Short Courses by the Augustine Institute

After studying theology at Franciscan University (M.A. 1995) and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (S.T.L. 1998, S.T.D 2001), I was blessed to teach undergraduate students at Benedictine College for nine years (1997-2006) and to work with Curtis Martin to launch FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), which started there in 1998. As a professor at the Augustine Institute since 2006, I have taught classes in Scripture, Moral and Spiritual Theology, Mariology, the New Evangelization, Christian Marriage and the Theology of the Body. I also have served as content director for several of the Institute’s parish programs, including Symbolon: The Catholic Faith Explained and Beloved: Finding Happiness in Marriage and served as executive director of the Institute’s digital platform Formed.org in the year of its launch. ‍ While various scholars and saints have influenced my thought, our most recent popes’ emphasis on the New Evangelization has shaped my teaching the most. I find St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis each, in their own way, to have shed much light on the present crisis we face in our secular, relativistic world. We have not only lost faith and our ability to reason well. We have lost what Pope Benedict called “the art of living.” And these recent pontiffs have also pointed out paths forward to engage the culture with the joy of the Gospel. I pray that my teaching and writing, whether in Scripture, Mariology, the virtues or the saints, will be of service to the new evangelization, helping equip my students to engage post-modernity and propose the timeless teachings of Christ in a timely way for our age.