Divinity - Notre Dame Seminary Graduate School of Theology

Divinity from Notre Dame Seminary Graduate School of Theology is a Campus Master Religious Studies degree that prepares you for a Liberal Arts career. Philosophy Statement The person preparing for the priestly ministry in the Catholic Church today is to be formed and educated in Word and Sacrament in order to be one with Christ and so minister authentically and effectively to the community of Christian believers, as well as to the larger community of persons and societies, both contemporary and future. Principles and Objectives The priest today is called by Christ through His Church to be a minister of Word and Sacrament. The response to this calling involves an acceptance of the mission to serve Christ?s purposes and the ministry of service to people?s needs. Both of these elements have been identified and clarified anew by the pastoral mandates of Vatican II. A vibrant community of believers depends on objective knowledge and subjective experience of both the Word of God in the Scriptures (especially the Gospel) and the Sacrament of Christ in worship (especially the Eucharist). Both realities of Word and Sacrament are conveyed and celebrated through the living Christian Community and its responsible ministries. 1. Formation in the Word A person preparing for ordination to the priesthood must be knowledgeable of the Word, both in an academic and in a personal sense. It is essential that the seminarian has a basic reading familiarity with and comprehension of the Bible (appropriate hermeneutical attitude) and that he grasps and can use, at an initiatory level, some of the technical tools of interpretation (exegesis, criticism). Only with such knowledge can he learn to preach the Word more effectively, to celebrate the Word more authentically, to assimilate the Word more personally and to bring Christ?s Word of redemptive love to the needs of others more compassionately. The person preparing for priestly ministry must have a thorough, basic familiarity with systematic and moral theology, especially those under girding themes and principles rooted in the word of faith and nourished in sacramental life. 2. Formation in Sacrament The Word has been given to and is still present in specific cultures, whose experiences and symbols of the Word have become the constituent elements of the believing community?s tradition. In order to celebrate liturgically the sacraments of the Word, as understood in the Roman Catholic tradition, one must be able to recognize sensibly in the phenomena of the created world and in particular historic and contemporary cultures the perceptible signs of divine presence and activity. For such a process of symbolic elaboration and ritualization, religious theological presuppositions are to be analyzed and the appropriate structures and methods of evangelization and catechesis are to be learned, so that the interdependence of Word and Sacrament may support the inner life and the outward activity of the believing community. 3. Formation in Christian Community As minister of Word and Sacrament, the priest is called by God and by the Church to be a servant of the ecclesial community. One must be able to participate personally and help others to participate personally in the community?s proclamation of the Word and celebration of the sacraments. When the priest preaches or baptizes, Christ speaks and transforms; when one hears the Word or is baptized, the entire community is enlightened and enlivened. The minister must strive to ensure that every member of the community of believers can participate, with appropriate rights and responsibilities, in the vital experiences of Word and Sacrament. The most effective service of Word and Sacrament is exercised where justice and peace are operative. The prophetic and pastoral traditions of the people of God guide the priest in ministering to the current needs and concerns of the immediate faith community and to the wider communities with which it interacts. The \"Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World\" offers an outline of a viable Christian anthropology and identifies current needs and concerns. In effect, the three-fold process of formation in Word, Sacrament and Community should establish a conformity of the seminarian to Jesus Christ, prophet, priest and pastor. View more details on Notre Dame Seminary Graduate School of Theology . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Religious Studies courses.