Sr Helen Mary Freer (left) celebrating her Solemn Profession with the Redemptoristine nuns in Dublin on August 1. Photos: Redemptoristine Nuns Dublin. A new Dominican theology course aims to deepen Catholics’ understanding of the faith and contribute to renewal in the Irish Church, its organiser has said.
Credenda, a beginners’ course starting in September, will combine online sessions with in-person gatherings in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Sligo.
Dr Robert McNamara, head of philosophy at St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, said the initiative was developed with Dominican Fr Maurice Colgan OP for Catholics who practise their faith but lack comprehensive theological formation.
“The wisdom of the Catholic faith and the Western intellectual tradition hasn’t really been passed on from generation to generation,” he told The Irish Catholic. “In consequence, we don’t have a well-developed laity, a laity that really grasps the faith and can communicate the grasp of the faith to others.”
The 24-session course will cover God and creation, the human person, virtue, Christ, the sacraments, prayer and vocation. Participants will complete weekly study before meeting a Dominican tutor and fellow participants.
Dr McNamara said theology should not be treated as abstract knowledge, but as something that enables Catholics to love God and live their faith more fully. “You cannot possibly love something that you do not know,” he said. “When we come to know God more fully, our capacity to love Him is immensely deepened.”
He said Catholic podcasts, talks and online teachers can leave people with valuable but fragmented knowledge. Credenda instead aims to offer “a framed, holistic understanding” and help participants live “an integrated life”.
“We wish to come to know Jesus Christ, who is truth in person,” Dr McNamara said, adding hopefully: “Then we’ll be able to articulate it to others, and Ireland will be re-evangelised.”