the lectures
Please note that not all titles are available on every course, and are subject to change.
Human and Personal Development
A Human Journey – A Spiritual Destination
What is being a Human all about? This course will explore the biological and psychological processes that shape who we are and the extraordinary potential for lifelong, developmental change that lies within them. Being human challenges us to develop in certain areas, in certain ways, particularly as we grow older. Achieving our human potential calls us to live our lives just as Christ.
Life’s Continuing Journey
An exploration into our continuing life’s journey: our humanity; our sexuality, and the different stage of our growth and development. Our exploration will be done through lectures and working sessions.
The Spirituality of True Self Esteem
Our attitude to ourselves is shaped and formed by our spirituality, and self-acceptance or self-rejection is the fruit of that spirituality. A healthy spirituality is vital for our personal happiness and well being. The spirituality of true self esteem is based on the Word of God and is our response to God’s life affirming word to us and within us, to have a high regard for ourselves and to live accordingly.
Stress Management
Everyone is subject to stress. This course focuses on stress and burnout that can affect the quality of life. We will pay attention to the signals our bodies give us, and we will look at the tools to help us develop a healthy lifestyle.
Guided Retreat
During the Course there will be the opportunity to stop and reflect more deeply on those areas of your life where the Lord is inviting you to open up to Him. It will be a five day, silent Retreat, directed for those who wish, with a daily reflection, Mass, and communal prayer times.
Living Pathways
Our faith can be easily divorced from our everyday life-experience and locked into a box called ‘sacred’. We will explore how to re-discover God in the minutes and days of our daily living. What does it mean to walk the pathways of our personal experience as companions of the Lord.; to fully embrace the call to discipleship? The course will introduce some practical tools and methods of prayer to help us to engage with the call to be Kingdom-builders in the actual circumstances of our lives, and through change or transition
Spirituality and Sexuality
This course explores some of the ways in which our sexuality is central to our lives as men and women open to the power of the Spirit. Using imaginary first-person stories to create a “safe space” for personally effective small group discussion, it also provides some input on patters of psychosexual development, as well as exploring problems that might be experienced
Scripture / Jesus Christ
God’s Suffering Messiah: An Introduction to the Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark is the second Gospel in the New Testament collection. It tells the story of Jesus from his baptism to the resurrection and concentrates on the last week of his life. It presents Jesus as a teacher, healer, miracle worker and uses titles such as Son of Man, Son of God and Christ. Mark so emphasizes the suffering of Jesus that the Gospel has been described as a passion narrative with a short introduction. This short course will examine Mark’s portrait and theology of Jesus, God’s Suffering Messiah.
Jesus’ Galilee: This mini-course will offer a presentation of the natural and archaeological features of the Galilee, with a view to understanding its impact on the life and ministry of Jesus.
Learning from Experience: An Introduction to Israel’s Later Writings
The first two sections of the Hebrew Bible Law and Prophets consist of God’s direct revelation to Israel. Its third section, the Writings, represent Israel’s efforts to understand God, based on human experience and the observation of everyday life. This short course will offer a brief survey of the Wisdom Literature of Ancient Israel, with some selected readings from the Books of Proverbs, Job, and Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes).
Love, Passion (and God) in the Song of Songs: This mini-course will offer an introduction to the love poetry of the Song of Songs exploring some of its key texts and theological insights.
The Beginning of the Gospels
Where does the Jesus Story Begin? Each of the evangelists celebrates a different beginning for the Jesus story and each sets that story in a different frame. We look at the different beginnings and the different frames as a key to opening the Gospels.
Christ – An Unfinished Portrait
This week examines traditional images and concepts of Christ, and invites us to look again at the way we understand Christ and his saving work. We look at what marked the ministry of Jesus as unique, particularly his stubborn offer of divine indiscriminate welcome to all, one which set him apart from other popular movements of his time.
The Beginning of the Public Ministry of Jesus
All four Gospels agree that Jesus begins his public ministry ‘after John’. We look at this key relationship; we reflect on the beginnings of discipleship; we look at what makes Jesus’ ministry differ from those around him: his table-fellowship.
The Death and Resurrection of Jesus
The earliest preaching of the Church focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus. This was their chosen beginning for the Jesus story. In all four Gospels the passion is the longest narrative about Jesus: we study this major story, attending also to the story of discipleship under stress.
Prophecy in Ancient Israel & its relevance in the 21st C
This course will examine the origin, nature and scope of classical biblical prophecy and its literature (8th -5th Centuries BCE). Selected texts from books of Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah will be studied among others. Each book will be presented in its historical context, along with an overview and theological perspectives. The course will conclude with an examination of prophetic social teaching under the title “YHWH’s care for the poor”
Discipleship / Gospel Living
Discipleship for Mission
Reflections on our Baptismal responsibility…exploring the Biblical foundations of Mission and Discipleship, looking at the Pastoral strategy of Jesus and the many faces of discipleship. Reflecting on the on-going call to conversion.
Contemporary Moral Dilemmas
During this challenging and stimulating course we will look at: How to make moral decisions; Marriage, family and sexuality; the challenge of Bioethics – the beginnings of life & the care at the end of life, social justice, arms and, other moral issues.
Spirituality of Family Life
Exploring how family life can be a pathway to holiness and can be regarded as fostering an authentic spirituality.
The Church
Issues Facing the Church
Throughout its history the Church has always been faced with new and challenging questions, the answers to which can define its future and missionary effectiveness in the changing world. What are the new challenges facing the Church today? How do we meet today’s questions honestly? We explore ways of doing this with confidence and hope.
Leadership / The People of God in the Future
We will explore the post modern concept of leadership as a fundamental shift from the hierarchical to the collaborative model. What is Religious Leadership? We will reflect on the leadership of Jesus as servant. ‘Call’ is universal and ministry flows from our process of on-going conversion. We will look at a new way of being Church in the future.
Spirituality
Prayer & Eucharist
Prayer is the very foundation of a living relationship with God. The Eucharist celebrates the Paschal Mystery, the mystery of dying and rising at the heart of our new life with Christ. During these sessions we will reflect upon these two vital themes at the heart of the Mystery of Salvation
“I enjoyed the beauty and peace of the surroundings and the interaction with so many different people from different cultures. The lectures were superb. The whole course was a great time to review my life and focus on positive goals.”
Fr Damien, a missionary from the Congo
