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Ministerial and Continuing Education |
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Training and Development for all who serve Christ and His Church |
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The Department and its History |
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The Department of Ministerial and Continuing Education functions as a component school of USML and as a “virtual” department of the Pastoral Center. It continues the rich history of the Center for Development in Ministry, with a much deeper synergy with the Seminary and Graduate School, the Ecclesiastical Faculty, the Liturgical Institute and the Conference Center.
Animated by Cardinal George’s vision that ministerial education is fundamentally an ecclesial task, the Department provides human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral formation to priests, deacons and certified ministers of the Archdiocese of Chicago, according to “the mind of the Church.” We are first of all, a school of the Church, an extension of the teaching ministry of the bishop.
The USML Department of Ministerial and Continuing Education builds upon the efforts of the Archdiocese of Chicago to provide training and development for its clergy. Those efforts began with the establishment of the Center for Pastoral Ministry. This history also includes long-standing collaboration with the Seminary and Graduate School. Two cooperative initiatives date from that early period. The first was the Summer Scripture Seminar, where the Center in conjunction with the Seminary, brought the top biblical scholars in the country to Chicago for a yearly seminar which continues to draw national participation. In 1976, the Seminary, in cooperation with the Center for Pastoral Ministry, developed a program of studies leading to the new doctor of ministry (D.Min.) degree.
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin announced a new and exciting development in April of 1986. The University of St. Mary of the Lake would be revived and the continuing education school, the Center for Pastoral Ministry would move to the Mundelein campus. While continuing the work of on-going education for priests the mission of the Center would now expand to offer continuing education to all ministers: clergy, religious and laity. To recognize this change in mission the school would adopt a new name, the Center for Development in Ministry. Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary again adopted the name on its original 1844 charter, the University of St. Mary of the Lake, and honored its second founder by renaming the graduate school as Mundelein Seminary. As one of his last acts as archbishop, Cardinal Bernardin created a separate agency, the Office of Ongoing Formation for Priests to bring more focus to bear on the continuing education needs of priests.
Francis Cardinal George continued the expansion of the university in February 2000 by transferring the Archdiocese of Chicago’s programs of ministry formation to the seminary. The Department of Ministry Formation was dissolved and three former agencies of the Pastoral Center became program units of the university. Joining USML that year were the Lay Ministry Formation Program, the Deacon Formation Program and the Instituto de Liderazgo Pastoral. While remaining separate and distinct from the priestly formation program, all are to cooperate under the seminary aegis in advancing the efforts of ministry preparation and formation for all those involved in pastoral ministry. Plans were also begun to separate the continuing education programs of the Center for Development in Ministry from the university and to relocate them as an agency of the Pastoral Center, the Office for Ongoing Formation in Ministry. These same plans included the continued operation of a Conference Center at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake for training and development programs. This would make Mundelein Seminary the center for all initial formation for ministry, while leaving continuing education to other agencies. To reflect this evolution, the Board of Advisors decided to adopt a compound name, the University of St. Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary. This follows the style of most of the pontifical universities which have a formal name and a common name which become interchangeable.
In 2005 the ongoing formation programs were returned to the university, which now encompasses all initial and ongoing training for priests, deacons and lay ministers in the Archdiocese of Chicago. It was at this point that we adopted our present name, the Department of Ministerial and Continuing Education.
Today, then, the University of Saint Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary is composed of four academic units:
· Seminary and Graduate School of Theology · Ecclesiastical Faculty of Theology · Liturgical Institute · Department of Ministerial and Continuing Education
The Department includes:
· Deacon Formation Program · Lay Ministry Formation Programs · Ongoing Formation Program · Instituto de Liderazgo Pastoral · Conference Center
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Directors
Center for Pastoral Ministry
Rev. James Roach
Center for Development in Ministry
Rev. Wayne Prist Sr. Judy Connelly Rev. Joseph Gedders, CM
Department of Ministry Formation
Rev. Donald Nevins
Ongoing Formation for Priests
Rev. Louis J. Cameli
Ongoing Formation in Ministry
Sr. Judy Vallimont Rev. Robert Tuzik
Department of Ministerial and Continuing Education
Rev. Thomas A. Baima |