Mission
Under the patronage of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the mission of the Avila Institute is to draw Christians worldwide into deeper union with Christ through mystagogically oriented spiritual education and formation.
Who We Serve
- Priests, Deacons and Religious: Those who provide formation to members of their congregations, their orders, and their dioceses.
- Laity: Those involved in the formation of others as Spiritual Directors or Mentors, DREs, Catechists, RCIA Instructors, Baptismal Class Instructors, Parents that home school, Pre-Cana Instructors.
- Professionals: Catholic Counselors, Therapists, Social Workers, Psychologists, and Chaplains.
- Individuals: All those seeking to deepen their relationship with Christ through the spiritual patrimony of the Church.
- Faithful Poor: The faithful poor around the world often lack the means to deepen their own faith and to aid in the formation of others. The faithful poor are made up of priests, deacons, and religious who have taken a vow of poverty, or laypeople who simply do not have the means to access the level of education and formation we provide without assistance.
How We Serve Them
- Mystagogically oriented education focused on the pursuit of a transformational relationship with God
- Live/Interactive/Online – Location independent spiritual education
- Top-rate, internationally renowned Catholic faculty
- Continuing education in Spiritual Formation
- 2-4 year Masters-level Spiritual Theology program
- Pre-seminarian High Calling propaedeutic program
Educational Philosophy
Commitment to the Magisterium
Based on our conviction that theology is an ongoing conversation among believers that attends to the sacred doctrine of the Church, the Avila Institute in its instruction and content will always seek full accountability and submission to the magisterium of the Catholic Church. We do this not primarily as a duty, but as a joyful embrace recognizing the Blessed Trinity is alive and actively working through the Church as the primary means of redemption and vivification of the Body of Christ and the world. We recognize that in the Catholic Church we find the fullness of truth as well as the greatest depth and breadth of wisdom available to the world on the topic of how human persons can know, love, and serve God and His creation.
Mystagogy and Pedagogy
In the ancient Church, mystagogy referred to catechetical instruction provided after baptism. This instruction sought to engage in a disciplined theological conversation by which the baptized might deepen their encounter with the abiding presence of the Lord. At the Avila Institute, we strive not only to convey vital connections in the content of our faith by which we can provide reasons for our hope (pedagogy aimed at a theological wisdom), but we also aim for a kind of discussion that avails students to the transformational presence of Christ by which our minds are renewed (mystagogy aimed at spiritual wisdom). We do this throughout our course work and other activities by building a community that attends to one another in holy conversation about the great truths elucidated by the Fathers, Doctors, Saints and Mystics, and all this to encourage the practice of contemplative prayer and a deeper understanding of how God is working in the pastoral challenges of the world today.
Ex Corde Ecclesiae
The Avila Institute is completely and energetically committed to the guidelines, directives, and wisdom set forth in Ex Corde Ecclesiae. The following outlines the central commitments we embrace as enumerated under the heading “The Nature of a Catholic University.”
- “A Catholic University, like every university, is a community of scholars representing various branches of human knowledge. It is dedicated to research, to teaching, and to various kinds of service in accordance with its cultural mission.”
- “A Catholic University, as Catholic, informs and carries out its research, teaching, and all other activities with Catholic ideals, principles and attitudes. It is linked with the Church either by a formal, constitutive and statutory bond or by reason of an institutional commitment made by those responsible for it.”
- “Every Catholic University is to make known its Catholic identity, either in a mission statement or in some other appropriate public document, unless authorized otherwise by the competent ecclesiastical Authority. The University, particularly through its structure and its regulations, is to provide means which will guarantee the expression and the preservation of this identity in a manner consistent with §2.”
- “Catholic teaching and discipline are to influence all university activities, while the freedom of conscience of each person is to be fully respected (46). Any official action or commitment of the University is to be in accord with its Catholic identity.”
- “A Catholic University possesses the autonomy necessary to develop its distinctive identity and pursue its proper mission. Freedom in research and teaching is recognized and respected according to the principles and methods of each individual discipline, so long as the rights of the individual and of the community are preserved within the confines of the truth and the common good (47).”
