Deacon Carl Sommer

About Deacon Carl Sommer

Carl Sommer holds an MA in historical theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. He has one published book, We Look for a Kingdom: The Everyday Lives of the Early Christians. He is an ordained Deacon in the Archiocese of Saint Louis and has twenty-five years experience in ministry. He has ten years' experience as a religious educator in St. Louis, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.

Grace and Free Will in Spiritual Growth

In the 2000-year history of theology, some of our greatest thinkers have struggled to define the precise relationship between grace and free will in the lives of individual Christians. Are we free to choose the good? Do we need grace even … [Read more...]

“Put on the Garments of Christ”: Cyril of Jerusalem and the Origins of Lent

If Cyril of Jerusalem were among us today, he might merely challenge us to take our Lenten devotions a little deeper. In the Spring of 347, Cyril of Jerusalem delivered a series of teachings to the catechumens of Jerusalem.  In the … [Read more...]