In response to the Church’s call for a new evangelization, the Institute of Catholic Culture was founded in 2006 by Rev. Franklyn McAfee, S.T.D., and Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo, M.A., as an educational outreach project within the Office of Evangelization at Saint John the Beloved Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia. From its inception in 2006, the Institute has offered weekly seminars in Catholic history, philosophy and theology, with a strong emphasis on the study of Sacred Scripture.
Soon after its founding, the Institute established a web site (www.InstituteofCatholicCulture.org) and began recording its lectures as a way to reach those beyond the parish borders of Saint John the Beloved Catholic Church. From 2006 to 2008, the Institute enjoyed steady growth in attendance and began to attract attendees from all over the Northern Virginia / Washington, D.C. metropolitan area…
…Since 2006, the Institute has offered its attendees a panoramic view of history, philosophy and theology through the lens of the Catholic Faith, by delivering weekly lectures on topics such as:
• Salvation History
• Islam
• Henry VIII
• Saint Thomas Aquinas
• the Early Councils of the Church
• the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
• the Spanish Armada
• the Catechism of the Catholic Church
• the Angelic Choir
• Biblical Apologetics
• the Seven Deadly Sins
• the Byzantine Churches
• And many more.
By the beginning of 2009, the Institute of Catholic Culture averaged more than 100 people attending each lecture, representing more than 25 Catholic parishes per seminar and far outreaching its initial purpose as a parish-based catechetical project.
In response to the increased interest in the Institute’s regular programs and to the great thirst that adult Catholics have for authentic Catholic faith formation, the Institute of Catholic Culture was established on July 1, 2009, as a non-profit Catholic educational institute dedicated to the re-evangelization of our society through educational and cultural projects open to the public at no charge.
With a new mission and vision, the Institute of Catholic Culture, organized under a Board of Directors and with Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo as its Founding Director, set out to bring the Institute of Catholic Culture to the greater Northern Virginia / Washington, D.C. metro area. Soon, the Institute began attracting more and more attendees, averaging over 200 eager participants at its regular education programs and offering Catholic adult faith formation opportunities in over ten parishes in and around our nation’s capital.
Today, the Institute, while continuing to offer educational lectures in the Northern Virginia / Washington DC metro area, has expanded beyond its initial geographical region by offering live and on-demand video streaming of its programs, CD production of past seminars, and boasting over 250 hours of catechetic programs in its free, on-line audio library.