BI405EE: Introduction to Sacred Scriptures

Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures is designed to introduce students to the Canon of Sacred Scripture. There are no prerequisites for this course; the instructor will presume that students have little to no academic knowledge of the Bible. The course will include a study of the ecclesial documents that help guide Catholic scriptural scholarship and the faithful who want to study and pray the sacred scriptures.

BI405ES: Introducción a las Sagradas Escrituras

BI713EE: Letters of Paul and Acts of the Apostles

In "The Letters of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles,"  students explore selected letters of Paul and Acts. Topics include authorship, audience, secular and religious contexts. The study of Paul’s writing style brings additional meaning to the texts. Students are prepared for teaching and preaching in parish and similar settings

The core of Paul’s life is Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen!

This core is both an encounter/experience and a knowledge which live on well after the historical event in Paul’s and the Church’s life.

For Paul, Christ Crucified/Risen is in …

  • a theology that is actually a staurology (derived from the Greek word for cross [stauro/ß]), a theology of the Cross;
  • Paul receives his encounter and understanding of it by a particular kind of Revelation, namely, a divinely initiated knowledge (epignosis; Gk = e˙pi÷gnwsiß), which brings its own grace to assist humans in receiving it;
  • when this Revelation and Divine Knowledge are grapsed, we are in the process of being saved;
  • Paul calls this kind of salvation “mystery” (Gk: musth/rion), a divine secret now revealed, with such clarity, beauty and power that it is, itself, a manifestation of salvation. This “mystery” the foundation of our sacraments.

DO410CE: Introduction to Catholicism

DO520CE: Fundamental Theology

DO610CE: The Church: A Study in Ecclesiology

DO701DE Ecclesiology Abstract.pdfDO701DE Ecclesiology Abstract.pdf

This course examines the nature of the church and its emerging challenges, especially regarding the ministry of her ordained ministers.  This course considers both classic, historical insights and new directions in ecclesiology.  Central to the course is a critical examination of two documents of the Second Vatican Council: The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium) and The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes).  In many respects, the entire course is an extended dialogue with these two foundational documents.  Through it all, however, our focus is pastoral: how can our image of Church enhance our ministries?

MP200DM MAPS Capstone Paper

PA420CE: The Call, Mission, and Spirituality of the Permanent Deacon

PA420CE The Call, Mission and Spirituality of the Permanent Deacon Syllabus.pdfPA420CE The Call, Mission and Spirituality of the Permanent Deacon Syllabus.pdf

This course offers the students an opportunity to examine the diaconate by examining its biblical, patristic and canonical roots, its decline and ultimate renewal authorized by the Second Vatican Council.  The emergence of contemporary theologies of the diaconate will also be explored, based on a spirituality of the diaconate which is grounded in the deacon’s sacramental initiation and ordination, coupled with an approach to diaconal ministry which is at once similar yet distinct from the sacerdotal orders of the episcopate and presbyterate.

PA420CS: Llamado, Misión, y Espiritualidad del Diácono Permanente

PA730CE: Canon Law

Course Description for CL 612DE Canon Law.pdfCourse Description for CL 612DE Canon Law.pdf

This course has been developed specifically to address the canon law topics which most frequently arise in the parish ministry of deacons, based on numerous requests from officers and members of the National Association of Diaconate Directors. Canon Law plays an important part in every element of pastoral ministry. As Doctor Edward Peters, JCL, JCD of Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit has remarked: "Most cradle Catholics, having grown up with a vague awareness of the presence of canon law-­‐however incomplete and even erroneous their understanding of Church law might be-­‐ are much less likely to pose questions about the operation of canon law unless, perchance, they find themselves directly affected by it. Not so with candidates for conversion; they are motivated to ask questions about all facets of Church life." As deacons and parish ministers, in addition to being guided by the precepts of canon law, you'll be seen as a de facto subject-­‐matter expert by many with whom you come into contact.