The diocesan platform Porta Fidei premiered its latest course Jan. 20. Titled “The Human Person,” it’s led by Father Paul Scalia, pastor of St. James Catholic Church in Falls Church. The course sets out to answer one of the most asked questions, “What does it mean to be human?”
The answer is fundamentally rooted in theology rather than merely biology, Father Scalia said. The core principles of humanity rest on the truths that we are created, fallen and redeemed.
Father Scalia, who also serves as diocesan episcopal vicar for clergy, draws primarily on the book of Genesis as well as the four Gospels to demonstrate that God, through a free act of love, created humanity to be in relationship with him; man freely chose to reject God — choosing creation over the creator; and the second person of the trinity, Jesus Christ, became man to reconcile us with the Father and heal the division caused by sin through his Passion, death, and Resurrection.
Father Scalia argues that we can never truly know ourselves if we lack this understanding of the human person. He states that these truths not only provide an accurate picture of our status as God’s creatures — but they liberate us and enable us to be in relationship with him now and in eternity.
Find out more
To watch the course, go to portafidei.com.
