By Dr. Scott Hahn
As one year draws to an end and a new year begins, I am humbled and amazed at how much has been accomplished by the St. Paul Center - how much more than I ever could have dreamed.
I sat down to make a list, but already it's too long for this column. But I want to give you some of the highlights.
I think you'll see why I'm so thankful - to God and to you:
• We finished three
on-line Bible studies for beginner, intermediate and advanced students - and we've started three more; at least 10,000 people have enrolled from 22 nations.
• Our website, which gets 50,000 visits a month from around the world, just won a "
triple excellence gold award for fidelity, resources and usability." Missionaries from Siberia to Latin America are translating our on-line resources for their people.
• There are more than 6,000 of you reading our
Breaking the Bread newsletter every month - in some places pastors are buying a subscription for all their parishioners or school families.
• Hundreds of you joined us for a biblical pilgrimage to Rome and a "Scripture cruise" to Alaska. (I hope you're planning for another trip to Rome next summer - see
here for details.)
• We lectured at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and published two important academic journal articles. The first issue of our journal,
Letter & Spirit, will be out at the first of the year. We're continuing work on a comprehensive Bible dictionary which Doubleday/Random House will bring out within a couple of years.
• We published popular books on the biblical basis for the sacraments and the Christian life.
• We finished the first-ever high school textbook on Scripture and salvation history, which is lavishly illustrated and includes maps and charts. We're making the final revisions on a textbook for seminarians. Both will be out next year.
• We officially launched our new nationwide
Parish-Based Bible Study Program and held a training weekend for Bible study leaders.
• We completed another television series, "Swear to God," on the sacraments for EWTN.
• We held our first annual West Coast Biblical Studies Conference with Father Mitch Pacwa, Jeff Cavins, and others. Registration is brisk for our second conference, January 29-30, 2005. (See
here for details.)
This is not a list of
my accomplishments, or those of the St. Paul Center staff and fellows.
You are full partners with us in this work. This is what
we have accomplished through the grace of God and for His glory. Who knows what He hopes to accomplish through us in the year to come!
In gratitude, I wish you a blessed new year!
January 2005 
