For the first time, Penn Newman Center is launching a series that is focused on the understanding and development of the Catholic faith through a video series.
The discussion series, which had its first meeting Monday, will take place regularly on Monday nights at 7:30 p.m. at the Newman Center on 37th and Chestnut streets. The Newman Center does not have a timeframe for when the series will end.
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“Catholicism,” a 10-episode DVD series produced by Chicago priest Father Robert Barron, will be the reference for the weekly meetings. According to Newman Center’s Associate Director Jeff Klein, “[Barron] developed the series to get at the heart of what Catholicism is really about.” The videos, which the group will watch in segments, will serve as a springboard for discussion among students.
The program is not targeted for Catholics alone. It is designed for people of any religious belief — or lack thereof.
“[It’s] for either Catholics who feel like they want to learn more about their faith or people who aren’t Catholic and want to learn for the first time about the Catholic faith — this series was designed for those two kinds of crowds,” Klein said.
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The video series, which is designed to explain what Catholics believe and why they believe it, delves into Catholicism as a faith but also as a global culture. Throughout the series, Barron travels around the world to more than 16 countries — from Israel to Uganda, among others — to create a holistic lesson on what Catholicism, in his view, actually is.
“It’s an interesting take on Catholicism,” Engineering senior Allison Pearce said. “He frames it in a way that stands out from a lot other forms of Catholic teachings. It’s nice to get a new perspective on those kinds of teachings.”
Although Barron’s series was created for a general audience, Klein hopes to use the discussion as the primary way to make the issues of Catholicism relevant to college students at Penn.
“It’s in the discussion that we can take it from a student perspective,” he explained.
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Once, Klein remembered, a student asked a question about Jesus’ self-perception as an adolescent. “It’s a fitting question for a college student to ask these big questions about self and identity,” he said.
The group setting is designed to provide an atmosphere of comfort so that eventually students might feel comfortable enough to share their personal views and ideas as they are relate to the various discussion topics raised in the series.
Klein explained that the program is part of the many related activities sponsored by the Newman Center.
“This program does not exist in a vacuum,” he said. “Everything we do is meant to form a network of opportunities to present the faith and apply it to our lives as college students.”
Another program, the Newman Center’s Antioch Retreat, which will aim at getting to the foundation of the Christian belief, will take place during fall break and is open to sophomores through seniors, regardless of religious affiliation.
