DOCTOR OF MINISTRY PROGRAM

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Doctor of Ministry degree is the advanced or terminal degree in the professional field of Ministry. Applicants will have received the Master of Divinity degree (or the equivalent) and will have had several years of professional practice. The University of St. Mary of the Lake /  Mundelein Seminary  D.Min. is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools, which is the accrediting agency for the professional degrees granted by seminaries and schools of theology in the United States and Canada .

Persons who have received the D.Min. degree work as pastors, pastoral associates, university presidents and officers, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops department heads, college faculty, diocesan agency directors, and consultants.

The Doctor of Ministry degree at Mundelein Seminary is a specialist rather than a generalist degree. The overall goal of the program is to develop in candidates the art of doing theological reflection in a ministerial setting. The program draws extensively on the wisdom of the Roman Catholic Tradition to address areas of theological and ministerial concern at an advanced level.  The focus on theological reflection as transformative places the program in the specialist category.

Applicants must have at least three years of full time ministerial experience to apply. They must also be employed full time in a ministerial position during the course of the program.

PROGRAM GOALS AND METHODOLOGY

This overall goal of developing the art of doing theological reflection in ministerial settings has a number of sub-goals:

1. To grow in understanding the biblical, historical and theological warrants for    contemporary ministerial practice;
2. To have a working knowledge of methods of doing theological reflection in
3. ministerial settings;
4. To be able to articulate faith convictions and strategies;
5. To appreciate the transformative power of ideas and belief;
6. To have an in-depth understanding of the personal spirituality which forms
7. ministerial style;
8. To be able to analyse and effectively work within church systems which are permeating context of ministry;
9. To develop the people-in-systems skill necessary for effective religious leadership.

Educational methodologies employed include lecture, a high level of active candidate participation and interaction, and mutual resourcing. Peer-group learning is based on the Tradition and experience and is resourced by professionals in theology and ministry. Of course, reading and written work are part of every course.

CURRICULUM

The program includes four parts:

1. Three courses during each ten-week quarter
2. An intensive each quarter
3. The thesis project
4. Consultation with advisors

The candidates meet every Tuesday from 9:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. at the U.S.M.L. Conference Center for six quarters -- two academic years. These Tuesdays are divided into three sessions of one and one-half hours each. In general,  two of these sessions employ input and discussion and one employs guided student reflection. In all sessions a high level of participant activity is required.

In addition to the Tuesdays, there is a three-day intensive at the beginning of each of the six quarters. The method of teaching in these intensives varies according to the needs of the group and the style of the resource person.

The usual sequence will be two years of classroom work, followed by a year of doing the project and another year to complete the writing of the thesis. In some cases, depending on the project, the project and the writing both can be done in the third year

Courses may include:                                              

1. Introduction to Theological Reflection
2. Sources of Transformation: the Bible I
3. Theological Reflection I
4. Resources from the Tradition: the Catholic Faith and Social Ethics
5. Spirituality
6. Contemporary Issues in Theology
7. Theological Reflection II
8. Resources from the Tradition: Ecumenism
9. Theological Method in Ministry
10. Sources of Transformation
11. Theological Reflection III
12. Resources from the Tradition: Ecclesiology
13. Sources of Transformation: the Bible II
14. God and the Modern World: A Critical Reading of the Tradition
15. Theological Reflection IV
16. Family Systems
17. Sources form the Tradition: Major Figures
18. Theological Reflection V
19. Resources from the Tradition: Homilies as Theological Reflection
20. Systems Analysis II
21. Theological Reflection Intensive: Writing as Transformative Theological Reflection
22. Sources from the Tradition: Pauline Issues
23. Resources from the Tradition: Interreligious Dialogue
24. Resources from the Tradition: Poets and Preachers

FACULTY

The Doctor of Ministry program is staffed by the full-time faculty of the University of St. Mary of the Lake I Mundelein Seminary, and, when appropriate, by a few members of the Adjunct Faculty of the Seminary.

Current faculty include:

Raymond  Webb, S.T.L., Ph.D, Loyola University of Chicago, Dean, Director

Robert Barron, S.T.D., Institut Catholique de Paris, Associate Director

Peter Damian Akpunonu, S.S.L, S.T.D., Pontifical Biblical Institute, Pontifical Urban University

C.Colt Anderson, Ph.D., Marquette University

Thomas A. Baima, S.T.D., Pontifical Univ. of St. Thomas Aquinas (Rome)

David Baldwin, M. Div., M.A., University of Saint Mary of the Lake

Avis Clendenen, Ph.D., Chicago Theological Seminary

Mary Carroll, O.S.F., D.Min., University of Saint Mary of the Lake

Katherine Heskin, D.Min., University of Saint Mary of the Lake

Troy Martin, Ph.D., University of Chicago

R. George Sarauskas, S.T.L., Ph.D., Northwestern University

Robert Schoenstene, S.S.L., Pontifical Biblical Institute