LANE Kids

If St. Peter was the cornerstone of the early church, St. Paul was the capstone. A dramatic encounter with the risen Christ transformed him from a persecutor of the first disciples into the Apostle to the Gentiles. He traveled through the cities of the ancient Mediterranean world, moving through cultures, making disciples and establishing churches, instructing them in the foundations of the Christian faith. He wrote nearly a third of the New Testament. This class will follow the life of St. Paul, discovering the world he came out of and moved through as an evangelist. We will explore his conversion on the road to Damascus and his subsequent formation and acceptance by the apostles he formerly persecuted. We will follow him on his missionary journeys progressively deeper into the Roman Empire until they brought him to the city of Rome itself. We will see how, even from the dungeon of the Mamertine Prison in the Roman Forum, he continued to minister to the churches he had started, commissioned his protege St. Timothy, and evangelized even the Praetorian Guard in Ceasar’s palace. And we will follow him to his execution and burial outside the city walls. Join Greg Smith as he leads this seven-session journey through the life and times of St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles.Credit: 1.5 Hours per Session in Theology

Audrey Thomas introduces students to the principles of Catholic liturgical music. Credit: 1.5 Hours per Session in Spirituality

Jesus was many things: preacher, miracle worker, heir to King David, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. But he was also a storyteller. Jesus was not only the hero of the greatest story ever told, he was the greatest storyteller that ever lived. The parables of Jesus are evocative and provocative, with unforgettable characters, plots, and images that puzzle our minds but penetrate our hearts. They can be hard to understand—in fact, the apostles themselves asked Jesus why his parables were so hard to grasp. Jesus invites us to enter these stories so that the Holy Spirit can enter our lives. They have the power to change us from the inside out if we will let them in. Through seven sessions, Greg Smith will move through the parables, exploring their context and meaning. Credit: 1.5 Hours per Session in Spirituality

James White, the president of the West Michigan chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, spoke on how we can help the poor without inadvertently hurting them and ourselves. Topics include: Implementing wholesome and practical engagement with hurting people following Catholic Social teaching How to help struggling people in real life settings: neighbors, kids, the homeless, etc. How to avoid exacerbating problems Ideas for getting involved in the community Credit: 1.5 Hours in Evangelization/Methodology

In past centuries, the Catholic Church faced challenges over the nature of God and Christ. In the twenty-first century, the battle is over the nature of humanity. Because Adam and Eve were made in God’s image, our understanding of humanity affects our perception of God’s nature. As our sense of self becomes more distorted, so is our ability to see or hear our Creator. Psalm 8:4 asks a profound question of God: “What is man that you are mindful of him?” This course will explore what the Catholic Church teaches about the human person. We will look at the biblical narrative of creation and fall, St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, what the Church teaches about life in a fallen world and social justice, the transformation that makes us new creatures in Christ, the inevitability of death, the promise of resurrection, and the nature of humanity in a new heaven and earth when Christ returns to make all things new. Join Greg Smith as he leads this three-session course. Credit: 1 Hour per Session in Theology

The post-Christian culture of the secular West is becoming unrecognizable and disorienting to many Catholic Christians. What only a few generations ago seemed like differences of opinion have erupted into existential battles for the integrity of our faith and the existence of the Church. Social and political movements seem not just hostile to Christianity, they seem like rival religions determined to transform or extinguish the Catholic faith. But this is not the first time God’s people have seen society around them turning to strange new gods. The Israelites of the Old Testament saw their faith and nation corroded by foreign religions and false faith. Over the Catholic Church’s twenty centuries, it has continuously had to fight battles to preserve truth, goodness, and beauty from error, immorality, and the ugliness of sin. In this seven-part course, Greg Smith will show how most of the strange new gods we face today are simply the old strange gods dressed up for a new age. The good news is that the Catholic Church has answered and survived these challengers before, and has the experience to meet them once again. This course will draw connections between historic heresies and contemporary controversies, equipping participants with the Church’s responses to bolster their faith and share with those around them. Credit: 1.5 Hours per Session in Evangelization

The current pandemic isn’t the first time that the worship of God’s people was interrupted. Around six hundred years before Christ’s birth, God’s people were unable to worship for seventy years! Over seven episodes, this self-paced online course will tell the amazing story of why and how God brought them back from exile to restore the liturgy and rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. Credit: 1 Hour per Session in Theology

The Book of Jonah is a dramatic story of a man on the run from God. Everyone has heard of the incident of the prophet being swallowed by the huge fish, but what relevance does this spectacular narrative have for us today? Each session we will unpack one of the chapters of Jonah, exploring what it means for us as individual Catholics, as a parish, and for the Church in general. Credit: 1 Hour per Session in Theology