Introduction to Early Church History

Have you ever wanted to get a better grasp of Early Church History, but not really known where to start? Do those thick books on Church History and Patristics intimidate you? Well, if so, I’d thoroughly recommend you check out Fr. Michael Witt’s website.

Unfortunately, the website is rather in need of a facelift, but the content is superb. Fr. Witt divides Church history into three sections: Early Church, Medieval and Modern. In each section there are MP3s of Fr. Witt and his co-host, Teresa, discussing each of these periods of history.

I first discovered Fr. Witt’s site while I was living in London and, over the course of a year’s worth of journeys on public transport I managed listened to the entirety of the Early Church library. Hmmm…maybe it’s time to do that again…

Joan Weber talking to Young Adult Leaders

Back in October, the Young Adult leaders of San Diego attended a seminar on Young Adult Ministry given by Joan Weber from the Center for Ministry Development. Here’s the audio:

Part 1 (Download)

Part 2 (Download)

Part 3 (Download)

Sorry it took me a while to edit and upload – it’s been a rather busy couple of months :-/

TOT: Mary, Saints, Angels and more!

On October 16th, as part of our recent Theology on Tap series, Kimberly Barber spoke to us on the topic of “Mary, Saints, Angels and more: Getting to know the heroes of our faith in a new way”.

Saints and Angels

Here are the MP3 audio files available for download:

Main Talk (Download)

Q&A (Download)

Kimberly is a Master Catechist for the Diocese. She grew up in Southern California and attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville for her undergraduate degree and then went to Fuller Theological Seminary for her postgraduate study. She now lives in San Diego with her three children and her husband Dr. Michael Barber, Professor of Theology at John Paul The Great Catholic University who himself has spoken at Theology on Tap in the past.

Second Century Liturgy Uploaded!

A while ago I uploaded a document to the Patristics section of this blog which was a short extract from the writings of St. Justin, apologist and martyr of the Early Church. The extract came from his First Apology where he wrote about the liturgy of the Church in Rome during the Second Century. I’ve recently been doing some blog maintenance and I’ve now recorded that document onto MP3:

 First Apology (Extract) from St. Justin Martyr

More recordings will be coming over the next couple of weeks: Apostolic Tradition and the Liturgy of St. James.

Historic Worship

I would suggest that a large number of Christians naturally assume that the Early Church worshiped in the same way as their own congregation in 21st Century America:

Relevant Worship(Thanks to Patrick Vanderpool for the artwork)

Thankfully, we are not left in ignorance as to how the Early Church worshiped, since Church Fathers such as St. Justin left us written descriptions. These documents show us that the Early Church had a structured liturgy which had, at its centre, the Eucharist.

Read more

That would be an ecumenical matter

This weekend I finished recording another document of the Church onto MP3. It is the decree on ecumenism from the Second Vatican Council, Unitatis Redintegratio.


Unitatis Redintegratio.mp3

In that vein, I’d also invite you to read the article Because our love has grown cold, written by my friend Nelson. I think his blog post points to the key thing which is needed in order for there to any meaningful ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and non-Catholics.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” – John 17:20-23

Deus Caritas Est

A few weeks ago I recorded the Second Vatican Counsel document which concerns the Eastern Rite Churches, Orientalium Ecclesiarum. This weekend I completed recording Pope Benedict’s first encyclical God Is Love (“Deus Caritas Est”) onto MP3.

gods-love

Introduction (Download)

Part I (Download)

Part II (Download)

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