Welcome to "For Catholic Grownups"

Welcome to “For Catholic Grownups”!

This blog is an attempt to provide interesting and worthwhile Catholic Adult Education materials, either texts or podcasts I have produced myself, or links to other good resources.

I am doing this for several reasons. One is to act as a means of distributing to interested people recordings I have already made. Another is to advocate for Adult Catechesis within the Catholic Community, which I believe is sorely neglected in most parishes, despite the priority it is given in official Catholic documents on Catechesis.

The Catechetical Institute – A Catholic Understanding of Scripture – Session 6

With apologies to those who attended this course. I do not have all the recordings in sequence, but I do have a special request for Session 6, so here it is!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

The Catechetical Institute – A Catholic Understanding of Scripture: Bible Basics – Session 1

St. Thomas More Catholic Community presented the Catechetical Institute course “A Catholic Understanding of Scripture: Bible Basics” between January and March 2013. Here are the notes, handouts and recordings of that course. The basic text was The Bible Blueprint by Joe Paprocki, from Loyola Press, supplemented by various items from Catholic Update and Scripture from Scratch. Here is a description of the course [CatholicScriptureBibleBasics_Outline] from the Catechetical Institute of the Diocese of Raleigh.

Session 1 -Overview/Understanding what the Bible is: Where Did We Get Our Bible?

Recorded January 3 2013, based upon The Bible Blueprint chapters 1, 2, 3.

In this session we took an initial look at the Bible, regarding it as a Library of books from different authors, times, places and languages, rather than a single book.  We discovered the major sections of the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, and some initial sense of the relationship between Scripture and Tradition.

One basic text for the Interpretation of the Bible for Catholics is Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation from Vatican II. It is a must-read!

CI Bible 1A

CI Bible 1B

CI Bible 1C

CI Bible 1D

Isaiah 1-12

Recorded November 13th 2012.

The prophet Isaiah is arguable the greatest of the prophets, and certainly both the longest and the best known. The book is divided into three parts, often called First, Second (or Deutero) and Third (or Trito) Isaiah. Only the first part is written by the historical Isaiah. The second and third parts are written by later disciples in his name.

• First Isaiah – chapters 1-39, deal with the situation before the Babylonian Exile
• Second Isaiah – chapters 40-55, deal with the situation during the Exile
• Third Isaiah –  chapters 56-66, deal with the situation of the people who have returned to Jerusalem after the Exile

Chapters 1-12 include oracles of indictment of Israel and Judah for their sinfulness and neglect, of idolatry and injustice. Isaiah is very critical of worship offered without honesty and righteousness. Chapter 6 includes Isaiah’s dramatic call, with a vision of the glory of God in the Temple in Jerusalem. All stories of prophets include such a call, and this one is particularly dramatic. Isaiah includes many messianic prophecies, and is drawn upon often by Jesus and the Gospel writers to convey how Jesus fulfills this role. For example, 9:4-6 is the Reading for Christmas Midnight Mass.

CBS Isaiah 1-12

 

 

Hosea

Recorded October 30th 2012.

Hosea prophesied in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the last years of King Jeroboam II, 786-746 BC. Central to his life and preaching was his unfortunate marriage to Gomer, who was unfaithful to him. He used his own experience as an image of God’s relationship to Israel:  Israel has also been unfaithful to her covenant with God, and yet God will always be faithful, and will woo her back from her infidelity with the idols of other nations, and of ruthless oppression of the poor.

This image of God’s relationship to his chosen people as a husband to a wife recurs elsewhere in Scripture, in the Song of Songs and also in the New Testament, most notably in Ephesians, where we find the language of “husbands love your wives as Christ loves the Church.”

CBS Hosea

The Prophet Amos

Recorded October 23rd 2012

Amos is notable as a prophet of social justice. He often criticizes the wealthy for their neglect of the poor, for example, “we will buy the lowly man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals.” Amos is full of threats of doom and destruction, which is ameliorated only in the last eight verses of the book, which expresses a messianic hope, thought be some commentators to be added by another author.

CBS Amos

Catechetical Institute – The Creed: The Faith Professed

St. Thomas More Catholic Community offered the Catechetical Institute course, “The Creed: The Faith Professed” between October and December 2012.  Here are notes, handouts and recordings of that course. Since it is now some time ago, I will put all sessions into one article rather than six separate articles.

The basic text for the course is the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, supplemented by the Catechism of the Catholic Church and various Catholic Updates.

Session 1 – What is the Catechism of the Catholic Church?

A brief introduction to what a Catechism is, and a history of various catechisms, and how the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the US Catholic Catechism for Adults came about.

