Program Objectives
The Institute in Pastoral Ministries serves pastoral practitioners, ecclesiastical administrators, and educationally-motivated Catholic adults.
Our three-year programs in pastoral administration strive:
- to equip participants with a deep understanding of Roman Catholic doctrines, Christian theologies, and organizational models that are relevant to stewardship of human, financial, and material resources;
- to demonstrate academic practices of inquiry, discovery, and reflection relevant for professional employees in the Roman Catholic Church and church-related organizations; and,
- to inspire attitudes and skills that are compatible with lives of Roman Catholic ministerial service, especially the management of spiritual and human resources for evangelization.
We coordinate with the guidance of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops:
Lay ecclesial ministers—and indeed all lay Church employees and volunteers—function in a workplace that shares both the characteristics of a faith community of co-workers, as described by St. Paul, and the characteristics of a modern organization. Thus, in the ministerial workplace, one finds the special challenge of establishing policies and practices that integrate Gospel values and best organizational practices. This is particularly true as regards the management of human resources. (Co-Workers in the Vineyard [2005], 61)
Learner Outcomes
Graduates of programs in pastoral administration are expected to:
- Understand and contextualize the Second Vatican Council’s teachings on the universal call to holiness, including the concept of baptismal vocation, as related to their role as leaders of the faith community;
- Understand and demonstrate the Catholic Church’s mission in relation to one’s specific vocation to pastoral administration;
- Understand and demonstrate administrative practices both typical and emergent in the Roman Catholic tradition; and,
- Integrate essential Catholic doctrines, related theological explorations, organizational models, and business-like resources.
Click for Admission Requirements and Online Application for Master of Arts/Professional Certificate in Pastoral Administration
Curriculum
Students and faculty integrate best organizational practices with doctrines and theologies of the Roman Catholic Church. The curriculum in Pastoral Administration for the Master of Arts and Professional Certificate offers three theology courses, four administration courses, and three pastoral skills courses (including one elective) for a total of 10 courses. During each of the three summer residencies, learners typically enroll in one course each in theology, administration, and pastoral skills. Required only for the Master of Arts, PM 655 Readings and Research in Pastoral Administration is registered in the third year and is self-managed, with the mentorship of a professor and a program director to insure each student's success.
Sequence for the Master of Arts (30 credits) and the Professional Certificate (30 CEUs) in Pastoral Administration
Summer I (9 credits or 9 CEUs)
PM 505 Human Relations in Ministry
PM 540 Foundations in Theology
PM 651 Pastoral Management and Administration
Summer II (10 credits or 10 CEUs)
PM 570 Liturgy
PM 652 Pastoral Public Relations, Marketing, and Philanthropy
PM 654 Canon and Civil Law for Pastoral Administrators
Summer III (11 credits or 11 CEUs)
PM 510 Leadership in the Faith Community, or
PM 533 Social Action for Pastoral Ministers
PM 550 Ecclesiology
PM 653 Pastoral Accounting and Finance
PM 655 Readings and Research in Pastoral Administration**
** Master of Arts only; paired with PM 510 or PM 533
Click for Course Descriptions
Click to read about the emergence of education in Catholic pastoral administration |
