1) Bread Broken for the World

The first part of this retreat presents Jesus as the true Bread broken for the redemption of the world by considering different aspects of Jesus’ personality, and what his self-sacrifice implied personally and concretely. The second part of the retreat states that the life of any consecrated person, whether a priest or a religious, is meant to be broken, like Jesus, for the enhancement of the world. The retreat also highlights how consecrated persons can best live their life of consecration in imitation of Jesus, the true Bread broken for the world. It can be organized as a six-day or eight-day retreat. It would be suitable for priests and religious.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

2) Spirituality for a Pilgrim

Whatever is our state of life in this world, whether we are priests, religious, or lay persons, we are pilgrims – people ‘on-the-way’ to our eternal destiny. Hence, the spirituality of a pilgrim should guide our life’s journey. This retreat clarifies the meaning and aim of pilgrim spirituality, and points to the truth that it embraces the totality of the pilgrim’s existence. The task of pilgrim spirituality is to harmonize the five aspects of the commandment of love – namely, self-love, love of friendship, communal love, neighborly love, and love of God. The greater the integration we achieve, the more we realize that the heart of pilgrim spirituality is living the attitude of “being-on-the-way”. This realization would help us to give appropriate expression to these five aspects of the commandment of love, according to our state of life, as priests, religious, or lay persons, as we make our pilgrim’s journey towards eternity. It can be organized as a six-day or eight-day retreat. It would be suitable for priests and religious.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

3) Retreat on Consecrated Life – In the light of St. Vincent Pallotti’s Life

This retreat is typically meant for consecrated persons, who live the spirit of St. Vincent Pallotti, the Founder the Union of the Catholic Apostolate. The retreat begins by asking the very question St. Vincent Pallotti asked at the outset of his spiritual journey – “Who is God?” and “Who am I?” Then, it moves on to consider Pallottine consecrated life as: living the hidden spirituality of Jesus; a life of love that is personal and real; a life that is open to all; a life of doing God’s will; a life of healing and forgiveness; a life of the cross; a life that carries Father’s love to others; a life lived to teach and build communities; a life that is paradoxical; a life that proclaims the Kingdom of God; a life lived for the glory of God; a life of prayer; and a life crowed gloriously at our death. The retreat ends by presenting Mary, Queen of the Apostles, as the model of our Christian and religious living. and a life lived in imitation of Mary, Queen of the Apostles.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

4) Jesus – Model for Consecrated Living

This retreat attempts to unfold the human nature of Jesus in its diverse aspects, such as: a man, who never sought himself; a man, whose love for others is personal, real, and unselfish; a man of forgiveness; a man of trust, a man of the cross; a messenger of Father’s love; a man of prayer; a man, lived to please the Father; a man of obedience; the King of Hearts; a teacher/community builder; a man of contradiction; a man died on the cross, and presented Mary, as the way to him. Having presented Jesus in his humanity, the retreat shows how consecrated persons can live their humanity imitating the manner Jesus lived his humanity. It can be organized as a six-days or eight-days retreat. It would be suitable for priests and religious.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

5) Jesus – A Man of Balance/Poise

This retreat begins by considering the parents of Jesus, and their formative influence on Jesus. Then it attempts to present the sense of balance and poise Jesus manifested in every aspect of his life as he was: a man of discipline, yet tolerant and accepting; a man for others, yet a man prayer, solitude/silence; a great organizer, wanting to succeed, yet not caught up with success, but accepting failures; a man of self-confidence, yet vulnerable and sensitive; a man of reflection, yet not a loner, but a man of dialogue; a man of responsibility, loyal to his tasks, yet a man of inner freedom, not bound by the letter of the law; a man of cheerfulness, yet capable of accepting sufferings; a man of inner strength, yet man of gentleness and non-confrontational; and a man of inner tranquility, yet a man of action. The retreat also shows how the poised and balanced personality of Jesus can be a model for every Christian – whether a priest, religious or a lay person

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

6) 30-Days Retreat/Seminar for Pallottines – in the Spirit of St. Vincent Pallotti

