Since its founding in 2003 Catholic Adult Education for everyone has been at the heart of our mission.
Relaunched in 2021 with a fresh new look, Anima Education is a Catholic apostolate which offers formation which is accessible, personally rewarding and affordable.
“It was during the lockdown restrictions, while they were tackling the conversion of their philosophy and theology courses onto an entirely on-line footing, that sessional academics, Natasha Marsh and David Schütz realised that they shared a passion to “re-animate Catholic adult education” in response to the very real questions their friends, associates and parish contacts had been raising during the Covid crisis.”
Anna Krohn – Course Tackles the Big Questions. The Catholic Weekly 2/05/21
Building on the expertise of our teachers, Anima Education and Anima Education Lecturers, provide a range of Catholic adult formation courses in philosophy, theology, scripture studies and history. Topics will grow as new lecturers come on board.
We offer three ‘modes’ of teaching. Zoom only, Face to Face only or Mixed Mode (both). Covid has taught us to be flexible with our delivery but the ability to discuss and question in a led group setting is paramount to engaged learning.
Our popular ‘Introduction’ series is run periodically through the year in Melbourne as well as online. It is held across 5 weekly 2-hour sessions. The current four courses that are run through the year are:
Introduction To Church History
Introduction To Theology
Introduction to Philosophy
Introduction to Scripture.
All of these courses can also be run onsite in your parish or community group. Contact us to let us know if you are interested.
Our Current Lecturers are:
Natasha Petrakos has a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family. She teaches philosophy, theology, and ethics at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, and is a casual academic at Australian Catholic University. A former journalist, Natasha is the music director for the Parish of St John Henry Newman in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. She is thrilled to be working alongside David Schütz and Anna Krohn to resurrect Anima Education since 2021.
David Schütz has many years experience as a scholar and Catholic adult educator. He was the executive officer of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Council, a Lutheran pastor, liturgist, and is now editor of Gesher, the journal for the Council for Christians and Jews. He is also a Casual Academic at Australian Catholic University.
