Updated: 8/11/2011
In this course we examine the Catholic Church from its beginnings in the Word of Jesus Christ to the present day. In doing so we pay special attention to Scripture, the teachings of the Church Fathers, the documnents of Vatican II, and the theological writings of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Avery Cardinal Dulles, Romano Guardini, and others.

If you have any questions, or if you have problems accessing any of the documents or websites included here, please let me know. Email: deacondana@comcast.net

PowerPoint. I will place the PowerPoint slides on the web as we cover them. These are links to the website where the presentation is stored.

Part 1: Founded by Jesus Christ

Part II: The Early Church

Part III: One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic

Part IV: Models of the Church

Documents. The following are some the documents course participants might want to read. They are all in PDF format. I will add new handouts as I prepare them. Click on the handout to download it.

Recommended Reading

The Didache

The Petrine Sea (Fr. Roger Landry)

Love His Church (Dcn Keith Fournier)

Hierarchical Structure (Early Church Fathers)

Church as Communion (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)

Links. Here are some links to useful websites containing material relating to the course.

Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church). This key Vatcian II document is the central document of the Second Vatcian Council. For a PDF version you can download, click here.

Models of the Church. This site has a brief synopsis of Cardinal Dulles' Models of the Church.

Ecclesiology of Vatican II -- by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Beneidct XVI) -- a lecture delivered on 9/15/2001.