EDUCATION OF EVANGELISTS

• Training the next generation of Catholic evangelists through a specially designed program of studies to equip them for the urgent task of establishing a civilization of justice, peace, and love.
  
  Commenting on the growing secularity of Western culture, Church historian Christopher Dawson once said that "if the gap between the Church and secular culture becomes so wide that there is no longer any means of communication or possibility of mutual understanding between them, then there is a danger that the reaction to the Church may be one of repulsion rather than attraction. And so it is not enough for Catholics to maintain a high standard of religious practice within the Catholic community, it is also necessary for them to build a bridge of understanding out into secular culture and to act as interpreters of the Christian faith to the world outside the Church. This work is not limited to direct missionary activity and religious propaganda in the formal sense. It is the business of every Catholic and especially of every educated Catholic."
  
  The pressing need today is for educated, spiritually mature Catholics who can enter into intelligent dialogue with their contemporaries, respecting them, but at the same time clearly presenting God's plan for human happiness, justice and peace. Modern apostles must reach out to individuals where they are, with their particular worries and questions, doubts and fears. Then it becomes possible to help them find the moral and spiritual lights they need to live the fullness of life here and hereafter. Paying close attention to the cultural milieu so as to enter into the hearts of those with whom they dialogue, informed believers are able to present the answer to the question of human life, who is Jesus Christ.
  
  The Collegium Center for Faith and Culture offers a two year integrated plan of study and spiritual formation to prepare the laity to take up this task in the next generation. The Collegium's training program is not so much an encyclopedic indoctrination in Christian dogma as the imparting of an organic, integrated appreciation of the Catholic faith and the interior and intellectual framework from which to understand and articulate the Christian way of life and its absolute relevance for every person and society in every age.
  
  The broad overview of the program is shown below:

  1. The foundations of the Christian way of life.

  2. An historical study of the confrontation of Christianity - the Church and the Gospel - with non-Christian secular or pagan environments throughout the ages.

  3. An appreciation of the Christian philosophy, art, music, society and institutions that emerged from these encounters.

  4. The skill to apply this dynamic to meet the present age of indifference and unbelief on its own cultural terms, with particular attention to the situation in the United States.

  The program will be presented by several qualified teachers, and will include a variety of methods including lectures, directed readings, case studies, seminars, personal mentoring, liturgical celebrations and direction in the spiritual life. The Collegium will offer continuous and ongoing support, fraternity and updating to those who have completed the program.