The Catholic Thing
Learning and Faith
By : Robert Royal
_Learning and Faith_
(http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/learning-and-faith.html)
(http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/learning-and-faith/print.html)
(http://www.thecatholicthing.org/component/option,com_mailto/link,aHR0cDovL3d3dy50aGVjYXRob2xpY3RoaW5nLm9yZy9jb2x1bW5zLzIwMT
MvbGVhcm5pbmctYW5kLWZhaXRoLmh0bWw=/tmpl,component/) By Robert Royal
Monday, 19 August 2013
August 19, 2013
( second half of the article, relevant to online education )
...Let me mention just one alternative: The Catholic Distance University,
where I am the Graduate Dean. I tout CDU not because I work there. I work
there part of every week because I think CDU is a great vehicle for creating
an educated and confident laity, not only in America (where we have
students in every state), but in the many other countries (nearly two dozen of
them) that we reach via the Internet, from Australia to Hungary.
CDU has been in business for thirty years this month, the last ten online.
So the university has unmatched experience in teaching about Catholicism
in distance formats.
If you want a serious full-blown program, you can do an M.A. in Theology,
with concentrations in Sacred Scripture, Theology/Philosophy, Catholic
Culture, or Ecclesial Service. There are also B.A. and A.A. degrees offered,
and all the degree programs attract talented and accomplished people of all
ages and backgrounds.
The degree programs generally proceed via the usual twelve-week courses by
semester, exactly the way you would study at a bricks-and-mortar
university – and you get close interaction in the online course room with a
distinguished faculty, which includes TCT regulars such as Fr. Bevil Bramwell,
David Bonagura, Randall Smith, and several others. Classes start Monday August
26 for the 2013 Fall term. You can _register online_ (http://www.cdu.edu/)
or call and talk to the admissions counselor (mention that you saw this
column and they’ll give you special attention).
For people who aren’t interested in or ready for a degree program, there
are some terrific three-week online seminars on a series of great topics.
Professor Smith is doing one right now on the Greek Fathers of the Church. In
a couple of weeks, I’ll be pointing out how pathetic Dan Brown’s Inferno,
his latest anti-Catholic novel, is in comparison with the great Dante
Alighieri’s poem. Don Prudlo, a gifted young scholar of Church history, will
offer a seminar on the History of the Papacy towards the end of September.
And the list goes on throughout the year.
If you are a regular reader of this site, I probably don’t have to assure
you of this, but all these seminars and courses are 100 percent orthodox.
Different Catholic opinions and approaches emerge in the course of study.
But at CDU, when you read an encyclical or one of the Vatican II documents or
an author like Joseph Ratzinger or Karol Wojtla, you’ll be getting real
Catholicism, a modern Catholicism faithful to the tradition and also more
than capable of handling current challenges.
So if you’ve been saying for a long time that we need to do something to
make Catholicism a more substantial presence in America society and the
world, here’s a concrete way to proceed. What are you waiting for? You might
actually find that it’s a good and rewarding thing to follow your own advice.
Robert Royal is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing, and president of
the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is _The
God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West_
(http://astore.amazon.com/thecatthi-20/detail/1594035172) , now available in
paperback from Encounter Books.
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