Institute of Catholic Culture

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

"What is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast set him over the works of thy hands."- Psalm 8

"What is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast set him over the works of thy hands."- Psalm 8

"What is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast set him over the works of thy hands."- Psalm 8

“Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and of Thy wisdom there is no end.”- St. Augustine, Confessions

“Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and of Thy wisdom there is no end.”- St. Augustine, Confessions

In the year 312, after three centuries of Christian persecution, the newly proclaimed emperor prepared himself to conquer the ancient city of Rome. What happened next would alter the course of history forever.

In the year 312, after three centuries of Christian persecution, the newly proclaimed emperor prepared himself to conquer the ancient city of Rome. What happened next would alter the course of history forever.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

In the earliest days of Christianity, many important letters and instructions were penned by the first followers of Christ and were held in great honor by the early Church, while not included in the Canon of Sacred Scripture. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, often called the Didache, was the earliest catechetical instruction of its kind, written late in the first century. It instructs the early Christians on all aspects of the Christian life. Lost to modern scholarship until its rediscovery in 1873, the Didache is considered one of the most important early Christian writings known today.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

We live in an age that rejects, or fails to see, the fundamental human calling: to live in the truth. The truth, and the truth alone, will set us free. But before we can live the truth we must come to know it. The ancient Greeks, our great forefathers, discovered, through natural reason, the truth that sets man free.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

We live in an age that rejects, or fails to see, the fundamental human calling: to live in the truth. The truth, and the truth alone, will set us free. But before we can live the truth we must come to know it. The ancient Greeks, our great forefathers, discovered, through natural reason, the truth that sets man free.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

From the Great Schism of 1054 to the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century, from the Avignon Papacy to the French Revolution, and from the collapse of the Papal States to the aftermath of Vatican II, the story of the Church of the second millennium is one of tragedy and triumph.

From the Great Schism of 1054 to the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century, from the Avignon Papacy to the French Revolution, and from the collapse of the Papal States to the aftermath of Vatican II, the story of the Church of the second millennium is one of tragedy and triumph.

In the year 1054 A.D., Roman legates traveled to the ancient city of Constantinople in hopes of healing the strained relations between the Roman Pontiff and the Patriarch of the Greeks. However, the mutual excommunications which followed would rend the Church for a thousand years.

From the Great Schism of 1054 to the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century, from the Avignon Papacy to the French Revolution, and from the collapse of the Papal States to the aftermath of Vatican II, the story of the Church of the second millennium is one of tragedy and triumph.

From the Great Schism of 1054 to the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century, from the Avignon Papacy to the French Revolution, and from the collapse of the Papal States to the aftermath of Vatican II, the story of the Church of the second millennium is one of tragedy and triumph.

“This authority [of the popes] is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven.’ Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God. … Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”- Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam (1302)

"When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels'; and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."- Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46

“This authority [of the popes] is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven.’ Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God. … Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”- Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam (1302)

“This authority [of the popes] is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven.’ Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God. … Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”- Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam (1302)

"Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me."– Saint Patrick

On April 29, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI placed his own pallium, the sign of his episcopal authority, on the tomb of Pope Celestine V, the only man ever to abdicate the throne of Peter and the last pope of that name. On that occasion, Pope Benedict announced the “Year of Pope Celestine.” Why? Learn about these two unique Popes in two different ages, both in battle for the life of the Church in the face of the onslaught of humanistic secularism.

"Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me."– Saint Patrick

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

The Institute of Catholic Culture is an adult educational organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

In an age when car bombs and suicidal terrorists have become commonplace, when death and destruction rule the day, questions about the possibility of a “justified war” strain the conscience of many Christians. What is the ancient Christian theory of the “Just War,” and what wisdom do the Fathers and Saints have to offer for those living within a culture of death?

At his very beginning, man experienced the temptation to reach for a knowledge beyond him. In grasping for what was higher he in fact lowered himself below his own dignity. Today’s rapid advancements in technology place this perennial temptation before us in a new way.

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."- Acts 2:42

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions."- Joel 2:28

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions."- Joel 2:28

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions."- Joel 2:28

From the locked doors of the Upper Room, the ancient Christian Church would spread like wildfire through cities and villages of the Roman Empire, converting pagan kings and village farmers until it would be counted among the greatest religions that the world had ever encountered.

While many are inclined to think of a church building as a merely neutral setting for liturgical rites, liturgical art and architecture can play an active role in a worshiper’s full and conscious participation in the liturgy by embodying the notions of fulfilled typologies of the Old Testament as well as the anticipated glory of Heaven.

From the locked doors of the Upper Room, the ancient Christian Church would spread like wildfire through cities and villages of the Roman Empire, converting pagan kings and village farmers until it would be counted among the greatest religions that the world had ever encountered.

From the locked doors of the Upper Room, the ancient Christian Church would spread like wildfire through cities and villages of the Roman Empire, converting pagan kings and village farmers until it would be counted among the greatest religions that the world had ever encountered.

From the locked doors of the Upper Room, the ancient Christian Church would spread like wildfire through cities and villages of the Roman Empire, converting pagan kings and village farmers until it would be counted among the greatest religions that the world had ever encountered.

Today, with the disintegration of Christian culture, Catholics face new and greater challenges in living the life of holiness. What must Christians do to persevere in the face of the crisis in modern culture?

Fr. Hezekias Carnazzo leads a study of some of the great men and women of the Apostolic, Nicaean, and post-Nicaean ages of the Church. Learn about St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyred in 117 A.D. in Rome; St. Polycarp, martyred c. 155 A.D. in Asia Minor; St. Mary Magdalene; and St. Mary of Egypt (c. 344-421 A.D.).