This 30-Days Retreat/Seminar is arranged in the light of St. Vincent Pallotti’s perception of the human person, as he unfolded in “God, the Infinite Love”, “Complete Works” and “Collection of Letters”. It comprises of five parts, each part consisting of six days. It can be done at a stretch or in five parts of six days. This can be done either as a five-part seminar or a five-part retreat. The first part, Human Person: Crown of Creation – deals with the human person as unique, as somatic-psychic-pneumatic, as mortal and immortal, as free, as image of God, and as obliged to live as Image of God. The second part, Human Person: Sinner-Redeemed– analyzes human person as inclined to sin, as a self-centered manipulator of creation, as a redeemed-sinner, as called to imitate Jesus – the perfect model, the manner of imitating Jesus, and called to live in the world. The third part, Human Person: Called to be in Relationship with Man and God – considers human persons’ perception of his fellowman, human relationship as life of fidelity and service, nature and expression of human relationship, divine-human relationship as a life of faith-hope-love, nature-characteristics-stages of divine-human relationship, and consequences of genuine divine-human and interhuman relationships. The fourth part, Human Person: Called to Community-Living – elaborates on community as the horizon of a person’s relationship with neighbor and God, as a journeying-together, as an entity of true spirit, as communion, as universal, and as apostolic. The fifth part, Human person: Steward of Creation – explains human persons’ relationship with the created world, as the caretaker of the created world, as the caretaker of others’ needs, as facilitator of others’ wellbeing, as the caretaker of God’s presence in the created world, and human person as the manifester of God’s glory. Thus, this program highlights the transformation of the human person from being the crown of creation into the steward of creation, as St. Vincent Pallotti visualized it.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

HUMAN SOCIETY & SOCIAL APOSTOLATE

1) Principles and Practice of Social Work

This course begins by unfolding the history of social work, its development over the years, and its implications for the present, as a scientific discipline. It aims at introducing the basic principles and theories of social work, and their practical application in the modern society, especially among women, youth, and the aged population. This course is useful for beginners, who attempt to understand the theoretical and practical dimensions of social work as a scientific study, and for those persons, who are active in the field, and practice social work in real-life situations.

Fr. Dr. Jerome Mariadhasan SAC

2) Church’s Social Teachings and its Relevance for Social Apostolate

From its inception, Catholic Church has given importance to Social Apostolate, and played a significant role in caring for the poor and the needy. It runs numerous institutions for the less-privileged and socially marginalized sections of the society in different parts of the world. From time-to-time various Church documents have provided theological base and practical guidelines for conducting social apostolate in today’s world. This course attempts to analyze the social teachings of the Church in historical perspective, and looks at their relevance for today’s complex modern society, with specific reference to India. Besides, it also focuses on current challenges social apostolate faces, and the effective ways of practicing it in the light of the social teachings of the Church.

Fr. Dr. Jerome Mariadhasan SAC

3) Understanding of Human Society: An Anthropological Perspective

Anthropology, as a scientific discipline, studies the origin and development of human society from a holistic perspective that includes the cultural, social, religious, and human dimensions. This course attempts to unfold the positive and negative impacts of social, religious, cultural, and human elements in the development of human society over different periods of time and generations. Such an anthropological analysis would give us a significant insight into the historical setting and background of many the present-day social, religious, and cultural evils, such as caste system, communal disharmony, poverty, and the like. Thus, this course aims to understand today’s human society from the anthropological perspective, so as to suggest concrete measures to create a better human society.

