Dr. Sean Innerst was the founding Provost of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, where he is now chairman of the theology department. Sean also teaches courses in theology for catechetics at the Augustine Institute and is the originator of the popular two-year "Journey through the Catechism" program in the Archdiocese of Denver and has contributed to four books, including the Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine. He is the author of Blessing to Blessing: the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a Journey of Faith and forthcoming new four-part adult study series on the Catechism called Pillars: A journey through the Catechism, both from Ascension Press.

WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS:

Friday 11:00 a.m.
To Teach as God Does: Rediscovering the Divine Pedagogy in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Catechism has been rightly called a disclosure of the “symphony of faith.”  That suggests the questions: “If the faith it discloses is like a symphony, who is the arranger of that symphony, who the conductor?”  In this talk we will consider not so much the content but the arrangement of the Catechism and how its particular way of blending the melodies, harmonies and rhythms of our faith help us to us to hear its music better, and – perhaps most importantly – to come to know better the God, who not only composed the symphony of faith, but who also arranges and conducts it for us.

Saturday 11:00 a.m.
Getting the council: the Catechism as interpreter
In Porta Fidei Pope Benedict reminds us that the "great grace" of Vatican Council II depends upon whether "we interpret and implement it guided by a right hermeneutic," or method of interpretation. This talk will consider what's at stake in a wrong interpretation and suggest that we have the definitive interpretation in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which has rightly been called "the catechism of the Council."

Saturday 1:30 p.m.
Praying with the Catechism of the Catholic Church – in a Marian Mode
“Let us entrust this time of grace to the Mother of God, proclaimed ‘blessed because she believed’ (Lk 1:45).” With these words Pope Benedict XVI encourages us to take Mary, the woman of faith, as our model in the Year of Faith.  To imitate Mary’s faith, we need to imitate her prayer.  In this presentation, the fundamentally Marian character the Catechism’s catechesis on prayer will be explored and ideas given about how to pray in the way that Mary did, so that we, too, might be blessed for believing.