Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Great Catholic Watering Hole: Institute of Catholic Culture

Thanks to reader, Neil, I am reminded about this website, and the institute to which it is connected.  It is in northern Virginia, so those who live in that area can attend many live conferences with reputable speakers.  But, there is information there accessible to anyone in the world in audio form from the lectures, so stick with me....

Here is the beginning of a review done by Dr. Jeff Mirus of Catholic Culture (which is not related to the institute as he points out):

I’ve been generally aware of the Institute of Catholic Culture for some time, and have heard from many quarters of the good work it does. I admit that my first reaction (call it the reaction of the natural man) was that somebody had stolen our name. Another part of me pointed out that one of the reasons we had chosen the name CatholicCulture.org for our web site in the first place was because nobody, not even the official institutional Church, has a monopoly on Catholic culture. Still, pouting does produce an exquisite sense of misunderstood righteousness.

Eventually I got around to doing what I should have done in the first place. I took a close look at the Institute’s program. This consists primarily of an ongoing lecture and seminar series capable of drawing hundreds to each session. The quality of this series is outstanding, and a good deal of it is available in audio files on the Institute’s web site for those who cannot attend in person—or for those who, quite rightly, do not wish to forget the message.

The Institute of Catholic Culture was founded by Sabatino Carnazzo, a Christendom College graduate who also earned a Masters degree in Systematic Theology at the College’s Notre Dame Graduate School. Now, as a founder of Christendom College who left to start Trinity Communications when Carnazzo was, well, about three years old, I take full credit for all of his achievements—and, by the way, for the achievements of any intelligent Catholic throughout the world who can spell “Christendom” properly. (This is even better than pouting.)

More seriously, Carnazzo’s Institute and our own Trinity Communications are cut, intellectually and spiritually, from the same cloth. Carnazzo’s dream began in 2006 as an educational outreach program of Saint John the Beloved Church in McLean, Virginia. Under his leadership and with the support of well-known pastor Rev. Franklyn McAfee, STD, the program began drawing so many people from beyond the parish boundaries that last year Carnazzo spun it off into a non-profit corporation with the current name. The Institute is fortunately located in an outstanding diocese (Arlington) and near the nation’s capital, and so has ready access to a large number of brilliant Catholic scholars and speakers, whether resident in the area or passing through. Here’s a very short list of past and future presenters and their topics, chosen almost at random:
Continue reading more details about the Institute for Catholic Culture in Dr. Mirus' interview.

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!