Fr. Dr. Jerome Mariadhasan SAC

ETHICS, PHILOSOPHY, & RELIGION

1) Ethics (Moral Philosophy)

Course on Ethics (Moral Philosophy) begins with an introduction that considers its definition, subject matter, and methods, its relationship with other allied sciences, its possibility as a scientific study, and distinguishes between ethics and meta-ethics. Then, it elaborates on the notions of good and evil. Having done this introductory work, the course on Moral philosophy expounds the topics: nature of human acts, ends of human acts, norms of human act, morality of human act, and consequences and properties of human act. The course ends with an analysis of the notions of duties and rights.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

2) Ontology (Philosophy of Being)

In the “Introduction”, the nature, scope, and task of Ontology (Philosophy of Being), and the question of certitude are considered. Then, the ‘question of being’ as developed in the thoughts of Greek thinkers is historically traced. This historical analysis provides the starting point to raise ‘the question of being’ and discover reality of being, in the realm of act and potency – the principles of finite beings. Then, discussing the ‘problem of being and becoming’, the nature and types of change, and spatiality and temporality of finite beings are elaborated. Considering ‘causality as key to transcendence’ notion and kinds of causes, with specific emphasis on efficient causality are explained. Analysis of efficient causality raises the ‘question of Uncaused Cause of being’, and the course attempts to prove the existence of Uncaused Cause of being, by giving both ontological and cosmological demonstrations. The last three sections of the course: clarify the notion of being by using negative judgement of separation and analogy; expound the transcendental perfections of being – namely, unity, truth, and goodness; and explicate the ‘problem of one and many’.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

3) Cosmology (Philosophy of the World)

In the “Introduction” to this course, the nature, subject-matter, object/aim, postulates and importance of Cosmology (Philosophy of the World) are explained. Speaking about what bodies are – nature and essential constitution of bodies are discussed. Nature of bodies include topics such as: the world of real bodies; the characteristics, marks, quantity, quality, and activity of bodies; and notions of space/place and motion/time. Clarifying the essential constitution of bodies, cosmological theories, such as monism, atomism, dynamism, and hylomorphism are explained. Elaborating on origin and end of bodies, theories of world origin, with specific reference to creationism, the theories of the end of the world, and the possibility of anhelation of the world are elucidated. Highlighting the finality of bodies, meaning and kinds of causes, nature and function of final cause, and the problem of existence of finality in bodies are clarified. The next section illustrates the nature and the laws of nature. The course ends with the analysis of the meaning, kinds, and possibility of miracles, as miracles involve the suspension of the laws of nature.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

4) Contemporary Indian Thinkers

In the “Introduction” to this course, we state that “Contemporary Indian Philosophy” refers to the thinking of the Pre-Independence and Post-Independence periods, often known as Indian Renaissance. Philosophy in India was moving in a regressive mode from 6th century A.D. up to Independence, because of the Muslim and British invasions of India. However, the philosophy of Indian Renaissance displays ten striking characteristics that distinguishes this period from earlier periods in the history of Indian philosophy. This course will briefly speak about these ten characteristics the philosophy of Indian Renaissance, and elaborate on the philosophical ideas of ten significant thinkers of this period. They include: Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Shaikh Muhammed Iqbal, Rabindranath Tagore, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya; Aurobindo Ghose, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Jiddu Krishnamurthi, and Osho Rajneesh.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

5) Comparative Religion

“Introduction” to this course clarifies the meaning, method, scope, purpose, and functions of Comparative Religion as a scientific study, and the difficulties associated with comparative study of religions. First section, classifies religion into three broad categories: primitive religion, eastern/oriental religions, and semitic religions – religions of western influence. In considering the basic concepts of oriental religions, the second section compares the notions of God, soul, immortality, Karma, rebirth, and salvation, and pathways to salvation in Hinduism and Buddhism. Third section compares the basic concepts of semitic religions, such as God, sin and atonement, resurrection and the kingdom of God, and methods of salvation in Christianity and Islam. Fourth section makes some significant comparisons between primitive religion, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. The course ends by exploring the possibility of a World Religion, highlighting its nature and characteristics.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

6) History of Ancient Western Philosophy

Ancient Western Philosophy can be seen in three periods – pre-Socratic philosophy, Socratic philosophy, and post-Aristotelean philosophy. Pre-Socratic philosophy includes: the early Ionian school, Pythagorean school, Eleatic school, Later Ionian school, Atomism, and Sophism. Socratic philosophy comprises: Socrates and Socratic schools, Plato and Platonic schools, and Aristotle and Aristotelean schools. Post-Aristotelean philosophy includes: schools of the moral transition, such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism, and Eclecticism; and the schools of mystical transition, such as Greco-Jewish philosophy, and Neo-Platonism.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

