THE CATHOLIC REVIEW: Symbolon: A New Way to Hand on the Faith—Again!
by Deacon Rick Bauer
Ten years ago, Symbolon became the Augustine Institute’s first parish program that was core to their mission of handing down the Catholic faith. It was designed to help every Catholic know the Nicene Creed. Since its initial release, it has been used for catechetical formation and in the Rite of Christian Initiation (recently changed to the Order of Christian Initiation, or OCIA).
Currently, Symbolon is available to stream in over 6000 parishes via Augustine Institute’s FORMED application (www.formed.org), including in the Diocese of Colorado Springs. A newly refreshed version was released in July 2024, and in this review we’ll walk through its features and improvements. Full disclosure: I am also a writer and developer for catechist certifications for the Augustine Institute, so I will try to keep my exuberance in check. Nonetheless, this is not so much a biased advert as it is a short guide to a resource that many in the Diocese of Colorado Springs have come to love and have used effectively to help others grow in the Catholic faith.
For those just starting out, we may ask ourselves, “what does this word ‘Symbolon’ mean?” In the early Church, Christians described their Creed — their summary statement of faith — as the “symbolon,” the “seal” or “symbol of the faith.” In the ancient world, the Greek word “symbolon” typically described an object like a piece of parchment, a seal, or a coin that was cut in half and given to two parties. It served as a means of recognition and confirmed a relationship between the two. When the halves of the symbolon were reassembled, the owner’s identity was verified and the relationship confirmed. In like manner, the Creed served as a means of Christian recognition; someone who confessed the Creed could be identified as a true Christian. Symbolon may encourage us to new understanding, which made it the perfect name for this effort.
Why a new version of a work devoted to the Creed, nearly 2000 years old? There has been a lot of change in the last 10 years, especially with technology. What was first published on discs and downloaded in classroom or home computers can now be streamed throughout the world. The quality of video technology has improved dramatically, and we have moved from the standard television clarity a decade ago to high-resolution color and the most modern technologies for sound, superbly produced in this new release of Symbolon.
Although the presentation quality is impressive, the subject matter took on a different aspect as well. While the first Symbolon thrilled us with scenes from the Vatican, Rome and the Holy Land — befitting its sacred sources, of course — the Augustine Institute decided to focus the new version of Symbolon on the Catholic Church in America. Starting in St. Augustine, Florida, the story of Catholicism in America is narrated through sites, stories, and saints from Colorado, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, California, New York, New Mexico, Indiana, and North Dakota.
We start historically with the first Catholic Church in America, the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in St. Augustine, and move through early colonial churches, churches that were founded by explorers and missionaries in the Great Lakes region and the western plains, as well as the Hispanic churches that were planted in California, New Mexico, and the southwest. We see a unified story of the growth, struggles, and blessedness of Catholics — saints, martyrs, lay faithful — in the midst of the variety of lands throughout North America, revealing how the faith has taken deep root in American soil and produced an authentic sanctity.
The original Symbolon communicated the grandeur of the Church. The updated version proclaims and teaches the same faith, but the way the story is told is delightfully different in that the Catholic Church is right around the corner, it is local. She fills our land with holy places of worship and sacraments, and reflects the sacred histories of its members, over the centuries. All of her believers are called to a life of holiness — not always in a foreign mission field, but right where we “live and move and have our being,” as St. Paul observed in Athens. One of the subtle but unmistakable lessons viewers take away is that, while the Catholic faith may be inspiring and spiritually dense, it is also a clear, understandable creed that fosters a desire for sacramental fellowship and the humility of holiness. These virtues are not just for the canonized, but they are possible for every disciple of Jesus.
Each of the 16 half-hour episodes features Augustine Institute theologians and on-location experts to deepen understanding and connection to the faith — revealing the profound ties between Scripture, Tradition, history, and prayer. Every episode concludes with a lectio divina (scriptural meditation) led by either Dr. Tim Gray, president of the Augustine Institute and well-known speaker and author, or Dr. Elizabeth Klein, associate professor of theology. This practice grounds all teachings in prayer, where the faithful live out their “vital and personal relationship with the living and true God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2558).
The Augustine Institute Certified Catechist training and certification course, updated for the new version of Symbolon, is now available. Members of the diaconate community from Colorado Springs took part in the filming of the special catechetical sessions delivered by Lucas Pollice, formerly a professor at the Augustine Institute and now serving our diocese as Director of New Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship. There are also leader and participant guides that provide additional resources and discussion questions to help integrate Symbolon into a variety of parish and school contexts.
— Deacon Rick Bauer
(For comments or to suggest a book that might be helpful for Catholics, write Deacon Rick at rbauer@diocs.org.)