Nicodemus Club

The club meets usually on the third Sunday of the month, from September through May, for 90 minute sessions beginning at 9:15 am.  Attendees may satisfy their Sunday Obligation by attending either the Saturday Vigil Mass at 5 pm or the 8 am or 11:30 am Mass on Sundays.  Meetings are held in the Religious Education Building, Room 106. Parishioners can join the classes at any time during the year; each instruction session is a 'stand alone' unit. 

Discussion is led by knowledgeable speakers recruited throughout the Diocese.

Discussion topics cover evey aspect of our faith. Topics are announced in advance in the parish bulletin. They are selected so as to equip the average layperson with a thorough knowledge and understanding of the teachings of the Church.

Knowledge gained will enable the layperson not only to understand but also to defend Catholic doctrine to those outside our faith.

All instruction centers around the three pillars upon which Catholic doctrine and all Church teaching are based: the Bible, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church.

Topics for instruction are covered in depth, and the classes are designed to give each attendee the tools to gain complete understanding of every subject covered. 

Presenters will endeavor to show how the teachings of the Church enable every Christian to fulfill their role in God's plan for humankind, and how God's love makes salvation available to everyone. Their objective will always be to stimulate trough and encourage discussion. 

Handouts, if any, are usually available for each session. They cover the topic for that day's discussion as well as the story of the life of at least one Saint.

Lay ministers from other parish programs may give brief presentations on occasion during the course of instruction, encouraging club memebers to join in their mission of their particular ministry.

All adults are welcome, but the first objective of the Nicodemus Club is to educate adult baptized and confirmed Catholics in the catechetical and spiritual aspects of the Catholic faith. In this process of catechesis, club members form a faith community, one which is also integrated into the larger parish community.

Club members are encouraged to enrich their parish community through engagement and prayer, continuing adult faith formation, service and good works.

The most important objective of the Nicodemus Club is to serve as a conduit for the illuminating grace of the Holy Spirit.

Nicodemus was a learned Jew, a Pharisee, and a member of the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin.  In the Gospel of St. John, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night for instruction.  It was to Nicodemus that Jesus revealed the necessity for Baptism: “No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5).”

The first Nicodemus Club was formed in an inner-city parish in Detroit.  The parish, once rich in parishioners, became the victim of urban blight and flight to the suburbs.  The new inhabitants of the parish were mostly minority and practically all non-Catholic.  Church attendance dropped off dramatically, and the Bishop considered closing the church. Rather than see his church close, the parish priest began a program of evening instruction.  Because his new students came in the evening, the program was dubbed “The Nicodemus Club.”  Needless to say, the church did not close.
 

For more information, please contact Gene Masters

865-539-2756
[email protected]