HOMEPAGE for this issue: September 19, 2012 // Download PDF Version // Click to install/update Adobe Reader on your computer

Augustine Institute invitation: Come explore new campus 

By Jean Torkelson

The Augustine Institute, the fastest growing Catholic graduate school in the United States, is inviting the public to explore its expanded new quarters at the Denver Tech Center.

Last week, Archbishop Samuel Aquila dedicated the new offices at 6160 S. Syracuse Way in Greenwood Village.

The Institute is encouraging the public to use the new facilities for meetings and Bible studies, spokeswoman Brenda Kraft said. Tours will be available at 4 p.m. Thursdays to visit the new complex, which includes a chapel, a state-of-the-art video and film studio, and a coffee house and Catholic bookstore open to the public. 

“We are excited about our new location at I-25 in the Denver Tech Center,” said Edward Sri, vice president of mission and outreach. “We have had more visitors in the last two months than in the last several years. It is a blessing for us to have people in the Denver area attending Mass and coming to our public lectures and enjoying our new café and Catholic bookstore.”

Since opening in 2005, the Augustine Institute has grown from 37 students to more than 200. It was founded as a direct response to Blessed John Paul II’s call for a new evangelization, a global outreach to the world further endorsed by Pope Benedict XVI. The Institute is supported by donors.

The Institute moved in July from cramped quarters at the Teikyo Loretto Heights facility on South Federal Boulevard because of explosion in the number of new programs and students and a tripling of staff.

“We’re bursting at the seams,” Kraft said.

An expanded curriculum
Core fields of study are theology, Scripture, history and pedagogy, with a major focus on the new evangelization. 

Additionally, the Institute is offering new parish programs and communication outreaches, including the new film studio, a new publishing and media arm, and an adult study program, ”Opening the Word.”

Given that 2012 is the Year of Faith, “this is the perfect resource to unpack the Sunday readings,” Kraft said.

The Institute already offers a youth ministry called YDisciple and an annual gathering of youth leaders from around the country. Most students study through “distance education,” a process of learning off campus through DVDs and other communication technologies.

The Institute is also in the process of developing an RCIA curriculum, under Sri’s direction, and with the support of nationally known Catholic authors and speakers including Teresa Tomeo, Curtis Martin, Patrick Coffin and Jeff Cavins.

Jean Torkelson: 303-715-3122; www.twitter.com/DCRegister