This January at the Dominican convent of St. Joseph in Warsaw, began the Studium Dominicanum - School of Philosophy and Theology under the patronage of the Servant of God Fr. Jacek Woroniecki O.P. This is the second Dominican offer of study philosophy and theology for lay people - after the already existing at our convent in Cracow - the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology.
For Warsaw's Studium Domincanum lectures enrolled 170 students. They are lay people of all stages of life (25 - 70 years of age) who wish to expand their knowledge of religion. "So huge interest was caused by a sort of hunger to learn about various aspects of Christian thought and the foundations of faith, which have developed the Church throughout two thousand years. Acquired knowledge can, to some extent, enable our students to navigate freely through the space of religious and intellectual struggle between faith and reason, and above all, to be trustfully open to further deepening." - says the director of Studium, Fr. Dr Norbert Lis O.P.
The Studium Dominicanum has undertaken the cooperation with both academic as well as the formative institutions of Polish Dominican Province, including the Thomistic Institute, the Dominican Centre for Information on New Religious Movements and Sects, the Eastern Christian Studies, and the College of Philosophy and Theology of the Dominican friars.
The Studium will hold a series of lectures consisting of two cycles. The first one will run until June of this year and will be dedicated to the most important issues of philosophy and theology. Topics to be covered will include i.a the issue of "Liturgy - Source and Summit", "The Essence of the Sacrament of Baptism", "Elements of the Philosophy of Religion", "History of the Doctrines", "Introduction to the Bible", "The Virtues according to St. Thomas Aquinas," "Elements of Christology" and "The New Evangelisation and the Laity". The second cycle - from October 2013 to June 2014 - will consist of lectures and workshops on the Dominican tradition of thought: St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, the German mysticism (Meister Eckhart, John Tauler, Bl. Henry Suso), St. Catherine of Siena, Thomism and Neo-thomism. The completion of the study entails no formal consequences.
Held two Saturdays per month lectures are lead by reknown experts in their fields from all over Poland, not only Dominicans. At the start of the introductory lecture students received the Dominican blessing from the hands of the Provincial, Fr. Krzysztof Popławski O.P.
Patron of the Warsaw's Studium Dominicanum is the Servant of God - Fr. Jacek Woroniecki O.P. (+ 1949), the founder of the convent of St. Joseph and the originator of foundation of Warsaw's studium generale for the Dominicans of Central and Eastern Europe. Fr. Jacek, magister in sacra theologia, was a specialist in the field of moral theology, i.a. the rector of the Catholic University of Lublin. The process of his beatification is on-going since 2004.
A very similar initiative have operated for several years at the convent of the Holy Trinity in Cracow, the oldest existing Dominican convent in Poland, where the Polish Dominicans are trained. The participants of the Dominican College of Philosophy and Theology can get to know the great tradition of Christian philosophy and theology, in a systematic and thorough way. There are 275 students enrolled in the three academic years. Classes are taught by Polish Dominicans and lay teachers.
(March 22, 2013)