his charity. Driven by charity, St. Dominic’s personal attention and all night conversation with an Albigensian innkeeper eventually lead to the innkeepers return to the Catholic Church.

Likewise, charity and the love of Christ and His Church is what drives this group of largely young adult Catholics.

“Our hope for the book is that it will encourage others because it is written from our bookstore knowledge of the Catholic faith,” said Tom Kraemer, a Marine Engineer, husband and father of two. “You don’t need a doctorate or a master to defend the Faith.”

In fact, members of Project Dominic believe it was their openness to the Holy Spirit that gave life to this project.

“This was such a grassroots thing, it’s amazing how the project took off,” continued Kraemer. “ The Holy Spirit had to be a part of it, otherwise there’s no way it could have come together like this. Where ever you are in the world, the Holy Father calls us to the New Evangelization. If this isn’t that, I don’t know what is!”

For Officer Rafferty, and other members, participating in the project was eye opening to the great divide in the Christian community.

“The greatest scandal is the division between Christians. In John 17 Jesus prays for our unity and he prays that we remain in the Truth. Christ wants union and the devil wants division. How can we convert the world if we are divided? It’s important to carry on dialogue between our separated brothers and sisters.”

Project Dominic does not seek to have the last word but the next word in what they hope is a continuos conversation like St. Dominic had with the innkeeper.
The Project Dominic members’ hope for this book is summed up in Officer Rafferty’s comment:

“I pray that someone will be touched, but again it won’t be my writing but how God uses it. I was touched too because contributing to this has helped me grow in my faith.”/

To purchase Project Dominic’s first book “The Bible versus the Catechism: A controversy, learn more about Project Dominic or to become a contributor visit projectdominic.org

Contact Nadia Pozo at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.

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