Were our Hearts Not Burning? (Lk 24:32)
Fr. Paul Ward
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Deposit of Faith
General Introduction
Concept
God has revealed himself to man in two ways: by sacred scripture, and by sacred tradition. There are many courses out there which are Bible studies, many of them praiseworthy, not all of them Catholic unfortunately. Yet with all these courses that study sacred scripture, where are those that study sacred tradition?
There is a vacuum in the sphere of adult theological education, less so in the field of popular “Bible Studies.” How critical it is to study scripture side to side with tradition, for one can come to any conclusion just looking at the raw words of the holy writ. So many of the saints, including St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, insisted that scripture be read according to the “Rule of Faith,” which is essentially the creed, but in fact embraces the whole of Catholic teaching.
This course is a small attempt to offer adult theological education focusing on the other dimension of divine revelation, which is sacred tradition. Of course, being rooted in the word of God means we will continually be using the Bible nonetheless.
However, we will be using many other texts, essential and basic ones for our faith, which the Magisterium and the Saints have handed down to us, such as the documents of the Ecumenical councils, including but not restricting ourselves to Vatican II. Other such texts include St. Augustine’s City of God and On the Trinity, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae, St. John of the Cross’ writings, Garrigou Lagrange’s The Three Stages of the Interior Life, and so forth. Not to mention a plethora of Encyclicals, Apostolic Exhortations and Letters, proclamations from the Roman Congregations and Curia, and so forth.
This is a humble attempt to get something more serious into the hands of adults. It is unacceptable that we don’t have serious Catechesis for adult Catholics in this day and age. My only hope is to get the ball rolling, to cast a stone with the intention of causing an avalanche. May others who are more skilled pool their brilliance and specialties to offer something to lay Catholic adults, something true and faithful to the Church, something full of loyalty to Rome, something enthusiastic and clear, something informative and motivational to aid all who love God and his Church in truth.
Thus in all these things, may God be more widely loved, more perfectly served, more peacefully enjoyed, more sacrificially followed, more deeply hoped for, and more faithfully believed.
Method
The whole spectrum of theology will be divided up into 43 units according to the general outline. The divisions made on this general outline do not represent a hypothesis upon the nature of theology, but simply follow contemporary precedent regarding the sequence of subjects.
Eventually each unit could be a year of work, with monthly sessions of one to two hours of class, questions and answers and mutual exchange. But until this course is more fully developed, each unit will represent a month’s work.
A certain amount of variety will act as a guiding principle to determine the sequence of the unit topics, thus allowing the participants to be refreshed by attending to various headings, and not fall into a long sequence of just dogmatic units, or a long sequence of just scriptural or sacramental units. This will further enhance the participants’ unitary vision of the faith, and allow them to attain the “nexus of mysteries,” seeing the simplicity of the faith and how the various unit topics are interrelated.
Each unit will be divided into chapters, which will follow a general pattern for all the units individually:
What are the essential questions at hand, and other questions related accidentally?
How does this unit fit into the context of the whole of Catholic Theology? After all, most heresies result from an exaggeration of one theological or philosophical principle to the great detriment of the rest, demonstrating the importance of keeping all things in context.
Definitions of those terms which are most important for the topic at hand.
The main discussion, which takes the form of a discourse or lecture.
Apologetic approach to contend with the problems Catholicism is confronted with contemporary society and certain philosophical stances.
Select bibliography for suggested reading.
Homework, which normally will take the form of suggested passages for reading, thought, prayer and conversation. The homework is preparatory to the discussion, not consequential to it.
The following terminology will be used, which I intend to clarify for organizational purposes:
Deposit of Faith Series is the name of the entire program.
Treatise Group refers to those units that enjoy a certain homogeneity of content.
Unit names the individual block of material dealt with applying the aforementioned method of question, context, definition, lecture, apologetics, bibliography and homework. Some units, complimentary to the base 43, will be called “excursus,” see below.
Chapter indicates each step of this method: question, context, etc.
Session refers to the monthly meetings.
Besides the 43 themes, occasionally an extra theme will be developed and put at the disposition of the adult students. For example, a unit on discerning one’s vocation in life, or specific issues of cultural or historical importance. They may or may not be developed for the regular participants of the sessions, for example, one topic may be prepared for delivery with university students and then made available to the regular parish session attendees. These will be called “Excursus,” a term identical in the singular and plural.
The most adequate age group would be, estimating 14 years and older. Some teens might have difficulty with the material, but some will enjoy it with great relish, and we should not deprive our teens, children of the Church, from the nourishment which Catholic Doctrine is.