By Tracy Simmons | FāVS News Reporter
A nationally-known Catholic apologist and the founder of Moscow’s Christ Church are set to debate one of Christianity’s most foundational divisions next month at the University of Idaho.
Joe Heschmeyer, author and host of the “Shameless Popery” podcast, will face off against Doug Wilson on March 26 at the Vandal Catholic Club’s annual Great Debate at the Idaho Central Credit Union Arena in Moscow, according to the University of Idaho’s student newspaper, The Argonaut. The debate begins at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 4 p.m.
This year’s debate centers on Sola Scriptura — the Protestant doctrine, born from the Reformation of the 1500s, that holds the Bible as the sole infallible authority on Christian faith and practice. Catholics hold that the church is necessary to properly interpret Scripture, a divide that has separated the two branches of Christianity for centuries.
Eric Meyer, an organizer and deacon at St. Augustine’s Catholic Center on the UI campus, expects as many as 2,000 attendees, he told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Meyer described the annual event as a “respectful, charitable and intellectually engaging conversation between Catholics and Protestants, centered on shared faith in Christ.”
Wilson, a self-described Christian nationalist, has drawn national attention in recent months, including leading a Pentagon prayer meeting at the invitation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Daily News reported. He has also drawn controversy for opposing women’s suffrage and for writing that many enslaved people in the American South had positive relationships with their enslavers. Christ Church recently opened a new parish in Washington, D.C.
Heschmeyer works for Catholic Answers, a media ministry focused on Catholic education and countering misinformation, and has written extensively on Catholicism and Christianity, according to The Argonaut.
The evening will open at 6 p.m. with a talk by Dr. Currie Myers, a former law enforcement officer and professor of criminology at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Mass begins at 4:30 p.m., and concessions open at 5 p.m.
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