RST 322 Semester Schedule
This schedule is based upon an "as-needed" concept of learning which allows for
flexibility and
student input for the course. Thus, the schedule will be developed in sections or
modules as the
study progresses in order to best meet the needs of the learners, the learning
process and to allow
the professor to mentor the learners in the most significant directions and ways of learning. This
method of learning is, therefore, learner or student-centered, active, experiential,
collaborative,
interactive, creative and critically reflective/contemplative, and downright enjoyable.
A Course
Journal will be posted on the class mailing list (electronic discussion list) at various times
during the semester which will contain the specific readings, writing assignments, projects, web sites,
in-class guest speakers, mailing list guests and any course changes. Be sure to check your email and
join in our aynschronous, course-long discussion regularly.
Week 1:
Introduction; What is Roman Catholicism? Group project;
8/25 Catechism of the Catholic
Church, pp. 1-15
World-Wide Web (W3) free reading: Theology Library
Course Project defined; Final Essay discussed;
Week 3:
Catholic web
site analysis paper posted to class list 9/7-8
9/8
Groups: Select & analyze a U.S. Catholic
Diocese web site
CCC, 17-23, 29-32, 35-38, 214-224, 232-251
Week 4:
Group essay:
Catholic Diocese web site posted to class list 9/14-15
9/15
Vatican Council
II: Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation
(Dei Verbum) - read all for 9/15
CCC 368-397
(#1322-1419) - read for 9/17
Guide for Sunday Mass - read for 9/17
Thursday (9/17): Class will meet at the Marshall Catholic
Newman Center, 1609 5th Ave [across from
Corbley Hall],
12:30-1:45, with Rev. Bill Petro, a Catholic priest, demonstrating &
explaining the Catholic Eucharistic Liturgy (Mass) and responding to
questions on Catholicism
Week 5: Thomas Merton - free reading & exploration
9/22
Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain &
Ireland - free reading
Thomas Merton: The Rediscovered
Geography of an American Mystic,
Alan Altany - read all for 9/24
Video:
"Thomas Mertion: A Film Biography" (9/24)
Week 6:
Individual
essay due Monday, 9/28: Thomas Merton (300 words)
9/29
based upon what you discovered of significance based
upon your reading of the Merton web sites
CCC 399-417:
Penance & Reconciliation - read for 9/29
515-525: Social Life & Justice - read for 10/1
In-class guest
speaker: Sister Patricia Burke, St. Peter Claver Parish,
Huntington, WV (10/1)
Catholicism and the Poor: Catholic Relief Services
Subscribe to the Merton-l
discussion list (9/28-10/4)
Week 7:
CCC
268-276: Mary & the Saints (10/6)
10/5
Understanding Catholic Devotion to Mary (Merton)
FAQ about
Mary (to
to FAQ link)
315-321: Sacraments (10/8)
342-356: Baptism (10/8)
On-line discussion with
class of students in Bavaria, Germany
between Oct. 6-12. Afterwards, individual email contact
is encouraged.
No class (10/8): work
on Self-directed group projects/presentations, with
topics due 10/22 and presentations given 11/17 & 11/1
Week
8: CCC 417-424: Annointing of the Sick (10/13)
10/12
427-433: Holy Orders (10/13)
446-464: Matrimony (10/15)
Essay on merton-l due 10/14 to mentor's email
Mid-semester, reflective
course evaluation (due 10/15) to mentor's email
In-class group essays to list
(10/15): "Roman Catholicism is..."
Week 9:
Encyclical Letter, The Gospel
of Life, Pope John Paul II
10/19
Catholic Views on Abortion and Euthanasia
Catholic Pro-Life Activities
CCC 602-619
On-line guest: Rev. Larry Dorsch, Director
of Communications,
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston about Catholicism and
about the Diocese and Catholicism in West Virginia/
Appalachia (10/19-22)
Self-directed Group Project topic due
10/22
Week 10:
No class, Tuesday, Oct. 27
10/26
On-line Guest (10/25-29): Dr. Julia Bolton Holloway, scholar on religious
experience and a convert to Catholicism to respond to your
questions about Catholicism from her location in Florence, Italy
In-class Guest Speaker
(10/29): Rev. Joseph Peterson, Pastor,
Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church,
Huntington, WV
National Conference of Catholic Bishops & US Catholic
Conference:
Look at the
following sections - Evangelization & Missions, Education,
Ecumenical & Interreligious Affairs, Social Development & World Peace,
Campaign for Human Development, and Family, Laity, Women & Youth
[last day to drop an individual course: 10/30]
Week 11: Everyone thoroughly look at
the site for a Roman Catholic Church located in
11/2
Siberia in the city of Valdivostok, Russia, called Most Holy Mother of God
On-line Guest: Rev.
Myron Effing, Pastor, Most Holy Mother of God Church
Vladivostok, Russia, on our discussiion list from Nov. 1 - 8
Vatican
Council II Documents (free-reading)
Vatican II Decree on
Ecumenism - read Chapters 1, 3
Vatican II Declaration
on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (all)
Week 12:
Everyone examine the site for a Catholic parish in Minnesota,
11/9
Basilica of
St. Mary and the site for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul
and Minneapolis, as well as freely
selecting another United States
parish's site for review and the site of a Catholic parish in some
other country in the world
Please read this site on the Church that deals with its history, with
Vatican Council II, and the Church today, especially the following
sections: Intro to Ecclesiology & Church History, Images of Church
Before Vatican II, Images of Church After Vatican II, Avery Dullas'
Models of the Church, and The Challenge of Being Church Today
Week 13: Self-directed Group
Project Presentations: 11/17 & 11/19
11/16
3 days before its presentation, each group is to submit
a 750-word essay to the class list that explains the project
and what was learned from it
11/23 - 11/28 Fall Break....
Week 14:
Vatican web site - free reading
11/30 Catholic
Information Network
List of Popes - meet some of the popes
Pope John Paul II biographical sketch
Week 15:
Time Magazine 1994 "Man of the
Year" articles: "John Paul II"
12/7
"Empire of the
Spirit"
"What's the Pope's
Secret?"
The Final Essay,
in its revised form, is due in Harris Hall 411or 415
no later than 10 am, Dec. 10th.
Also due at the same time as the
final essay, is the self-reflective,
self-evaluation essay on the learning process in this course of study.
The Final Essay and the
Self-reflection Essay are to be handed in
together. Thank you.