Educational Classes

Do you want to gain better knowledge about our Catholic faith?

The Catechetical Institute is for any student who would like to learn more about the Catholic faith or would like to have a better understanding of the Bible. This program consists of a class held once a week designed to teach what we believe as Catholics, and how to live our faith as well as how to explain it to others. This is a great opportunity to learn how to develop a daily relationship with Christ through prayer. Faith is strengthened when it is given to others. If you are adventurous, please consider teaching the faith to kids, grade school through high school age. Many students in this program teach religious education to youth and young adults at the St. Lawrence Center and in the other Catholic churches in Lawrence.

• Learn more about our education scholarships

Topics we cover in Year 1 include:

• Introduction to the Bible
• Prayer
• Trinity
• Creation, the Fall, and the Problem of Evil and Suffering
• The Old Testament – God prepares for the Church
• Why does the Catholic Church have a Pope and bishops?
• The Beatitudes
• The Sermon on the Mount
• Redemption
• What is the Word of God and where is it found in its fullness
• The Church
• Mary
• The Rosary
• The Seven Sacraments
• Eucharist
• Mass
• Morality
• Sin
• Reconciliation
• Love, Contraception, etc.
• Saints
• 4 Last Things
• The Christian Vocation, Matrimony & Holy Orders (Vocations)
• And many, many more.

During each session we learn:

• Where these teachings are found in the Bible?
• What did the disciples of the Apostles and all the early Fathers teach about these topics?
• How do I live these teachings today?

Classes times are:

Creed I

Sunday - 7:00 pm Living Room

Sunday - 7:00 pm Conference Room

Sunday - 8:30 pm Living Room

Sunday - 8:30 pm Room 201

Wednesday - 7:00 pm Conference Room

Creed II

Sunday - 7:00 pm Room 101

Wednesday - 3:00 pm Room 101

Virtue

Sunday - 7:00 pm Library (Women)

Thursday - 5:15 pm Living Room (Women)

Thursday - 5:15 pm Conference Room (Men)

Doctrine

Sunday - 8:30 pm Room 101

Faith & Culture

Thursday - 5:15 pm Room 201

Salvation History

Sunday - 8:30 pm Conference Room

Wednesday - 3:00 pm Conference Room

Fall Semester Year 2: Virtue

The fall semester of Year 2 expresses the deeply evangelical character of Thomas Aquinas’ moral thought which finds expression in a virtue centered approach to moral theology. It consists of a weekly catechetical study of the Cardinal and Theological Virtues, as well as their allied virtues presented in contrast to the seven deadly sins. This approach gives the student a clear understanding of Catholic anthropology, as well as many necessary distinctions between such things as passions, virtues, values and vices. This course aims to help the student to identify areas of vice and practical steps for developing the corresponding virtues.

Spring Semester of Year 2: Theology of the Body

The Spring semester of year two consists in a weekly study of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. In this course we begin with the virtue of friendship, the basis of every relationship, be it with a friend, a future spouse or with God. Then, resting on this foundation, we introduce the Pope’s Theology of the Body which is then applied to several relevant topics: respect for human life, the vocation to chastity, the sacrament of holy orders, the vocation to celibacy, the sacrament of matrimony, the love of husband and wife, the family in God’s plan, the family and society, the family and the Kingdom, offenses against the dignity of marriage, contraception, reproductive technologies, homosexuality and others.

Fall Semester of Year 3: Course Title: Catholic Doctrine

Course Descriptions: This course seeks to explore the deeper dimensions of the Deposit of Faith. By reinvestigating the themes presented in the Creed, the student will achieve a deeper understanding of the mysteries of faith. Each student will gain profound insights into the interrelated & organic nature of doctrinal development, as well as doctrinal origins in the Trinitarian and Christological dogmas.

Spring Semester of Year 3: Course Title: Christian Prayer and Spirituality

Course Description: This course investigates the interior life of the Christian as taught by the great mystical Doctors of the Church (St. Theresa and St. John of the Cross) Each student will discover the nature of their spiritual growth so as to better imitate the lives of the saints. They will also discover the richness of the liturgical life of the Church (Liturgy of the Hours and the Liturgical Year) and how it meets the human need for structure and ritual in every day living.

Year 4

Salvation History and a Patristic Study of the Four Gospels

Sacred Scripture is the soul of all theological formation as it is the Word of God written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Year Two will consist of a weekly catechetical study of the Gospels to develop a profound familiarity with the person of Jesus Christ, his way of life, and his teachings. Catechesis has a Christo-centric purpose; the communion of the believer with Jesus Christ. This permeates all aspects of the formation of catechists. Sacred Scripture should be the very soul of this formation for it is in Sacred Scripture that we meet the person of Jesus Christ. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Catechesis should also be an authentic introduction to lectio divina, to a reading of the Sacred Scriptures done in accordance with the Spirit who dwells in the Church. This is an ecclesial reading of the Scriptures, done in the light of Tradition and the Magisterium.