YPP-Practical

This course covers practical and theological topics for future pastors, including current resources, major pastoral challenges, boundaries and special settings such as prisons and hospitals. Topics to be covered include: Historical development of pastoral theology, Theological Criteria for Pastoral Planning, Dimensions of Pastoral Planning, Elements of Pastoral Counseling/Reconciliation, Pastoral Sensitivity in Ministry, The Effects of Joy in Ministry, Forming Missionary Disciples, Challenges in Pastoral Ministry.

This course is to establish the nature and identity of the priest and the laity and to consider various expressions of the priest's ministry of the People of God. The intent of the course is to clarify the identify of the priest and the indentity of the laity and results to explore consequent circumstances in ministry.

Course begins with a survey of the history of sacred music, from early practices of chanted psalmody to its manifold expressions in the present-day Church. Particularly, the history and development of Gregorian chant and sacred hymnody will be presented along with related Church documents. Successful implementation of sacred music in a variety of parish settings will be a foundation for discussion.

The Integrative Seminar course is the Master of Divinity’s formal exit course. Its aim is to help students achieve an integration of theological study and pastoral practice. Students will reflect creatively as a knowledgeable pastoral minister, and articulate their own operative theology of ministry in preparation for presbyteral ordination. The primary emphasis of the course is the continuing development of methods for theological reflection appropriate to pastoral ministry, and the desire to bring this theological reflection into serious engagement with the social, cultural, and pastoral context of ministerial life through the use of the tools of hermeneutical and exegetical study. This methodology will also be used to assess the level of the student’s theological integration.

A study of the binding nature and purpose of ecumenism as based upon Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism, and the Church's developing doctrine, within the guiding concept of communio in current ecumenical dialogue. The missiology portion of the course will consider the Church’s mission, its purpose and implementation, based upon the key and relevant ecclesial documents.