Faith Building Tool Spotlight #5: Augustine Institute
An Apostolate Helping Catholics Understand, Live, and Share Their Faith
The Augustine Institute (AI) is graduate school and apostolate established in the Denver, CO area in response to Saint Pope John Paul II call for Catholics to renew their commitment to Christ as part of the New Evangelization.
The central work of the AI is centered around the graduate education of Catholics in numerous degrees that help prepare them for growing the kingdom of God on Earth. However, many Catholics do not have the time, money, or desire to pursue such a degree, and I have not attended the AI for a degree myself (yet). But, the graduate school is only one education path the AI offers to fellow Catholics.
The closest thing to the graduate degree program is the short course program. These are 40+ short courses totaling 150+ hours of course material taught by the exact same world-class faculty. The short courses cover biblical books, Church tradition, Church doctrine, saints’ spirituality, catechesis, and more. These courses provide engaging lectures, lesson presentations, and additional reading recommendations to increase your knowledge about key aspects of our Catholic faith. All of these courses are made available to you for just $23 a month.
Next up, we have the enormous amount of video and audio content on the FORMED. FORMED is the Augustine Institute’s streaming service. They have done a phenomenal job compiling bible studies, movies, faith formation series for adults and children, audio dramas, and more. It is Disney+ but instead of woke American corporatism you have the fullness of truth offered by the Catholic faith. My personal favorites are their Lectio bible studies and the Catholic saints podcast (which can be found for free in audio format on any of your podcasting apps). The connection you can acquire with scripture and the holy men and women that have come before us is life-changing. I would highly recommend that you check to see if your parish has a subscription or consider getting a personal account. My kids have also come to love some of the animated content telling entertaining and faithful stories from scripture.
Lastly, the Augustine Institute has a considerable amount of published material available in their online store. I would recommend taking a look at all of it, but I want to highlight three items. The first is the English Standard Version Catholic Edition bible. These are beautiful bibles in a great translation of the literal sense of the text. The next would be their What Every Catholic Should Know series. They have 9 books in this series so far, and you have to get them all to ensure you know everything you should! Lastly, I would recommend the gospels of Mark and Matthew in the Catholic Standard Version (CSV). The CSV is a new translation being done right now on the Bible led by the AI. Top biblical scholars of the Catholic faith are creating a modern but faithful translation incorporating the most recent archeological finds into the first Catholic-centered bible translation in a long time!
The Augustine Institute does all this great work and so much more! I hope that you check out some of the links in this article and consider donating to the Augustine Institute where a good portion of the above material can become available to you at no additional charge. The AI has been an invaluable tool in my faith journey as I work to understand, live, and share my Catholic faith.
God Bless,
Mitchell Godfrey