Then a brief look at the four-fold structure of the Catechism, based upon:

1. The Creed
2. The Liturgy and the Sacraments
3. Life in Christ – The Ten Commandments
4. Christian Prayer – The Lord’s Prayer

Reading: USCCA chapters 1, 2, 3, 4

Recordings: CI Creed 1 A, CI Creed 1B

Session 2 – The Trinity – God as a Communion of Persons

God as Creator; Revelation of God as Trinity; The Missions of the Trinity

Reading: USCCA chapters 5, 9

Recordings: CI Creed 2A, CI Creed 2B

Session 3 – Jesus Christ

Why did the Word become flesh? The Incarnation; The Redemption; The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

Reading: USCCA chapters 7, 8

The Incarnation: Why God Wanted to Become Human

Jesus Christ: Why the Word Became Flesh

Recordings: CI Creed 3A, CI Creed 3B

Session 4 – The Church

The Church in God’s plan; The Four Marks of the Church: One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic; Who’s Who in the Church?

Reading: USCCA chapters 10, 11

Vocations: How is God Calling Me?

What Does it Mean to be Church?

Why Be Catholic?

Recordings: CI Creed 4A, CI Creed 4B

Session 5: Mary – Mother of God and Mother of the Church

Also: The Communion of Saints

Reading: USCCA chapter 12

Communion of Saints

In Search of the Real Mary

The Rosary of the Virgin Mary

Saints: Holy and Human

Recordings: CI Creed 5

Session 6: Our Eternal Destiny

The Meaning of Christian Death; The Last Judgement; Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, Final Resurrection

Reading: USCCA chapter 13

The ‘Last Things’: Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell

The Resurrection: How Do We Know It’s True?

We Believe in the Resurrection

Recordings: CI Creed 6

CBS: Jeremiah 7-20

Recorded December 11, 2012.

Jeremiah is one of the “classical prophets” who preached against abuses of worship, infidelity and injustice. he was very scathing of idolatry, worshiping inanimate objects rather than the living God (e.g 10:2-16). He threatened exile for the people and destruction of Jerusalem if they did not repent.

Jeremiah often used vivid visual images to get his, or rather God’s, message across. For example, in 18:1-12, he sees God as a potter, reshaping the clay if the object he is making has not turned out well. Jeremiah suffered much persecution for announcing God’s word, even asserting that God has “duped” him. However, he remains one of the most passionate of the prophets.

CBS Jeremiah 7-20

Here is the discussion of the same passage from the Denver Bible Study four years ago:

DBS – Jeremiah 7 to 19 – Part A

DBS – Jeremiah 7 to 19 – Part B

DBS – Jeremiah 7 to 19 – Part C

Catechists Workshop – The New Evangelization and the Year of Faith

On Saturday September 8th, the Faith Development Department at St. Thomas More Catholic Community presented our annual Catechists Workshop. We chose the theme of The Year of Faith, as declared in October 2011 by Pope Benedict, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Here is further information from the USCCB on the Year of Faith, and my address to the Catechists Workshop.

For Catholic Grownups – Normal Service Resumed

During the last several months I have had many technical difficulties, with several iPod and computer crashes, which meant that I have lost some recordings, and I have struggled to post those I have in a timely manner. I hope now I can catch up on the backlog. Therefore descriptions of the sessions may be briefer than I would like. I hope that all will be well from now on.

CBS: Revelation 15-22

Recorded June 5th, 2012

This section of the Book of Revelation begins with the list of the Seven Plagues. This again shows a similarity between Revelation and Exodus, as the plagues are much the same.

Rev 15: 3b-4 is a canticle of praise, beginning “Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God almighty.”  This is one of many examples of canticles (or songs) which are found in the Book of Revelation, and are often used in the Divine Office, and have been a source of inspiration for hymn writers for centuries.

Chapters 17 and 18 describe ‘Babylon the Great’ and its fall. Babylon symbolizes the Roman Empire, which persecuted the early Christians with as much venom as the Babylonian Empire of old persecuted the Jewish people. Once again, the early Christians find solace and meaning for their plight in the history of Israel.

Chapter 19 gives a vision of Jesus as a victorious warrior on horseback. The same symbolism was used by Tolkien in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ for Gandalf the wizard, after he had risen from the dead after fighting the demonic Balrog.

The book ends with joy and victory, a message of comfort and hope to the early, persecuted Christians. This last book of the Bible concludes with  an echo of the first book of the Bible: as Genesis spoke of the creation of heaven and earth, Revelation ends with a vision of a New Heaven and a New Earth.

CBS – Revelation 15-22