Retreats and Workshops
I offer a variety of retreats for priests, monastic communities,
other religious, and lay people; parish missions; and biblical workshops which
focus on the topics listed below. Each retreat, parish mission or workshop
is designed for a specific audience. Quite often, however, reference is
made to documents which are not made available to participants in general.
Some of those references can be found by clicking on the appropriate topic below
and you will be taken to the specific place where they are located.
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The Gospel of Mark: The presentations based on
the gospel of Mark focus on the Evangelist's strong teaching regarding the
"way of the cross." Central to this theme is the way the
"disciples" are portrayed by Mark. The challenge of this
gospel is to grasp the Evangelist's teaching that, "as the Master goes,
so goes the Disciple."
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The Gospel of Luke: This gospel strongly
emphasizes the "faithfulness" of God. Jesus is portrayed as
an innocent prophet who offers salvation to all who will listen and believe
(universalism). Luke's gospel is well know for the passages that are
unique to this Evangelist and not found in the other gospels: "The
sinful woman who is forgiven" (7:36-50); "The Good Samaritan"
(10:25-37); "Lost and Found" (15:1-32); "The Disciples on the
Road to Emmaus" (24:13-35). This passages become the focus of the
presentations of this gospel.
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The
Synoptic Gospels: This workshop focuses on an introduction to the
synoptic gospels. They are called "synoptic" because they can be
viewed as a glance. While they have many similarities, each one is
also unique. Much of this uniqueness can be discovered when these
gospels are studied through comparison. This process of comparing one
synoptic gospel with the others highlights the real creativity of each
gospel writer. It is this creativity which becomes the vehicle by
which the Evangelists communicates the good news.
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The Gospel of John: This was the last canonical
gospel accepted into the New Testament. Its style is quite different than
what is found in the synoptic gospels. The first part of the gospel of
John (1-12) is often referred to as "the book of signs."
There are at least seven signs presented in these chapters whose function is
to disclose the "real" identity of Jesus. Many of the
presentations for this gospel focus on these signs and related material.
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The Parables of Jesus: In the synoptic gospels
Jesus is portrayed at teaching primarily through parables. These
parables always present a challenge usually by confronting the reader/hearer
with a paradox. Through these parables Jesus presents his
understanding of God and God's kingdom. They are also a key to
understanding the primary challenges of contemporary Christian living.
The presentations of the parables attempt to open up for people some of
these contemporary challenges.
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The Writings and Theology of Saint
Paul: Saint
Paul was the first missionary apostle to leave behind a collection of
letters which provide clues as to who he was and what he taught. He
was the great apostle to the Gentiles and therefore he experienced the
church in its early days of monumental change both in structure and in
self-understanding. The issues which St. Paul faced in his various
communities are issues that are still with us in many ways.
Presentations of the writings and theology of Saint Paul focus on these
issues and what we can learn from them for our contemporary Christian
living.
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The Eucharist in the New Testament:
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Prayer and the Bible:
This retreat emphasizes the experiences of
prayer in the Bible. Texts from both the Old and the New
Testaments have been selected which shows various biblical persons at
prayer. Common to all these texts is the very strong emphasis on the
need for boldness in prayer.
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Interpreting the Bible in
the Church: This workshop uses as it guideline the document issued
from the Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible
in the Church (1993). This
remarkable document sets forth the rich and varied methodologies currently
available to interpret the sacred scriptures.
Some of these approaches are more useful than others. Ultimately the Bible is the Church’s book and this plays a
very significant role in how it is faithfully interpreted. Topics to be covered include: Methods and Approaches for
Interpretation, Hermeneutical Questions, Characteristics of Catholic
Interpretation, Interpretation of the Bible in the Life of the Church.
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