Affiliations
The Avila Institute is an apostolate of the Apostoli Viae community. Though we serve many dioceses and seminaries, we are not formally affiliated with or sanctioned by any diocese. Apostoli Viae is a private association of the faithful dedicated to the living out and advancing the spiritual patrimony of the Church. As such, while Apostoli Viae lives and teaches a Carmelite spirituality among its professed members, the goal of the Avila Institute is to advance all faithful spiritual expressions of the Church. To learn more about Apostoli Viae, go to ApostoliViae.org
Board Members
Dr. Anthony Lilles
Dr. Anthony Lilles is the co-founder and Academic Dean of the Avila Institute. He has taught graduate level theology and assisted in clergy formation since 1994, having served at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Denver, St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, and St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo prior to joining the faculty of St. Patrick’s Seminary. With a BA in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, as well as an ecclesiastical licentiate and doctorate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum), he is specialized in St. Elisabeth of the Trinity and the Carmelite Doctors of the Church. He co-founded the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation and the High Calling Program for priestly vocations. He also founded and serves as president for the John Paul II Center for Contemplative Culture. His work at St. Patrick’s began in 2014 when he helped start and teach an annual summer spirituality program. He was appointed Academic Dean from 2019-2022 before joining the full-time teaching and formation faculties. From 2024 through 2027, he will be committed to a new initiative for priestly renewal jointly sponsored by St. Patrick’s Seminary and the High Calling program of the Avila Foundation. He blogs at Spiritual Direction and podcasts at Discerning Hearts..
David Calvillo
David N. Calvillo, a former adjunct law and university professor, is now a practicing civil trial lawyer and bilingual mediator with the Calvillo Law Firm. After a profound spiritual experience praying the rosary while on retreat, Calvillo and his wife Valerie founded Real Men Pray the Rosary, launching a global movement of prayer and devotion. Calvillo is a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus and has served his parishes on pastoral and finance councils and as Eucharistic minister and lector. Calvillo formerly served in leadership of his diocesan chapter of ACTS Catholic retreats and remains active in the organization. He served his community as president of the Boys & Girls Club of McAllen and lives in southern Texas with his wife and their seven children.
Paul McCusker
Paul McCusker is an author and dramatist. His books include The Screwtape Letters Annotated Edition and C.S. Lewis & Mere Christianity: The Crisis That Created A Classic, plus over 20 novels and non-fiction works. His scriptwriting includes the multiple award-winning audio dramatizations of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis At War and the Peabody Award-winning Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom. He is also a writer and director for the popular children’s program Adventures In Odyssey. Paul lives in Colorado Springs with his wife, son and daughter.
Charlie McKinney
Charlie McKinney is President of Sophia Institute Press. Charlie has worked in the non-profit sector for nearly 20 years, serving as Vice President at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and in leadership positions at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (Wilmington, DE) and at the Bill of Rights Institute (Washington, DC). Charlie is a board member of the American Principles Project and the Hope for Tomorrow Foundation, and is Chairman of Cornerstone Policy Research, a New Hampshire think tank dedicated to preserving traditional values. Charlie and his wife, Carolyn, live with their five children in Amherst, New Hampshire.
Dan Burke
Dan Burke is the past President and C.O.O. of EWTN’s worldwide news network. He is presently the founder and President of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, which offers graduate and personal enrichment studies in spiritual theology to priests, deacons, religious, and laity in 90 countries and prepares men for seminary in over 40 dioceses.
Dan is a best-selling author and editor of numerous books on authentic Catholic spirituality and hosts the Divine Intimacy Radio show with his wife, Stephanie, broadcast weekly on EWTN Radio. Past episodes can be found, along with thousands of articles on the interior life, at SpiritualDirection.com.
In his deep commitment to the advancement of faithful Catholic spirituality, he is also the founder of Apostoli Viae, a world-wide, private association of the faithful dedicated to living and advancing the authentic spiritual patrimony of the Church.
Most importantly, Dan is a blessed husband, father of four, grandfather of one—and grateful to be Catholic.