CATHOLICISM: The Pivotal Players

The Leader's Guide includes the Facilitator’s Guide, all 12 lessons from the participant’s Study Guide, and an Answer Key for the Questions for Understanding. The Facilitator’s Guide details how to plan, promote, and present the study. 

For group study, you can present the program in 12 or 13 sessions of 60-90 minutes each.  Each session should include video viewing and group discussion of Study Guide questions. All study coordinators or group facilitators can also register for free training webinars.

Each lesson in the Guide provides detailed commentary on Bishop Barron’s video and “Questions for Understanding" based on the video, Scripture, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The “Questions for Application" in each lesson aid in connecting the material to our own lives and experiences.

You’ll go deeper with top experts from around the world, including:

• Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, Franciscan priest and preacher to the papal household (St. Francis of Assisi)
• Dr. Matthew Levering, renowned Catholic theologian and Thomistic scholar (St. Thomas Aquinas)
• Fr. Paul Murray, O.P., Dominican preacher and spiritual master (St. Catherine of Siena)
• Fr. Ian Ker, world's leading Newman scholar (Bl. John Henry Newman)
• Dale Ahlquist, founding president of the American Chesterton Society (G.K. Chesterton)
• Dr. Anthony Esolen, professor of Renaissance English Literature at Providence College (Michelangelo)

Participants should read the commentary in their Study Guide and prepare the questions before the small group discussion. This preparation can be accomplished either before or after viewing the video. The Leader Guide commentary was compiled under the direction and approval of Bishop Barron. 

SESSION TITLES: 

1) St. Francis of Assisi - Part 1

2) St. Francis of Assisi - Part 2

3) St. Thomas Aquinas - Part 1

4) St. Thomas Aquinas - Part 2 

5) St. Catherine of Siena - Part 1

6) St. Catherine of Siena - Part 2 

7) Bl. John Henry Newman - Part 1

8) Bl. John Henry Newman - Part 2 

9) G.K. Chesterton - Part 1

10) G.K. Chesterton - Part 2

11) Michelangelo - Part 1

12) Michelangelo - Part 2