Please help the St. Paul Center give
the world what it needs most:
Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate.
Dear Friend in Christ,
How do you change the world?
Some would say through politics. Others through military might.
And they’re right. Governments do change the world. So do armies.
But they don’t heal worlds. They don’t make broken people whole.
No government can restore hope. No army can help people find joy.
In our culture, many people have forgotten that. They’ve placed their trust in the wrong people and hoped in the wrong things.
And the results? More brokenness and more despair.
As Christians, we can’t follow suit. We can’t look to false Messiahs that promise change and only deliver more of the same.
Rather, our job, our sacred task, is to lead men and women to the only one who can heal, the only one who can mend broken lives and broken worlds: Jesus Christ.
That is what the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology does every day through ourJourney Through Scripture Bible studies.
Which is why I’m writing you today.
As you know, twelve years ago, my wife Kimberly and I founded the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology to help lead men and women to an encounter with Christ through the Sacred Scriptures and in the Catholic Church.
We believe, as St. Jerome did, that “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
We also believe that while you can’t know Christ without Sacred Scripture, neither can you really know Sacred Scripture without the Catholic Church.
Long ago, the Holy Spirit helped the Church discern which books of the Bible were divinely inspired.
In the centuries since, that same Spirit has helped her guide Christians in their understanding of the Sacred Page.
And for two thousand years, the Bible’s home has been the Catholic liturgy. There the Word of God is proclaimed, and there, in the Eucharist, the Word of God is fulfilled.
The Bible is indeed the Church’s Book.
Accordingly, soon after we opened our doors, we developed a Bible study program to help Catholics read the Bible as it was meant to be read: from the heart of the Church.
We wanted every Catholic—lay and ordained—to understand the story of God’s love for his people.
We also wanted every Catholic to see the connections between the Old Testament and the New Testament, between Word and Sacrament, and between liturgy and life.
Above all, we wanted every Catholic to come to a life-changing encounter with Christ, the Word of God made Flesh. A decade later, thanks to the help and prayers of thousands of supporters, we are astounded and blessed by how much progress we’ve made.
As of today, we have trained more than ten thousand people to lead our six Journey Through Scripture studies. Those people, in turn, have presented our studies to nearly a hundred thousand men and women around the world.
That includes men and women from all 50 states, plus at least fifteen countries, including New Zealand, Spain, Singapore, Ireland, Nigeria, Sweden, Kenya, Mexico, Chile, Canada, Argentina, Australia, England, Ghana, and Honduras.
I think it’s safe to say that the St. Paul Center’s vision for Catholic Bible study has truly gone global!
But to continue this vital work I need your help.
This year alone, we trained more than 750 people in seven different dioceses: Arlington, Houston, Milwaukee, Venice (FL), St. Louis, Nashville, and Steubenville.
It was at our annual training session in Steubenville, during the Applied Biblical Studies Conference, that we introduced the newest Journey Through Scripture study: “The Bible and Prayer.”
This exciting study is like a retreat for the mind and the soul, helping people enter into a transforming conversation with God rooted in Scripture and the Catholic tradition of prayer.
I am so proud of what the St. Paul Center team and all the Journey Through Scripturepresenters have accomplished.
Nothing, however, makes me prouder than when I receive letters like this one, which said:
“I just wanted to thank you again (and again and again) for this incredible ministry, which has enabled me to go from someone who barely knew the Bible's Table of Contents to someone now known (I sheepishly admit) as my church’s “Bible expert.”
She continued, “My parish is beginning to have ‘hearts kindled’ at the Word of the Lord, taught through the guidance of the Magisterium, utilizing the Catechism, and supported by your amazing studies.”
I was also thrilled to hear this from another participant:
“Through your study, I fell more deeply in love with God the Father and the whole Trinity.”
And from yet another:
“I finally have a resource to find answers for my non-Catholic co-workers. I have been getting questions about the Old Testament, and now I can answer them!”
Those are just three of the lives we’ve touch through this inspirational program.
Over the past decade, we’ve trained thousands of people to present these studies. Those people, in turn, have taken them to tens of thousands of people around the world.
But that’s not enough.
Millions, not thousands, of Catholics need these studies.
Unfortunately, I can’t go everywhere. Nor can my team. Our studies, however, can.
In the next few weeks, “The Bible and the Blessed Virgin Mary” will be available to Catholics around the world on video.
With the St. Paul Center’s Executive Director, Matt Leonard, as the presenter, Catholic parishes everywhere will now have access to these truly life-changing studies.
This is an exciting undertaking, more than a year in the making.
And even as I write, we’re preparing to film “The Bible and the Sacraments.” After that, God willing, we’ll move on to others.
But again, I need your help.
Your gift will enable us to produce more studies on DVD, market those studies, as well as continue writing new studies and training individuals to lead them in Catholic parishes.
Together, you and I will help people find Christ in the Scriptures and the Church. We will help them encounter the one Person who can heal this world.
Please, help me do for millions what we’ve already done for thousands.
Thank you for your prayers and support. Know that both the St. Paul Center team and I pray for you daily.
In Christ,
Dr. Scott Hahn
President
P.S. What our culture needs now, more than anything else, is Christ. Only he can heal our broken world. Help give our world what it needs. Support the St. Paul Center’s Journey Through Scripture studies and help introduce millions to Christ. Please pray for us, and send your most generous financial gift today.
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