2004 Conference - The Early ChurchDeep in HistoryHistoryThe Early Church

Classic Converts and the Early Church – Fr. Charles P. Connor

March 5, 2015 No Comments

Fr. Charles Connor discusses the impact that the example of early Christians and their writings had on famous converts to Catholicism throughout the ages.

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Study Questions:

-Have you ever heard of the Early Church Fathers? If so, what impact have they had on your understanding of Christianity?

-What was the purpose of the Oxford Movement? What was the surprising result of this movement?

-Why did Clement of Alexandria and Origen have such an impact on Cardinal John Henry Newman?

-Cardinal Newman stated that Protestantism “would need to become either far more rationalistic or more truly Catholic, or it would not hold up under controversy.” Do you think this is a prophetic statement?

-What importance does Cardinal Newman place on learning the contextual history of the writings of the Early Church Fathers? Do you think this is important?

Vocabulary:

Early Church Fathers: A title that gradually came to be applied to Christianity’s earliest teachers, who in the period of the Church’s infancy and first growth, instructed her members in the teaching of Jesus Christ and that teaching which He very specifically had given to His Apostles. An Early Church Father must be of must be of orthodox doctrine and learning, living a saintly life, and having a certain antiquity (usually, prior to the Council of Chalcedon).