Divine Comedy: 3 notes

For those looking for detailed information on The Divine Comedy Study, scroll down 2 posts.

1. If you won't be able to make the first session on Thursday, May 19, we will offer a make-up session on Monday, May 23. Don't count on us doing this all the time, but if there's ever a time when most of you can't make it, we should be able to use Guadalupe Hall on Mondays. (We chose not to have the classes on Mondays this time around because Mark usually has to work late on Mondays. Thursdays are normally less busy.)

2. If you don't have Anthony Esolen's translation of Inferno* yet, we suggest you read one of the public domain versions that are available online. I was just now able to contact Professor Esolen to ask which he would recommend. Understandably, he doesn't think much of any of them, but says the Longfellow version is probably the best of the not-so-good. Check out this link which gives you various ways to view it. However, this link gives you a much easier-to-read online version. Click "Edition" at the top left and choose "Longfellow" which is the 4th choice down.

3. A note to students of our past studies: we want to give you a head's up that this is going to be quite a bit different than our other studies. Honestly, I rarely did the reading we were supposed to do before class (of course Mark did), but I got along all right following Jeff Cavins or Tim Gray. But this is more like a college course where you'll want to put the work in and be prepared ahead of time. Professor Esolen is great and very down-to-earth, and you can tell he knows Italian like a guy-on-the-street Italian (which are exactly the kind of people for whom Dante wrote The Divine Comedy)--but he's only going to cover the highlights of the cantos, not go over them word-for-word like some of our Bible studies.

I know we as a society have become quite unused to reading poetry, but just try your best to get through the assigned reading (cantos 1-8 for the first two combined lessons), and then you'll understand much more when you watch the DVDs. If you don't do the reading, you'll get an idea of what's going on, but you'll only get about 20% of the full content.

Once again, we would REALLY like to hear from you if you plan to attend. Don't need to hear from you if you are not coming.

--Celine

*Mark brought to my attention that all 3 books are not only available on Amazon but also at EWTN Religious Catalogue.

Flier and bulletin announcement for the study

(If you've come to this spot looking for full information on the Divine Comedy study, see the post below this one.)

Bulletin announcement for the study--if any of you can help get it published.

In this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has recommended all Catholics read Dante's Divine Comedy. We are happy to offer a DVD study on the trilogy this summer at Guadalupe Hall on the grounds of EWTN.  It is a Catholic Courses study taught by Professor Anthony Esolen of Providence College. 

We will begin a 4-part study of the first book, "Inferno," on Thursday, May 19 at 7pm. For full details please see EpiphanyStudies.blogspot.com or contact Mark McCoy at (205) 661-3693 or EpiphanyStudies@gmail.com.

I've also designed a not-very-good-looking flier. Email us at EpiphanyStudies.com if you'd like a copy to distribute or post around your parish.

PLEASE let us know if you're going to attend. It makes us feel better to know more than just 3 people are going to be there. (And you 3 know who you are who have told us you're coming. :-)

God bless,

Celine and Mark (who is lying down with ice on his ribs: in case you didn't know, he fractured a rib last week and is now home for a 2nd week since he's still not feeling well.)

Dante's Divine Comedy Starts May 19!

Hello Everyone,

We told our Bible study students at the end of last year that we had decided to study Dante's Divine Comedy this year since Pope Francis has requested everyone read the trilogy during this Year of Mercy.

Here's an article by Bishop Robert Barron on the importance of reading The Divine Comedy: The Spiritual Master Pope Francis Wants You to Read.

We have finally picked a date to start out with Dante's Inferno. That would be Thursday, May 19 at 7pm in Guadalupe Hall on the grounds of EWTN.

We will be using Catholic Courses' 3-part study with Professor Anthony Esolen as instructor.  Each book study is made up of eight 30-minute DVD lessons with a few questions for discussion after each segment. We will be doubling up the classes, so that will mean you'll have more reading to do at home beforehand.

We recommend you purchase Anthony Esolen's translations of the books: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso (covers may vary). Of course if you've already got your own set at home, you can use it, but Joseph Pearce tells us a Catholic commentary makes all the difference.

                                    

As soon as you get Inferno, read Cantos 1-8 for the first two lessons taking place on May 19.

---

Here is the schedule:

Inferno: May 19, 26, June 2, 9
Purgatory: June 30, July 7, 14, 21
Paradise: August 4, 11, 18, 25

Let us know if you plan to join us! Invite your friends too.

Mark and Celine McCoy
EpiphanyStudies@gmail.com

Prophets Schedule

Click the tab above for the Prophets Study schedule. We're combining sessions 4 and 5 as well as 7 and 8 in order to finish in eight meetings instead of ten.

Several have told us they can't come to some of the meetings and would like to borrow the CDs. We would rather not do that and will work with you to provide make-up opportunities. Since the sessions are short, we can either come in early at 6:15 (if Mark's work permits) or stay late and show the missed segment after the regularly scheduled one.

We hope this won't be necessary too often. It's a short study as it is and we're making it even shorter.

The Prophets: Messengers of God's Mercy

We have confirmed with EWTN that we will be able to offer The Prophets: Messengers of God's Mercy at Guadalupe Hall starting Monday, September 14 and running at the latest to November 16. Since the DVD sessions are 30-40 minutes long, we may double up a few and end earlier. Our start time will be 6:45pm.

A study guide is available from Ascension Press here, but we won't require it.

Our first meeting on September 14 will be a 30-minute introduction, so no preparation is required.

Update: Link to view content till 9/11/15

Theresa got us a link to review the Epic content until September 11, 2015. Click the link below to access. Thanks, Theresa!

Epic online content

Those of you who haven't been keeping up with the study from home will only have until Sept. 11 to get all your viewing done. If someone else offers the study, you might be able to register with them and then view online. Not exactly sure how that would work.

Reminder: we start at 6:30 tonight and will only watch the last session of Epic. We're done with Great Moments in Church History.

Last Epic class tonight! ...What's next?

Tonight is our last session of the Epic Study! Those of you who have been studying at home may want to come tonight: faithful attendees Dan and Elsie Troceen, unable to come to the last 2 sessions, discovered they couldn't view the video online. We tried ourselves and found we couldn't either. Theresa Brown has placed a call with Ascension Press to try to resolve this. She says we were supposed to be able to view the online content up to 2 weeks after the end of the class.

Some of you have been asking what we're going to do next. After a long study like this, all we think of is taking a break. And then we wait for inspiration. Yesterday we finally got inspired to offer The Prophets: Messengers of God's Mercy by Ascension Press. We will order it and take a look at the DVDs and study guide and then decide whether to offer it as a 10-week or 5-week course. The videos are only 30 minutes long, so we may do as we did with the Exodus study and double up the sessions and only have a brief discussion period for each.

We will NOT bother with online viewing since AP only offers that through a parish (as we had Theresa register our Epic study as taking place at St. Theresa's in Leeds).

It looks like we'll have to stick with Monday nights since Guadalupe Hall is unavailable other nights. If we do a 10-week course, we'll probably start Sept. 14; if a 5-week course, probably some time in October.