7) History of Medieval Western Philosophy

This course unfolds the history of wester medieval philosophy in three parts: Patristic philosophy (1 – 800 A.D.), Scholastic philosophy (800 – 1400 A.D,), and period of decline of Scholastic philosophy (1400-1600 A.D). Patristic period includes the heterodox systems of Gnosticism and Manichaeism, and the orthodox philosophy of the Church Fathers, which comprises of ante-Nicaean period and post-Nicaean periods. From 500 – 800 A.D. was a period of intellectual stagnation, due to political instability. Second part – Scholastic philosophy – covers the periods of Islamic Scholasticism, Jewish Scholasticism, and Christian Scholasticism, explaining their historical background and the philosophies of significant thinkers. The third part – decline of Scholasticism – highlights the causes for the decline of Christian Scholasticism, the prominent schools of this period, and the state of Christian Scholasticism in the 15th and 16th century.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

8) History of Modern Western Philosophy

History of Modern Western Philosophy begins with Renaissance Philosophy, which includes: the Humanistic Period – represented by sociopolitical philosophers, such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Sir Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Thomas Campanella, and Thomas Hobbes; and Natural Science Period that produced great scientific thinkers, such as Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilee, and Sir Isac Newton. Then, the three major schools of modern philosophy are expounded: Continental Rationalism is represented by Rene Descartes, Benedict Spinoza, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Some minor schools stemmed from the thoughts of these thinkers are also considered. British Empiricism is explained in the light of the philosophies of John Loke, Geroge Berkely, and David Hume. Other schools associated with British Empiricism, such as Sensism, English Moralism, French Sensationalism, and Commonsense School of Thomas Reid are also considered. In clarifying German Idealism, the philosophies of Immanuel Kant, John Gottlieb Fichte, Fredrich Wilhelm Josef Schelling, Fredrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, George Wilhelm Frederich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Eduard Hartmann are analyzed. Schools, such as Neo-Kantianism and Neo-Hegelianism are also explained.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

9) History of Contemporary Western Philosophy

Contemporary western philosophy represents a number of schools and currents of thought that emerged during the last century. So, this course’s focus is on different currents of thought. However, we may use the philosophical ideas of one or more thinkers in expounding a particular current of thought. Some of the currents of thought we will consider are: Classical Positivism, Dialectical Materialism, British Utilitarianism, Evolutionary Naturalism, Pragmatism, Neo-Realism vs. Critical Realism, Analytic Philosophy, Process Philosophy, Logical Positivism, Neo-Idealism and Personalism, Neo-Scholasticism, Phenomenology, Existentialism, Postmodernism, and thoughts of some later thinkers, such as Bertrand Russel, Gottlob Frege, Peter Fredrick Strawson, and Willard Van Orman Quine.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

10) Hermeneutics

This short course on Hermeneutics attempts to bring to light the western hermeneutical movement in historical perspective. Tracing the origins of western hermeneutics in the Greek culture and the Biblical tradition, particularly as it took shake in the Protestant tradition, with specific reference to Martin Luther and Flacius. Having done this preliminary task in the “Introduction”, the course outlines the development of western hermeneutics in the Romantic Hermeneutics of Schleiermacher, Historical Hermeneutics of Wilhelm Dilthey, Phenomenological Hermeneutics of Martin Heidegger, and the Philosophical Hermeneutics of Hans-George Gadamer.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

