Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jan 20, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).
The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, founded by renowned Scripture scholar and longtime EWTN host Dr. Scott Hahn, is moving into a state-of-the-art, consolidated headquarters building in Steubenville, Ohio, this month.
In an interview with CNA, Hahn said the center’s new 25,000-square-foot building, slated to be blessed and inaugurated on Jan. 25, includes expanded “production studios, offices for our entire staff, a multipurpose conference room that will also accommodate liturgies, conferences for academics and clergy, and a library for research.”
Hahn called the new facilities “a dream come true” that will give the center “the ability to deliver the Gospel to people all around the world.”
”We’ve been reaching the world digitally for many years, but our equipment was primitive and our studios weren’t truly soundproof,” Hahn explained. “We did what we could with what we had. But our new studios are state-of-the-art. That means better quality and greater quantity of our video and audio content. That means new sets for hosting visiting authors and speakers,” he added.
Hahn said the new headquarters will also give the center “the ability to hold on-site events, ranging from small-scale talks and Bible studies to full-scale conferences for clergy, scholars, and lay leaders.”
“We’ve already planned our first-ever Scripture conference for deacons for fall 2024, and we’re planning to bring back our popular Scripture conferences for seminarians. We have three annual off-site priest conferences, which are now attracting over 600 priests — but priests also tell us they want smaller gatherings for practical training. All that will now also be possible,” Hahn stated.
Digital learning platform
The center’s digital learning platform, known as Emmaus Academy, aims to see “clergy and laity alike share in the experience of the two disciples on Easter Sunday: ‘Did not our hearts burn within us’ as the Scriptures were opened by our risen Lord,” Hahn said.
The Emmaus Academy, he said, “gives Catholics the ability to learn from world-class theologians as if they were right there with them in the classroom.” In addition, the center’s proximity to Franciscan University of Steubenville, where Hahn has taught for more than 30 years as a professor of theology and Scripture, also “gives us access to a wide variety of presenters, and our courses place a particular emphasis on Scripture as it’s encountered in the heart of the Church — the sacred liturgy,” he emphasized.
Founded in 2002, the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is an independent, nonprofit research and educational institution. According to its website, it “serves clergy and laity, students and scholars with research and study tools — from books and publications to multimedia and online programming.”
Three decades on EWTN
Hahn has appeared for more than three decades on EWTN programs (Note: EWTN is CNA’s parent company). These include interviews with network foundress Mother Angelica, appearances on “The Journey Home,” and numerous series such as “The Lamb’s Supper,” “Hope to Die,” and “The Bible and the Sacraments,” many of which are available online at EWTN OnDemand.
A former Presbyterian minister, Hahn chronicled his conversion to the Catholic faith in his 1993 book “Rome Sweet Home.” He and his wife, Kimberly, are the parents of six children and grandparents of 21.
Hahn is the author of more than 40 books, among which are “Understanding the Scriptures,” “Hail, Holy Queen,” and “Holy Is His Name.” He is also co-founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students and the Coming Home Network.
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I have benefited greatly from the writings of Scott Hahn through three decades. I am disappointed by his recent identification with Bishop Strickland in sedevacantism.
Is this center on the campus? Was it funded by the school and if not how? Who controls the center?
Hopefully Scott Hahn controls it, wouldn’t you say?
In reply to Tim Paul:
Having read several of his books, and listened to (including in person) many hours of Scott Hahn speaking, my reception of your comment assigns it as “not likely the case.”
A question in fairness (to all): do you think you might be taking a “narrative license” with your description of what Scott Hahn has said, or is there instead a quote you can offer that substantiates what you wrote?
Here’s Hahn’s facebook page with a link to Strickland’s letter now deleted from the the Tyler diocese website. This is a case of Hahn “identifying” or “caucausing” with Strickland in the mothballed bishop’s movement towards sedevacantism and schism.
https://www.facebook.com/Dr.ScottHahn/posts/pfbid0gUoKpSgo2UzRrpN6sHLKZ9i5C6TbmXWr54KpTEqEGCBV72KwrimGHfXmE1rbNN5Xl
OK. Thanks for the link.
I can venture further at this point to say yes, it does seem you are most likely taking license by using the term sedevacantism, whether intentionally or unintentionally, having the effect of smearing Scott Hahn, since can you offer no statement of Mr. Hahn that can support your “suggestion.”
And I will check the link, to see what is to be seen, and get back to you.
And in connection with Bishop Strickland, people can believe that he is a good, faithful shepherd, despite having perhaps himself being mistaken in some ways.
And at the same time, people can believe that many bishops “in good standing” per the ecclesial establishment are yet false shepherds, in contrast to Bishop Strickland. And people can marvel that false shepherds are promoted by the Pontiff Francis (and indeed by other popes), in stark contrast to this particular case.
Mr. Paul:
Just FYI, I followed up on your reply, at about 7:30 ET today, 24 Jan.
Cheers
In promised follow-up to Tim Paul…
Mr. Paul:
I went to the link you provided, which contained Scott Hahn’s words of appreciation for Bishop Strickland’s letter to the faithful of the diocese of Tyler. As you noted, the link has ow been removed by the diocese.
And in fairness to both Bishop Strickland and you, I searched for and found a copy of the letter preserved at several places, one of which is the website “Complicit Clergy,” and I share that here:
https://www.complicitclergy.com/2023/11/28/bishop-stricklands-open-letter-to-his-flock-after-his-removal/
Among other things, when reading together the Bishop’s letter, and Scott Hahn’s words of appreciation to him, it does turn out that neither of the two men say anything to support your suggestion about “sedevacantism.” Not do I see anything supporting your suggestion that Bishop Strickland was somehow in “schism.” Remarkably, it appears to be the case that Bishop Strickland was given no reason for his “removal” by those who we might understand view themselves as the chair holder(s) in “the front office.”
In closing, while it’s clear you don’t like Bishop Strickland, owing to the lack of any evidence you have offered to support your original claim, I find it unconvincing that you ever cared much for Scott Hahn either.
But perhaps you may have missed it, or forgotten, or just chise not to mention, that dome years ago Scott Hahn co-signed a letter, joining many other faithful Catholic theologians and others, addressed to the Pontiff Francis expressing their mutual concern that the Pontiff Francis was failing to confirm the faithful in the truth, or as its put in the Roman Canon, to “unite and guard and govern” the Church.
We might all recall, regarding the concerns about uniting the Church, that within the first year or so of the tenure of the Pontiff Francis, a man known to all of us blurted out (in public), that the Pontiff Francis himself might be “the cause” of schism, being the Pontiff who “splits the Church.” Who is this man who warned us about the Pontiff Francis splitting the Church? It was the Pontiff Francis himself.
So let us pray, with Bishop Strickland, and Scott Hahn, that the Pontiff Francis does not succeed in “splitting the Church,” as he himself warned he might be doing.
Cheers…until we might exchange views again…