As each Augustine Institute graduate was called forward to receive their degree, Professor Christopher Blum asked, “Will you endeavor, with the help of his grace, so to use the knowledge and skills which you have gained with us, (to) always diligently serve Christ and his Church?”
Each of the 74 graduates responded to the dean “I will” during a graduation Mass and commencement May 9 at St. Thomas More Church in Centennial.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila celebrated the Mass for the Greenwood Village-based graduate program that’s focused on forming Catholics for the new evangelization. Its graduate degrees and certificate programs are designed to equip students intellectually, spiritually and pastorally to renew the Church and transform the world.
President Tim Gray along with faculty and staff joined the Mass and celebration when 70 students received Master of Arts degrees and four received graduate certificates.
Biblical school graduates study 73 books of Bible
Denver Catholic Biblical School students celebrated the successful completion of a four-year program this month with a graduation ceremony May 9.
The program’s 133 graduates this year studied all 73 books of the Bible in their classes and analyzed God’s word through lectures, small-group discussions and weekly coursework.
Their graduation was celebrated during a Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Denver. Father Scott Traynor, rector of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary that oversees the program, celebrated the Mass with Msgr. Bernard Schmitz, Father Humberto Marquez and Father Tadeusz Kopczynski.
The Biblical School program was founded by Sister Marcina Scott, O.S.F., in 1982. Thousands of adults have attended classes and graduated from the program designed to spread the power of God’s Word among the faithful in the Archdiocese of Denver. Sister Scott died in April.
Ben Akers is the current director of the Denver Catholic Biblical School and Catechetical School.
