Archbishop’s “go to” man, Brother Murphy, offers a Scripture study course through Archdiocese’s The Faith Centre.
Brother Joe Murphy cfc is all for delving. When it comes to holy Scripture, he’s been teaching others to do the same for over 50 years.
Recipients of his teaching passion include none other than The Faith Centre’s Fr Robert Cross to whom he taught religion in Grade 3 in Geraldton in 1962.
“I won’t say anything about him,” Br Joe said, cracking a furtive smile. “He can say what he likes about me.”
Br Joe was Archbishop Barry Hickey’s “go to” man when wanting to offer an open learning Scripture study course through The Faith Centre, the archdiocesan office for evangelisation established last year.
The course on offer is the same one Br Joe helped develop for the Lebone Catholic Bible College in Johannesburg.
“It’s equivalent to one year full-time study at a university but people who aren’t academically inclined can probably handle it because it’s at a level where you assume nothing; starting from scratch,” Br Joe said.
While there’s nothing wrong with personal reflection on the Bible, Catholics were missing out on the bigger picture if they didn’t investigate Scripture.
Context couldn’t be more important, Br Joe said.
“There’s so much fundamentalism – reading the Bible in a simplistic, literal way and … in the extreme it’s not healthy; it’s not healthy at all,” Br Joe said.
“Hopefully, this course is a sort of a balance (to that).”
The course is comprised of 18 study guides split into nine modules of which 16 must be completed to gain accreditation (eight modules).
Participants can pay for the distance learning course up front ($380) or can pay for each module separately ($55), to test the waters.
For more information, contact 6140 2420 or info@thefaith.org.au or visit www.thefaith.org.au.