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Placed within the first residential week, this nine-day seminar introduces and explains the nature and aims of the doctoral thesis project which is the crown and culmination of the degree. Students are helped to identify possible project topics related to relevant ministry areas, receive an overview of research methodologies (including qualitative, quantitative and survey research, and using church statistics) and undertake an initial review of their possible use for their project, explore how the taught courses might relate to their project and analyze ways of generating a theological framework for their research.
Evangelization and catechesis are God’s initiatives and those called to service in the Church must operate from a relationship of communion with God if their work is to be fruitful. This course explores the need for pastoral leaders to live invested sacramental lives in order for their ministry to be aligned with God’s purposes and if they are to serve as authentic witnesses to the transformative power of sacramental grace. Topics to be explored include: the grace and missionary responsibility which is given through the sacraments; the unique call given to ministry leaders to carry out their ministry in sacramental union with Christ and the Church; and how the liturgy serves as a means of lifelong evangelization.
Evangelization and catechesis are God’s initiatives and those called to service in the Church must operate from a relationship of communion with God if their work is to be fruitful. This course explores the need for pastoral leaders to live invested sacramental lives in order for their ministry to be aligned with God’s purposes and if they are to serve as authentic witnesses to the transformative power of sacramental grace. Topics to be explored include: the grace and missionary responsibility which is given through the sacraments; the unique call given to ministry leaders to carry out their ministry in sacramental union with Christ and the Church; and how the liturgy serves as a means of lifelong evangelization.
Students will examine significant periods, figures and texts in the history of catechetics as it came to be understood within the wider ministry of evangelization, exploring implications and connections with contemporary catechesis in students’ own contexts. Topics include: the classical paideia and its impact on formation of early Christian education and catechesis; the development of catechetical schools; the development of the Creeds; the development and features of the catechumenal model; monastic and cathedral schools in the Carolingian period; liturgy, culture and catechesis in the medieval period; the history of catechisms; catechetical movements in the twentieth century; the pivotal importance of Vatican II and trends and movements in post Vatican II catechetics. The course will include an historical study of the Church’s evangelistic and catechetical outreach in the United States from initial evangelizing activity in the 16th century to the establishment of the Catholic school system to the present day.
This course examines the core theological foundations of an understanding of Catholic pastoral leadership, both at the theoretical level and in its concrete expression. The Scriptural foundations of leadership, especially that manifest in the public ministry of Jesus, are analyzed alongside the dogmatic, moral, and canonical teachings of the magisterium with regard to pastoral oversight and responsibility. Significant elements in theological anthropology are unpacked for their relevance to an explicitly Catholic understanding of leadership, including the relationship of nature and grace, the significance of human work and the vocation of the laity the development and exercise of virtues, and the complementary nature and vocation of men and women, together with ecclesiological teachings and perspectives relevant to questions of hierarchy, authority and co-responsibility in the Church and with regard to her mission. The course includes comparative studies with non-Catholic understandings of leadership, both modern and postmodern.
This course aims to explore the interconnections between Christian anthropology and moral questions, especially those that have surfaced in the past few decades. The course includes a critical investigation of several accounts of the human person in the Christian tradition, together with their philosophical and theological frameworks. The examination of specific twenty-first century moral questions will be driven by which of those issues represent critical points of leverage in the evangelization of culture. The course will provide material for a consideration of how one might approach those moral questions today. The course will also unpack the anthropological and moral aspects of choices regarding research methodology.
This course examines the Church’s mission to penetrate, transform and elevate cultures through the proclamation of the Gospel. This course will consider concepts of culture and inculturation, including the challenges posed by Modern and Post-modern philosophy and the opportunities for developing new methods and new expressions for evangelizing. This course identifies pastoral principles and practices for intercultural communication which lead to ecclesial integration and inform the evangelist’s capacity to communicate effectively with ethnic groups and cultures different from one’s own.
This course considers the call to discipleship, as seen in the New Testament and in the Church’s magisterial vision, and the importance of a discipleship-making orientation for all of Catholic evangelization and catechesis. Predominant models and trends in the formation of missionary disciples will be studied and critically engaged, with the intention of better understanding the ways that the Holy Spirit is inspiring renewal in the Church today and how graduates of this doctoral program might serve today’s important renewal.
On this course, students work through the steps to complete their thesis project proposal. This course is overseen by the DMin Thesis Director who assigns the Primary Advisor, Secondary Advisor, and Data Analysis Advisor for their project (if a student doesn’t already have them). The completed project proposal is approved by the DMin Committee and the advisors involved. The elements of the thesis project proposal include: project outline, aims and objectives, theological framework, literature and key concepts review, relationship of project to taught components, research methodology, and timeline for completion (no more than one academic year after completion of CAT 890).
The student works on his or her approved thesis under the supervision of the DMin Thesis Director and the student’s Primary and Secondary Advisor. The usual length of the thesis is 50-60,000 words, with a maximum of 60,000 words. The usual structure of the thesis is:
- Introduction, including outline of topic and its foundational significance; key research questions and rationale; research methodology; presentation of structure of the thesis and key elements,
- Four-six chapters of 7,000-10,000 words, yielding key principles that will be used to develop the ministerial/educational project. Literature review elements will be placed in the introduction and individual chapters as appropriate.
- Conclusions
The student works on his or her approved project under the supervision of the DMin Thesis Director and the student’s Primary and Secondary Advisor (with Data Analysis Advisor if deemed necessary). The usual length of the project is 30-40,000 words, with a maximum of 40,000 words. The project is introduced with a rationale in terms of significance, aims and learning outcomes, structure and content outline, ministerial/educational philosophy, forms of assessment, and a map of the principles derived from the thesis which will shape the project. The project is an original, complete and coherent piece of work which is field-ready and which demonstrates and instantiates the principles articulated and defended in the thesis.