PCL Professional Day features speaker from the Augustine Institute

Parish catechetical leaders gathered April 18 at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway, to listen to a three-part presentation by Sean Fitzgerald of the Augustine Institute. In his introduction, Fitzgerald emphasized that “it’s all about souls” and that “God has picked us to be ‘boots on the ground’ at this time.”

Fitzgerald began his presentation with an overview of Word of Life, Augustine Institute’s new K-8 curriculum series for parishes and Catholic schools. This Christ-centered series is organized around four ‘golden threads:’ salvation history, Christian anthropology, heroic virtue and character formation, and learning through discipleship.

After a brief statistical review which revealed that less than half of the children baptized in the United States in 2005 had later celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation, Fitzgerald pointed out that one possible conclusion is that many parents do not see the relevancy of practicing the faith because they have not been evangelized.  Based on this premise, the Word of Life series is designed with the evangelization of parents in mind, using state-of-the-art digital tools from the Augustine Institute and Ignatius Press.

In addition to a focus on parent evangelization, the Word of Life series employs a blended learning model utilizing both online tools and textbooks and includes a robust ‘teach-the teacher’ component, which serves to fortify the catechist or Catholic school teacher with the resources necessary to present lessons effectively.

The second part of Fitzgerald’s morning presentation included an introduction to the Augustine Institute’s Catholic streaming service: Formed. The idea for Formed began with the success of Symbolon, the richly produced video based formation series, and the merger with Lighthouse Catholic Media about ten years ago.  Since the time of that merger, Formed has grown substantially and has reached millions of Catholics in thousands of parishes.    

The day concluded with a fascinating presentation on the Shroud of Turin.  As a holder of a Postgraduate Certificate in Shroud Studies from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Fitzgerald is considered a regional expert on the Shroud of Turin – the most studied relic in the world, requiring the interweaving of Scripture, science, art history, and theology. This multi-dimensional approach has resulted in an in-depth exploration of both the humanity and the divinity of Jesus.

As captivating as the study of the Shroud of Turin has been, Fitzgerald stressed that we are all able to come in contact with Jesus in the Eucharist on a daily basis in a way that would not be possible even if we were able to have direct contact with the Shroud of Turin.  He further remarked that even if scientists are able to someday prove without question that the Shroud of Turin is not a relic of the Resurrection, the “Shroud has done its job” in prompting many to dive deeply into the Paschal Mystery and experience an encounter with Jesus.

Jill Kerekes serves as diocesan director, Office of Discipleship Formation for Children.