Master of Divinity

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 peoples 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 sense and in a personal sense. It is essential that the seminarian have 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 thoroughgoing, basic familiarity with systematic and moral theology, especially those undergirding themes and principles which are 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 and 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 Church 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.

Recapitulation

The priest is formed by a specialized relationship to Christ which makes authentic ministry possible: he is shaped by the experience of a community of Word and Sacrament; the community of Word and Sacrament is shaped by the ministry of the priest. Priestly formation and education must respect and reflect this interaction.

Pre-Theology Program Policies

The Notre Dame Seminary Pre-Theology Program is designed to give students the preparation required of them by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) as stated in the Program of Priestly Formation (PPF). 

Academically, it consists in 24 semester hours in philosophy, 15 semester hours in religious studies, and two semester hours in supervised pastoral ministry, and on-hands ministerial experience. These requirements are arranged variously into one, one-and-a-half, and two-year programs to meet the needs of various students. 

If students come with transcripts that testify to their having successfully completed philosophy courses in accredited colleges and universities, these are counted in their favor.

Supervised Pastoral Ministry is guided academically by the Pre-Theology Director, but the actual ministry is determined and evaluated by the Pastoral Field Education Director. 

If students have not completed a Bachelors Degree, they are enrolled at Our Lady of Holy Cross College to achieve a B.S. in General Studies in which they do the core curriculum (60 semester hours) at Holy Cross. In this particular degree program first year and part of first semester second year theology courses constitute part of that major, so that the student goes on to complete the four-year theology program at Notre Dame Seminary for a Master of Arts in Theological Studies Degree rather than a Master of Divinity Degree. Notice that all students actually have the same masters education courses. 

A few students also complete bachelor degrees at the consortium universities of Loyola or Xavier. This is due to the fact that they had already begun a program in one of these universities, or to a choice made by their bishop or vocation director. In addition to what is required of them there, they also complete the pre-theology program at NDS before qualifying for our theologate. 

Some foreign students complete requirements determined by an official evaluator of foreign transcripts while beginning their first year of theology. Usually they are advised academically by the pre-theology program director until those requirements are fulfilled.

Synthesis Seminar

Introduction

The ability to articulate and explain the Christian message is crucial for a pastoral theologian. So is the capacity to integrate the various disciplines with the Master of Divinity Program. To accomplish this the Faculty Council, in its March 19^th, 1990 session, agreed to place greater emphasis on the Synthesis Seminar, making the seminar itself the focal point of the Fourth Year program.

As an interdisciplinary offering for Fourth Year students, the Synthesis Seminar will have a clear pastoral focus. Through this integrative effort each student should learn to reflect creatively as a knowledgeable pastoral theologian.

Goal

The integration/synthesis of the various areas of Theology (Sacred Scripture, Historical, Moral, Pastoral and Systematic Theology.

Objectives

a) Identify areas where students perceive a lack of integration/synthesis

b) Give some help and point out some ways to bridge the gap between theology and pastoral practice.

c) Throw some light on areas, subjects and themes of theology which have remained unclear, confused or confusing in the understanding of the students.

d) Instill an awareness of the need for continuous learning and on-going learning.

e) Show ways and means how students themselves may find answers to questions which were not explicitly treated in the course of their studies.

Procedures

1) All candidates for the M.Div. degree and all students for priesthood are required to attend the Synthesis Seminar. This seminar will integrate the five areas of Theology : Sacred Scripture, Historical Theology, Moral Theology, Systematic Theology and Pastoral Theology/Canon Law.

2) The seminar will be directed by a team of five professors, one from each area of the program of studies. In each area of theology under discussion (Scripture, for instance), the professor from that area (the Scripture professor) will first give an overview of the content and important issues in that area; and then will make prior provisions for whatever texts are deemed necessary and will guide the discussion with the students. Each professor may invite other faulty members to assist in presenting any given topic.

3) The five professors will assume the responsibility of drafting a list of topics covering the major content and key issues in their respective areas. They will be aided in this task by the questions that students are expected to turn in at the beginning of November, when they return to Notre Dame.

4) Each segment of the seminar will cover a three-week period, beginning in November of the Fall semester, and will meet five or six times.

5) There will be a test at the end of each section - either a take-home examination or an in-class test.

6) The final grade will be averaged from these five tests and will count as any other three-credit course for the final grade at graduation.