Tim Staples

Tim Staples is a Catholic author, apologist, and lecturer. He is the Director of Apologetics and Evangelization at Catholic Answers.

Personal life
Staples was raised a Southern Baptist and was later inspired by Christian televangelists.

Staples joined the Marine Corps as a young man and served a four-year tour of duty. During his time in the Corps, he became involved in ministry with the Assemblies of God. During his final year in the Corps, Staples was challenged by another Marine to study Catholicism from Catholic and historical sources. Following his military service, Staples enrolled in Jimmy Swaggart Bible College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the purpose, according to Staples, of proving Catholicism wrong.

Despite his purpose, Staples describes this time as leading to his conversion to Catholicism. Staples converted to Catholicism in 1988 and spent the next six years in seminary, preparing to enter the priesthood. During this time, Staples earned a degree in philosophy from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania, and studied theology at the post-graduate level at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Staples left seminary in 1994.

Staples' wife Valerie is a Director of Marketing with Pre‐Paid Legal Services and the Director of the Maria Goretti Girls, a Catholic teen group in the Diocese of San Diego.

Career
For over twenty-five years, Staples has served as a Catholic apologist, stating there is a "growing crucial need" for apologetics among Catholics.

Staples is currently serving as the Director of Apologetics and Evangelization at Catholic Answers. He is a regular guest on the Catholic Answers Live radio show. Staples speaks at dozens of Catholic conferences and events every year.

One of Staples' apologetics specialties is answering objections to the Catholic Church's teaching on the Virgin Mary. Staples published Behold Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines in 2014 in Twenty Answers: Mary in 2016.

Books

 * Nuts & Bolts: A Practical Guide for Explaining and Defending the Catholic Faith
 * Behold Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines