Current Student Reminder: Tuition Due

With the exception of students who are enrolled in a payment plan, all current students in the Hartford Catholic Biblical School are expected to complete their tuition payments in October. Total tuition due is $350 (less any scholarship funds received).

For-credit students are also reminded that your $80 administrative fee is due this month as well, for a total payment of $430.

If you have not already made your final payment, please send a check payable to OEEC for the remaining amount to: Office of Education, Evangelization and Catechesis, Attn. Jill Costa, Archdiocesan Center at St. Thomas Seminary, 467 Bloomfield Ave., Bloomfield, CT 06002.

As Sandy Everett, Year 3 student, reminded me yesterday, tuition in most Catholic Biblical Schools across the country are typically much higher than our tuition! Thanks for responding promptly in this matter.

Hasmonean coins from the era of John Hyrcanus I, 127-104 BC(E).
Not redeemable for CBS tuition!

Added Value! CBS Audio Presentations Online

I'll be the last to suggest that the Hartford Catholic Biblical School (HCBS) rides the cutting edge of technology. We're slow to keep pace, but we do get there eventually.

Take our new initiative this fall. Students currently enrolled in the Catholic Biblical School core courses can now access class lectures online, from the Office of Education, Evangelization and Catechesis website: www.catholicedaohct.org. Three of our teachers are offering recordings of class lectures in CBS 100 (Year One, Alexis Chacchia); CBS 200 (Year Two, Amy Ekeh); and CBS 400 (Advanced Year, Orange Workbook, BJ Daly Horell). Students can now review class lectures in audio form as they prepare their self studies (homework) each week. 

Demonstrations of the system were provided at each of our Opening Scripture Days. If you are a current student and need help gaining access, please contact us in the Office of Education, Evangelization and Catechesis and ask for tech assistance: (860) 242-5573. 

Now, once you've registered and can log in, you'll see a list of sound files that have file names that look like this: 10.04.17 CBS 400 1.5 BJ. That indicates the date of the lecture (October 4, 2017) the course number (CBS 400/Advanced Year, Orange Workbook), the lesson number (Unit 1 Lesson 5) and the initials of the instructor (BJ, for BJ Daly Horell). 

And you'll probably notice that we are still working out some of the kinks, so please bear with us! For example, the sound quality of the CBS 400 recording this week is not what I wished for. We will persevere, however, and we expect eventually to have a library of 120 lectures available online for students in the HCBS core program.

Living and Leading in God's Word

Call me no longer Naomi. Call me Mara,

for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me. (Ruth 19:20)

Like Naomi in the book of Ruth, Sheila Clare DeLuca, CBS Class of 2016, seems to have God's poetry within.

Exhibit A: "Call Me Mara"

A contributor to the new Wisdom Commentary series DeLuca writes: "I love Mara.... I understand her sorrow but, even greater, her failure to grasp her God's wisdom as she declares the numerous 'afflictions' she has received at God's hand.... This is the place most difficult to acknowledge for the faithful; where we feel neglected, rejected, or forgotten by the One who matters most to us.... This loss of relationship ... brings the faithful to a crossroads: one made by God." (Wisdom Commentary, Vol. 8, Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2017, p. 48)

The new biblical commentary series from Liturgical Press is currently in process. The Ruth volume is written by scholars Alice Laffey and Mahri Leonard-Fleckman (former CBS faculty member). Each volume in the series intends to invite additional voices, co-authors like Sheila DeLuca, to enter into dialogue with the text in meaningful ways.

I give thanks to God for Sheila, who is living and leading in God's word on an international level, and for all in our communities who are engaging God's Word in fruitful ways as missionary disciples.

How will the Bible inspire you? To find out, Read, Reap and Rise with the Catholic Biblical School.

Living and Leading in God's Word

Tommy Hynes, Catholic Biblical School (CBS) Class of 2019 and member of St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Manchester, puts his musical talent at the service of God for the benefit of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

As reported by Andy Krupowies in the Journal Inquirer, Manchester CT:

"Call it divine intervention. Tenor Tom Hynes does.... When people were making New Year’s resolutions in January, he prayed to God to help him tap into his creativity and create music. Months later, he had a song, thanks to his choir director [Jane Peacock] and a fellow choir member, which is now available online. WJMJFM 88.9 has been airing the song as well. Proceeds will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital....

“'This is a divine inspirational song that touches anyone who has lost someone close,' Hynes said."

Through weekly encounters with the Word of God, CBS participants like Tom Hynes are using their creative minds and hearts to make a difference in others' lives for the glory of God's Reign.

The song, "Heaven's Voice" is sung by Tom Hynes and fellow choir member, Pat Holmes.

To hear Tom and Pat sing "Heaven's Voice," click on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fInJ7BXgaI.

To benefit St. Jude Hospital, purchase "Heaven's Voice" for 99 cents at: Cdbaby.com.