| The Language and Catechetical Institute is a Catholic education and formation program for young people from Central and Eastern Europe and China. Through language training, catechesis and spiritual formation, the LCI equips its students with skills, knowledge, and zeal for the mission of rebuilding the Church in their home countries.
The LCI prepares students by:
- Providing practical training in language and computer skills;
- Teaching the Catechism of the Catholic Church and cultivating a
vibrant spiritual life;
- Building bridges between the cultures and spiritualities of the East and the West through shared experience of
Christian community life;
- Providing ongoing support to graduates as they promote the New Evangelization in their homelands.
The work of the LCI is an effective response to John Paul II’s urgent call for the new evangelization: “We have witnessed the collapse of oppressive ideologies and political systems… I sense that the moment has come to commit all of the church’s energies to a new evangelization and to the mission ad gentes” (Redemptoris missio, 3).Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, has said, “Gaming is the new hope for Europe.”
The idea for the LCI first arose in 1989, the year that is now marked as the end of Soviet Communism and the liberation of the nations of Eastern Europe. Even while the barbed wire and machine gun towers remained on the border, Architect Walter Hildebrand, who had just completed the renovation of a magnificent fourteenth-century Carthusian monastery, developed a vision for a Catholic academic community that would bring together students from the East and the West. In the ensuing two years, the barbed wire came down, Soviet troops were withdrawn and suddenly young people were free to travel to previously forbidden countries. The LCI opened its doors in 1992 and began to teach English and introductory theology to young people from post-Communist Europe who longed to learn their Catholic faith and to communicate in English so as to help rebuild the Church in their native lands.
The LCI is located in Gaming, Austria, in a restored monastery called Kartause Maria Thron. Gaming is picturesque a village in the foothills of the Alps, about 150 kilometers from Vienna. The Kartause had operated as a Carthusian monastery for centuries, and remains an important monument of Austrian history and culture.
The LCI shares facilities at the Kartause with Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ave Maria University, and the International Theological Institute. The presence of four educational institutes on campus creates a rigorously academic, diverse, and international community. Students, faculty, and staff share housing, meals and especially the celebration of the Eucharist.
It is no wonder that Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, has said, “Gaming is the new hope for Europe.”
Kartause Maria Thron
A-3292 Gaming, N.Ö.
Austria
Tel: +43 7485 / 98678
Fax: +43 7485 / 98470
Email: lci@twelverivers.org
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After suffering decades of religious persecution under Communism, the Church in Central and Eastern Europe is raising up a new generation
of leaders.
During the Cold War, Catholics in the West prayed daily for the conversion of Russia and the surrounding nations.
Now before us lie new challenges and new opportunities…
Excerpts of letters from Bishops of Eastern and
Central Europe |
“Thank you so much for your help in the Christian education of lay people in Russia. Every person who received formation at LCI has made a real impact in the Apostolic
field of our young Church.”
Archbishop Tadeusz
Kondrusiewicz
Archbishop of Moscow, Russia |
“As far as the Language and Catechetical Institute is concerned, our diocese has had only a positive experience with it and we are honored to cooperate with you… We would like to continue sending young people to your Institute, especially those who have a positive relationship to the Church and are open to religious dialogue and willing to sacrifice their interests for the interests of God.”
Mons . ThDr. Jan Babjak, SJ
Bishop of Presov, Slovakia |
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