The Liturgical Institute

Today marked the first day of classes for the Summer 2006 session of the Liturgical Institute at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake.

It feels very good to be back on campus, to the place I lived and studied in for five years. I have memories of seminary life here, some unhappy, but most quite joyous and good.

I began the day with an early morning swim since I woke up at 5:00. When I was seminarian I began every day and ended every day with a swim. I feels great to be able to this again. If you can, I highly recommend it!

Thus far, I have been in two of my three class: History of Christian Thought IV and Marriage and Orders, taught by Fr. Robert Barron and Fr. C. Eugene Morris, respectively. Both are excellent instructors and I beleive both classes will be quite interesting and exciting.

I must be off shortly for Latin I; I hope all is well!

The objectives for the classes are as follows:

History of Christian Thought IV: This course is an exploration of the Christian theology that emerged in the West during the revolutionary sixteenth century. Because of the protest raised by Martin luter and his fellow reformers, Christians on both sides of hte Protestant-Catholic divide were compelled to wrestle with basic questions in the areas of theological anthropology, Christology, sacramental theology, and ecclesiology. We shall follow some of these debates by studying key texts of Martin Luter and John Calvin, as well as the official Catholic response to the Reformation as detailed in the decretals of the Council of Trent. Our study will close with an examination of the densely complex arguments concerning the relationship between divine grace and human freedom that preoccupied Catholic theologians at the close of the sixteenth century.

Marriage and Orders: The sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Orders are examined. The course will provide an overview of hte historical development of these two sacraments as well as discuss the complementarity of these sacraments as it is articulated in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. There will be an examination of their current theological understanding along with attention given to the current rituals. Specific attention is given to the following topics: the sacramentality of marriage; the theology of the body; the relationship between marriage and celibacy; the relationship between ordained ministry and the lay apostolate; an understanding of hierarchy and the relationship between the three degrees of Holy Orders; the nature of the Eucharist as sacrifice and as foundational necessity in both sacraments.