11) Theological Anthropology of St. Vincent Pallotti

Theological Anthropology of St. Vincent Pallotti visualized the human person holistically, and unfolds the dynamics of his spiritual evolution. This evolution begins when God creates the human person as the crown of creation, making him in God’s own image and likeness. However, human person frustrates God’s plan for him by his disobedience and sin. God, in his loving mercy, through Jesus’ suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection offers him the possibility of redemption, which in fact is a recreation. Opening himself to the redemption merited by Jesus, the human person becomes the sinner-redeemed. As the sinner-redeemed, he is called to enter into relationship with God and his fellow human persons, and to build up relationship of communion with other sinners-redeemed and people of good will, thereby live a genuine community-life. Living in faith, hope, and love in the spirit of communion within the community, the human person realizes that his vocation in life is to become the steward of creation, which calls for becoming: the caretaker of the created world; the caretaker of the presence of God in the created world; the facilitator of other persons’ wellbeing; and above all the manifester of the God’s glory. Thus, the theological anthropology of St. Vincent Pallotti visualizes the holistic transformation of the human person from being the crown of creation into the steward of creation.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

PSYCHOSPIRITUALITY

1) Journal Retreat: A Way to Self and God Discovery

Journal retreat involves 8-days spent in solitude and silence in order: to get in touch with our lives in terms of the past, present, and future; to see how God and others have played their roles in our lives; to see how we have fared in our lives; and to know where we can move to in our lives. This retreat makes use of age-old “journal-writing-method” ingrained in the Christian tradition as a tool to enter into the inner sanctuary of our lives, in order come in contact with persons who have touched our lives, the works we have done, our successes and achievements, failures and disappointments, pains and gains. We use these contents of our lives to reconstruct our personal histories in terms of the past, present, and future – so as to perceive our past in relation to the present, and move from the present, enlightened by the past, into an enriched future – thereby see the unity and continuity present in our lives from our birth up to now, despite life’s diverse experiences. The ultimate aim of the retreat to help us develop a faith-vision – that is viewing our life as part of God’s plan – just as biblical persons saw their lives, which St. Paul so beautifully expresses in Rom 8: 28 – “In everything God works for good to those he loves.” We do this task with the help of four themes: 1) Present Moment – It focuses on the present period of our life; 2) Salvation History – It deals with the past that preceded the present moment; 3) Relationships – It deals with the whole gamut of relationship that we have in our “in-the-world-encounters” – such as persons, works, body, community, and the like; and 4) Prayer – It unfolds our relationship with God – the most significant relationship of our lives.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

2) Enneagram Personality Types

This course on Enneagram presents Enneagram as a model of personality-gauging that attempts to understand human persons in terms of nine universal personality types that are interconnected and related to each other. Though everyone’s personality is a mixture of all nine types, one type would be dominant and a person’s core type, influencing that person’s feelings, attitudes, and behaviors. The triadic categorization of these nine types into “heart-types”, “head-types” and “gut types” would also be explored. Besides, this course would elaborate on the positives and shadows, personality wings, and instinctual variants/subtypes – namely, preservation type, one-to-one type, or social type – of each of the Enneagram types.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

3) Enneagram Types – Compatibility

Analyzing compatibility of Enneagram Types for genuine relationships, this course attempts to lay open the core motivations, fears, limitations, triggers, pitfalls, beliefs, behaviors, and unconscious patterns that drive decision and choices of each Enneagram type, so as to provide a framework for closer connections, in which partners can work together to support, understand and love each other better. The knowledge of the positive and shadow traitseach Enneagram type brings into a partnership can give an idea of what you can expect from your partner based on the Enneagram types of the partners. There is neither a perfect Enneagram-pairing, nor any partnership is bound to fail – for healthy people of any Enneagram Type with right knowledge of their personality type and of their partners can make their relationship healthy and work for the better, even though some Enneagram types may naturally match better than others.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

4) Enneagram Types – Path of Growth

Enneagram system of personality-gauging visualizes human personality in terms of 9 personality types that are interconnected and related to each other. Hence, the path of growth of each of the Enneagram personality types and they becoming their authentic self depends on and facilitated by adopting the healthy and positive traits of two Enneagram types to which each personality type is essentially linked. This course explores those two Enneagram types to which each of the 9 Enneagram types isorganically linked, and how knowing and adopting the positive traits of those two Enneagram types can enable each Enneagram type to move in the spiritual path of growth and authenticity.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

