Cathedral’s Eastside Young Adults Bible Study

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We are Cathedral’s Eastside Young Adults Bible Study supported by Cathedral of St John the Evangelist. We meet every other Tuesday (6/3, 6/17 …). The meeting location is Weakland Center, 831 N. Van Buren St., Milwaukee 53202. Weakland Center is part of the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist (next door to the Cathedral of St John, on the North). Please use 'comments' link at the end of post to raise question on the study or email me at eastside_biblestudy@yahoo.com

Monday, August 28, 2006

Proposal of the Bible Study

Proposal of the Bible Study

GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

  • Acquaint
    believers with the contents of Sacred Scripture.

  • Familiarize
    Catholics with the rich faith tradition and Church teaching.

  • Build
    community in Christ through a focus on prayer.

  • Provide
    the nourishment of the Scriptures for the people of God, to enlighten their minds, strengthen their wills, and set hearts on fire with the love of God. (Dei Verbum 6,23)

Call to Holiness

In keeping with the spirit of Vatican II, the laity is called to grow ever deeper in their knowledge and understanding of the Faith which is essentially equal to love of Jesus Christ in the story of salvation as revealed in Sacred Scripture. Love urges the beloved to seek Truth, to explore the mystery of the Triune God, and to desire to know Father, Son, and Spirit intimately. Then, knowledge and wisdom dictates an appropriate response to Love, which is complete self-abandoning and self-sacrificing as exemplified by Jesus’ love for the Father. This “game of love” is related in the Old Testament repeatedly, fulfilled in the New Testament, and continues in the Liturgy of Holy Mass.

Liturgy of the Word

Knowledge of Sacred Scripture heightens the efficaciousness of the Sacraments as real encounters with Jesus, our Brother, Healer, Bridegroom, Mediator, Redeemer, Victor, High Priest, Lamb of God. Liturgy of the Word is inherently tied to the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The link is made obvious in the recitation of the Creed. Emissions from the mouths of Catholics who say they don’t read the Bible exacerbate the untruth in the ears of their isteners that “Catholics don’t know Sacred Scripture” or as reproachful, close the door on the Spirit because “the Bible is too hard to understand,” are torturous and blasphemous if ignorance weren’t a valid defense. Out of love, in love, and for love, action must be taken to counter this recalcitrance to God’s revelation in Sacred Scripture among the majority of Mass goers so that reception of the Holy Eucharist does not become our condemnation.

Cathechesis

Rooted in a similar apprehension to learning Sacred Scripture is the disruption of educating self in matters of the Faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church directly refers to Biblical texts to reason the Church’s teaching of Tradition. Further, Sacred Scripture is paramount to the creed, code, and cult of Catholicism in that it instructs us as how to serve the Mystical Body, how to respond to God Who is Love. Christ longed to stay with us, so He does, in the tabernacles around the globe. From Mary and the Apostles, to the Saints and angels, witnesses to God’s Revelation are given to the Church with special gifts to answer a certain need of the time. Christ died once and for all, but the Church as Bride of Christ continues to be a Living Vessel of the Spirit since the day of Pentecost.

To grow in holiness, to pray the greatest prayer of the Church that is Holy Mass, to fully participate in the Sacramental life of the Church, and to embody the Faith, Sacred Scripture plays an inherent role. Studying the Bible enables certain understanding of the past, present, and future of Christianity. It clarifies our individual role in salvation history, thereby giving purpose to our very existence. Supported by the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, and nourished by Her Sacraments, we take up the New Command to love God and to love one another as Jesus said.

METHODOLOGY

Sacred Scripture mandates openness to the grace of transformation. Prayer, as defined as conversation with God, is key. Jesus came to call us away from sin and to pray unceasingly. Living in constant conversation with God crowds out ungodly thoughts, words, and actions.

Spiritual exercises such as meditation and spiritual reading augments Bible study, giving God due priority so that other daily activities are carried out with an attitude of doing the Father’s will.

The Bible study proper will meet once a week to set the tone for the upcoming week. It will not be just another weekly commitment, rather it will become a daily habit. The four-step approach: Observe, inquire, interpret, and apply, as used in the supplemental book by author and convert to Catholicism, Stephen Ray is maximizes absorption of the text from reading it to understanding the cultural, traditional, historical, and catechetical, and eschatological meaning. This takes on many dimensions and steers clear of the sola scriptura tendency of Protestantism.

Questions, observations, and discussion points between weekly Bible study gatherings, will be augmented through the dedicated Web site and blog. Also, the virtual space is open to anyone who may want to participate in the virtual Bible study who do not have the opportunity because of time or distance to attend the on site weekly meetings.

MATERIALS

So as not to burden the participants with needless expense, yet encourage ongoing learning, only the Holy Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church are required. The Vatican provides both of these in electronic format if participants insist upon a non-book. Likewise, if the expense is too great for individual purchase, copies of both will be available at each meeting.

The three-year cycle of Gospel readings take large sections of Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s Gospels, interspersed with John once in a while. The Bible Study will address John because of this fact. The reading of the complete Gospel of John will follow the layout in the optional text and is anticipated to take a year.

SESSION PREPARATION

Facilitator:

One week prior to session,

  • Read the assignedpage(s) in the Bible study guide.
  • Choose questions and prepare notes.
  • Post on Web site related notes, Scripture passages and other pertinent content information for the next session.
  • Send e-mail to likely attendees to advise them of posting and encourage them to bring others to the next session (date, place, time)

Participants:

  • Download, study, and reflect on the guide before the next session.

SESSION FORMAT

  1. Begin with a short prayer (2 minutes)

  2. Ice-breaker questions (3 minutes)

  3. Bible study (1 hour)
    a)Reading of scripture
    b)Facilitator asks a question and group discussion
    C)Facilitator reads the notes from the guide.
  4. Prayer and meditation (15 minutes)

Between sessions participants will be encouraged to post questions on the Web site. Core team with the help of advisers will answer the question.

People not in the session will follow online for independent study using the guide. Contact by phone or online chat for synchronous communication and feed-back will be encouraged. They can also raise questions on the Web site, read the blog, and receive input from others to engage ongoing communication and spiritual growth.

PLAN

We plan to begin the Bible study with small group who have already expressed interest. Before the start date, facilitators and a few others will run through a hypothetical one hour and a half session to work out further kinks. The broader launch will commence shortly thereafter.

Core Team:
Wei Zheng
Rachel Monfardini

Advisor:

Sources and resources to help answer questions posted to the Web site:
Father Tim, Fr. Robert and Fr. Kubicki

If questions of faith arise that cannot be answered or need clarification, answers will be sought after from Scripture scholars and others who are versed in certain areas of theology in various schools of thought. The goal will ultimately be to further understanding of the Church and the gift of Sacred Scripture given us to know, love, and serve our Almighty God and Father.

posted by Way | 2:34 PM | 3 comments