Faith & Intellect

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Faith &

INTELLECT

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CREDO

BY SR. KATHY SCHNEIDER, ODN

This academic year, the Catholic Center, in partnership with the Nova Forum Institute at USC offered a twelve-part series on Catholicism known as Credo: Exploring the Catholic Faith. Its objective is to offer a basic catequesis of the faith for our students at the Center, but at a level that they would be accustomed to in their classes. The program addresses a need we have found that many students need a stronger foundation in Catholic teaching in the areas of theology, anthropology and ethics. While Credo does not seek to answer every question, we seek to provide students with the tools to pursue a faith that seeks understanding; to grow in their desire and enthusiasm to delve more deeply into the richness of the Catholic Church and all that it offers.

Dr. Matthew Thomas from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology opened the series with an excellent talk on the Catholic approach to the Bible. He explored how Catholics understand the truths contained within and that we are to employ our moral reasoning when reading its pages. Lastly, he showed how God's very presence, as in the Eucharist, is contained in His word throughout scripture. To illustrate this, Prof. Thomas quoted St. Jerome, "And when he says: whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my blood (Jn 6:53), even though these words can also be understood of the [Eucharistic] Mystery, Christ’s body and blood are really the word of Scripture, God’s teaching."

Fr. Timothy Peters, a professor at St. John's Seminary, joined the Catholic Center for the second presentation that focused on Christology. Fr. Tim explored three themes: the mission of Jesus, the Paschal mystery and Jesus' resurrection. He showed how the New Testament needed to be taken in its totality in order to better answer the question: Who do you say that I am? Fr. Tim reminded us that all of scripture is written with the goal of furthering our salvation.

We delved deeper into the teachings of the faith through topics ranging from the Eucharistic mystery, the role of tradition, the dignity of the human person, and Mary, Mother of the Church. The series ended with a presentation that challenged listeners to take the next step as Catholic Christians called to holiness and mission.