Draw on the information from your reading located in Lesson 1A and take the Comprehension Check Quiz on Religious Sense before you answer the following questions: Describe examples of the religious na

Module one lecture over view

If you were to spend some time in Barcelona, you would undoubtedly encounter La Sagrada Família, the world's largest unfinished Catholic church. It stands out on the horizon as a kind of strange panoply of spires and other jagged lines.

As one gets closer to the basilica (the word "basilica" has origins that have to do with the house of a king), one cannot help but notice the façade. The outside of the building is covered with statues depicting various scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. Interspersed within the sculptures are strange black portals that seem out of place. They interrupt the steady flow of the sculptures. Not only that, they are unintelligible from outside.

The strange, dark, even uninviting windows only make sense from the inside. Once inside the basilica, an array of color floods the interior and dances on the floor. The windows, transformed by the light passing through them from outside, suddenly become intelligible. One can make sense of them, but only from inside. See?

Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of the Catholic Church from 2005-2013, explains this phenomenon as follows: "From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor."1

This is the case for most Catholic churches one passes by. From the outside, the windows are rather foreboding. But once inside, they are something else altogether.

In many ways, reflecting on the experience of "unlocking" stained glass from the inside unlocks the aim of this course. From the outside, the Catholic Church, or Catholicism in general, seems strange, unfamiliar, and maybe even out of place in the postmodern world. However, if one manages to venture inside and is willing to see the whole world within, it is something different.

For this reason, Pope Benedict XVI continues reflecting on the image of stained glass, saying, "It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit."2

Welcome to a course at St. Thomas University that will accompany you on an academic journey to try to understand Catholicism from the inside. Given that STU is a Catholic university, Catholicism shapes the approach to education and a number of practices at the school. This course will provide valuable insights into why STU is the way it is.