To: Clergy, DREs, bulletin editors, principals and campus ministers
From: Msgr. Edward J. Dillon, Chancellor, Holy Spirit College
Registration is currently underway for our 2020 fall classes. To register, please contact Kim Schulman at kschulman@holyspiritcollege.org. The following courses will be offered:
Catechist Certification Course – Online
Saturdays, September 12 – November 14
9 – 11 a.m. via Zoom
The Basic Catechist Course is intended to equip beginning catechists with sufficient background knowledge and skills to begin teaching elementary aged children. Topics of discussion include the spirituality of the catechist and overviews of scripture, Catholic morality, Church history and liturgy and the sacraments, among others. For details, please see the college website, www.holyspiritcollege.org. (Course fee: $100)
THEO 675: Catholic Bioethics – Online
Fr. Paul Burke, JCL
Mondays, August 31 – December 14
9:30 – 11:15 a.m. via Zoom
Bioethics, the application of moral reflection to the fields of medicine and biological scientific research, is a relatively new field of study. This course will examine some of the most urgent contemporary issues and debates within bioethics.
Given new medical and scientific technologies, how should we respond to human suffering, especially among the most vulnerable? How do we care for those at the beginning and end of their lives, given the intrinsic dignity of human persons? How do we reconcile apparent conflicts between promoting the common good and respecting individual autonomy? How are limited resources to be fairly and justly allocated? What are the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of allocation of resources, restrictions and moral obligations?
While the course will include a brief survey of the variety of ethical frameworks and theories used to answer such questions, it will focus on the Catholic moral tradition, particularly the tradition of natural law, virtue ethics and the implications of the concept of personhood.
(1.5 credit hours; $150 audit fee)
THEO 515: Fundamental Theology – Online
Dr. Matthew McWhorter
Tuesdays, September 1 – December 15
7 – 8:30 p.m. via Zoom
Sacred theology takes its starting point with Divine Revelation, God’s self-communication to the Hebrew Patriarchs, Prophets and the original Apostles, a historical event which culminates in the Person of Jesus Christ. This course will explore the event of Divine Revelation, consider the means whereby this Revelation is transmitted (Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium), examine how doctrine provides a symbol of this communication and develops over time, and investigate the 55 theological virtue of faith which is oriented toward God through the medium of his historical selfrevelation. The course will also treat the distinction between public and private revelation, inspiration and prophecy, the fides quae and the fides qua, as well as that between faith and works.
(1.5 credit hours; $150 audit fee)