Summer Academy. 

We may ask ourselves if it possible to be a truly Catholic believer without knowing and be familiar with basic notions of Catholic Theology. In order to provide better Catholic formation, the Portuguese Jesuits University Centres have gathered sixty skilful and involved university students and some young adults for an eight day theology summer academy. It took place in one of the Jesuit’s retreat houses in Portugal, more specifically in a small village called Soutelo, very near to the city of Braga in the north of Portugal.

From the 2nd of September to the 9th 2016, the sixty students learned to give better reasons for the faith they profess. Creating scenarios of a traditional boarding school, students have benefited from: an academy anthem, classes and exams, a commencement ball and a graduation ceremony, students’ Houses, trips to the locals of interest, master classes, theological debates between the different Students’ Houses, daily mass and prayer. The Courses offered included Systematic Theology, Ecclesiology, Church History, Bible, Catholic Morals and Ethics, Liturgy, Spiritual Theology among others.

The Faculty was formed by Jesuits, lay men and women and other teachers who have contributed to a better theological understanding of how to think about and how to answer to the contemporary challenges of our faith and culture.