5) Enneagram Types – Path of Stress

Enneagram system of personality-gaugingvisualizes human personality in terms of 9 personality types that are interconnected and related to each other.Hence, just as the path of growth and authenticity of an Enneagram type is essentially linked to adopting positive traits of two organically related Enneagram types, the path of stress of each of the Enneagram types is also fundamentally connected to getting caught up in the shadow traits of a naturally interrelated Enneagram type. Persons of that specific personality type can beat their stress by shunning the unhealthy and shadow traits of the essentially linked Enneagram type, and by embracing its healthier and positive traits instead. This course elaborates on that specific Enneagram type to which each of the 9 Enneagram types is obviously associated, shunning its unhealthy traits, and adopting its positive and healthy traits, can empower each Enneagram type to move away from the path of stress, and move towards genuine growth and authenticity.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

6) Enneagram and Enneagramic-Jesus

Christians believe that Jesus, by his incarnation, has redeemed the whole of human nature in its totality. Understanding this truth in terms of Enneagram system implies that Jesus by assuming human nature, embraced everything in human nature that needs to be redeemed – that is not only the positive traits of each Enneagram type, but also the compulsion and avoidance of each Enneagram type, and their consequent pitfalls/traps. Hence, unlike other humans, Enneagramic-Jesus, instead of taking one quality of being a person by working with one compulsion and avoidance, accepted to live all the qualities of humanness, work with all compulsions and avoidances, and thereby achieved perfect humanness. Because Enneagramic-Jesus accepted, by his incarnation, all nine ways of being human, and lived them without their respective compulsion/avoidance, his personality is Enneagramic – that is all nine Enneagram types are integrated in the most perfect manner. Thus, Enneagramic-Jesus and his Enneagramic-personality can become a model for all the nine Enneagram personality types in their journey to self-discovery, dealing with their compulsions/avoidances, and their path to true freedom. This course attempts to unfold the Enneagramic-personality of Enneagramic-Jesus and presents Enneagramic-Jesus as a model for each Enneagram type.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

7) Enneagram Types and Prayer

This course attempts to explore three types of prayer suitable for the three categories of Enneagram types – the head-type, the heart-type, and the gut-type. 1) The head-centred prayer, suitable for the head-type persons – Enneagram Types 5, 6, and 7 –is focused meditation. It involves absorption, union, and is outer-directed. One must discipline thoughts and feelings, and focus attention on a fixed object or image. 2) The heart-centred prayer, suitable for the heart-type persons – Enneagram Types 2, 3, and 4 – is expressive prayer. It involves freedom, transparency, and surrender of one’s true nature. It is inner-directed; and allows the flow of energy buried under roles, programming, and conscious intentions. 3) The gut-centred prayer, apt for gut-type persons – Enneagram Types 8, 9, and 1 – is prayer of quiet/quiet prayer. It calls for silencing the mind – which implies: removal of thoughts and feelings; and remaining in the state of bare attention, emptiness, detachment and receptivity.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

8) Astro-psychology

Traditional natal/horoscopic astrology is mundane in nature, and focuses on predicting about, both personal and worldevents. This general practice of astrology often makes us feel that we are at the mercy of fate and the planetary movements of the cosmos. However, modern western astrology takes a psychological, counseling-based, and evolutionary approach that concentrates on: gauging personality, self-knowledge, personal development, relating to others, achieving goals, and career-enhancement. For this reason, we call it “astro-psychology”. This course attempts to spell out in detail these new developments in the understanding and practice of astrology.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC

9) Numeropsychology

Traditional numerology, like astrology, is mundane and predictive in nature, and attempts to look into the future of a person, by using the power of numbers. However, psychology has embraced numerology, so as to give a new thrust to using numbers as a tool to gauging personality types, understanding self and others, building better relationship between people, and personal/career development. For this reason, the name “numeropsychology”.In this course, we attempt to highlight the psychology-related developments in numerology.

Fr. Dr. Vensus George SAC