PRESIDENT-RECTOR MASS AND BRUNCH

From Religious Questions to Catholic Answers: Trent Horn’s Conversion Story

Sep 5, 2024 | Alumni, News

The recent National Eucharistic Congress, held in Indianapolis in July, drew more than 50,000 attendees and featured alumni speakers from Holy Apostles College & Seminary, including well-known Catholic apologist Trent Horn.

Trent serves as a staff apologist for the popular media ministry Catholic Answers. He specializes in “teaching Catholics to graciously and persuasively engage those who disagree with them.” He also hosts his podcast, The Counsel of Trent.

At the National Eucharistic Congress, Trent spoke on one of his favorite subjects—the Eucharist—and provided arguments against attacks on the Eucharist, disproving claims that it is merely symbolic.

In his presentation, Trent also demonstrated that only the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist can explain why the sacrifice of the Mass is a fitting offering for God, as it truly is God the Son being presented to the Father as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Trent earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Holy Apostles in 2018 and served as an adjunct professor at the college. He has authored or co-authored over a dozen books, including The Case for Catholicism, Persuasive Pro-life, and Why We’re Catholic: Our Reasons for Faith, Hope, and Love.

“My time at Holy Apostles gave me access to abundant resources that I still use in my podcasts and books to defend the Catholic faith. It also helped me understand new and exciting areas of thought in various fields of Catholic philosophy. Both philosophy and critical thinking are crucial to my defense of the faith, so I wanted to grow in that field and become a better apologist. I chose Holy Apostles because of its fidelity to Church teaching and the college’s flexible format, which served someone like me who is married and works full-time,” said Trent.

According to Catholic speaker, author, and alumnus Matt Fradd ’15, MA ’18, “Trent Horn is a gifted Catholic apologist as well as a compelling speaker. He presents Catholicism in an intelligent, careful, and winsome manner, providing his listeners with a model of how an ambassador of the Church ought to offer an account of our faith in public.”

Trent is a convert to Catholicism. His father was Jewish, and his mother a Protestant (formerly Catholic). He was not religious in his youth but was also not an atheist having more questions than answers at the time.

During his sophomore year of high school, he attended an outing hosted by a Catholic youth group and was later invited to the Holy Mass. This began a deeper dive into the Christian faith and his study of religion. Trent eventually realized that the Catholic faith “really is biblical,” and entered the Church at age 17.

Later, he served in the high school youth group, evangelized on various college campuses, gave talks at pro-life events and parishes, and worked for the Diocese of Phoenix. All of this prepared him for his 2012 position at Catholic Answers.

“Holy Apostles’ commitment to affordability, faithfulness, and flexibility has allowed us to form effective evangelists like Trent Horn in all walks of life. I highly recommend reading his books, especially Why We’re Catholic: Our Reasons for Faith, Hope, and Love,” said President-Rector Fr. Peter Kucer.

Holy Apostles College and Seminary holyapostles.edu is a NECHE and ATS accredited college with a mission of preparing and educating seminarians, consecrated and lay students for the New Evangelization through undergraduate and graduate programs. Students have access to faithfully Catholic, truly affordable, and fully online programs as well as residential religious programs in historic Cromwell, Connecticut. As a pioneer in online learning, Holy Apostles is one of the first theological schools to offer 100% online graduate programs. Alumni and faculty of the institution include internationally recognized leaders and experts in apologetics, philosophy, and theology.