DEGREES

M. A. in Pastoral Theology: Concentration in Catechetics 

About the Program

Students in the Master of Arts in Pastoral Theology degree program have the option of pursuing a concentration in the art and science of catechetics that trains them for service in parish, school, and diocesan ministries of catechesis and religious education. This concentration is an effective way of preparing for the reception of the installed Ministry of Catechist proposed by Pope Francis in Antiquum Ministerium (May 10, 2021).

Students making satisfactory progress through at least two courses in the M.A. program are welcome to declare their intention to pursue the concentration.    

About the Program

The mission of Catholic schools and teachers is a participation in the Church’s mission of evangelization and catechesis (cf. Ex corde Ecclesiae, #49). In the present cultural climate, Catholic schools urgently need teachers who are effective witnesses to Jesus Christ and his Church. To that end, Catholic educators require a graduate program that joins the return to classical pedagogical methods to the communication of an integrated theological worldview. The MA in Catholic Education was designed to meet this crucial need in today’s classrooms.

This master’s program forms men and women who will teach in schools across the United States and internationally. Graduates of the program will manifest the knowledge and ability to deploy the pedagogical principles and practices that have been handed down through the ages by the leading educators of the classical and Christian tradition. With each credit hour, they will obtain mastery over the philosophical and theological principles that govern and direct Catholic education.

The Master of Arts in Catholic Education is a 36-credit-hour program available to on-campus or distance students at either a full-time or part-time pace. The program’s admissions requirements are:

  • Undergraduate degree or equivalent experience
  • 3.25 GPA or higher preferred
  • Demonstrable ability to read and synthesize insights into thoughtful written work and expression
  • Employed as an educator at a school or parish, or the aim to be employed as such
  • Strong Catholic identity
  • Commitment to evangelization and the renewal of education

To request information about our required courses, academic calendar, opportunities to visit campus, or other questions, please contact our graduate admissions team.

Courses

The Master of Arts in Catholic Education curriculum includes twelve required courses, each of three credit hours: four courses in theological and biblical foundation, four courses treating the liberal arts and Catholic education, and four classes in classical education or specific teaching areas. Our faculty and staff equip current and future school leaders, whether as a teacher in a public or Catholic school, school administrator, or another role in educational leadership.

Core Theological Courses

Salvation History

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This course helps students to understand the unity of God’s plan of salvation from Creation to the Second Coming. By a thorough overview of the Old and New Testaments, this course introduces Catholic exegetical approaches and theological interpretation, aiding students in reading Scripture as the Word of God. Students engage some comparative primary texts and grapple with historiographical questions that help them to demonstrate the reliability of the Bible. With a special focus on the themes of covenant and mission, the course illustrates how Jesus fulfills God’s promises and how He invites His followers to share in His work of evangelization.

The Rule of Faith

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Students will read substantially the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church together with selections from the Fathers of the Church, noted saints such as St. Augustine, and key post- conciliar papal teachings.

Jesus and the Gospels

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Among all the books of the Bible, the Gospels have “a special preeminence,” according to the Second Vatican Council, “for they are the principal witness for the life and teaching of the incarnate Word” (Dei Verbum, 18). This course examines Jesus’ life and mission in light of the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John. Students engage insights from historical research into the life of Jesus and the world of first-century Judaism as well as gain a deeper understanding of the Gospels as narrative. In addition, the Gospels are also studied for their perennial theological and spiritual significance.

Light to the Nations

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Students will be introduced to the history of the Church and her mission of evangelization and catechesis by reading texts from Ignatius of Antioch, Athanasius, Augustine, Benedict, Gregory the Great, Bernard, Francis de Sales, John Henry Newman, and Karol Wojtyła (JohnPaul II).

Core Catholic Education Courses

Catholic Education: Ends, Principles, and Means

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Students will be introduced to the ends, principles, and means of Catholic education, with special emphasis placed upon the human person, the classical liberal arts, and the integration of all learning in the light of the Catholic Faith.

Christian Anthropology

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Students will receive a firm grounding both in philosophical and theological anthropology as well as in what it means to be a human person, with special emphasis on the teachings of Sts. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and John Henry Newman.

History of Catholic Education

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Students will gain a knowledge of key figures and schools of education through the centuries and be able to identify how the history of Western education was informed and enriched by the Catholic Church and its influence on society and culture; special attention is given to the teachings of Fathers and Doctors of the Church, Church documents on education, and the rich, centuries-long tradition of Catholic liberal education.

The Art of Teaching

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Student will be encouraged to see and to experience their teaching vocation as the loving formation of their students in moral, intellectual, and theological virtue; students will acquire a firm, experiential knowledge of the best teaching styles, from leading stimulating and productive Socratic conversations to delivering dynamic, engaging lectures (as well as various “hybrid” forms of teaching).

Specialization Areas

Catechetics

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Four courses in which students explore the areas of catechetics appropriate for K-12 Catholic schools and acquire the best methods and skills for teaching the basic truths of the Catholic Faith to their students.  

Humanities

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Four courses to prepare students to teach literature, history, and related subjects from a Catholic perspective and informed by the Catholic tradition.

Classical Pedagogy

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Four courses that will extend the students training in the principles and practices of Classical pedagogy, with special emphasis on the seven liberal arts and the formation in students of a disciplined mind that has learned how to learn.  

Science and Mathematics

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Four courses that begin with a study of the quadrivium and proceed to an integrated approach to mathematics and natural science within a well-ordered Catholic curriculum, with special attention to questions about the relationship between faith and reason.  

Grammar School

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Four courses that prepare aspiring teachers to teach in Catholic grammar schools, with emphasis on the formation of the imagination, the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric), and elementary math and science.  

Four Pillars

Built on the same four pillars as priestly and religious formation, this program offers a comprehensive, integrated training that prepares lay ecclesial leaders to share the truth of Jesus Christ amidst contemporary challenges.

1. Theological Formation:

Students receive a faithful and rigorous theological formation grounded in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, the Church Fathers, the lives and witnesses of the saints, the Second Vatican Council, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This instruction grounds the students in the long theological tradition of the Church with an eye towards the authentic implementation of the New Evangelization.

2. Spiritual Formation:

Through course material, seminars, and practicum experiences, students receive a spiritual formation that enriches their own personal encounter with Christ and prepares them for the challenges and spiritual realities of lay ecclesial service.

3. Pastoral, Evangelistic, and Catechetical Formation:

Grounded in the pastoral vision of the Second Vatican Council, the program offers pastoral and catechetical formation that equips students to hand on the truth of Jesus Christ in this time of the New Evangelization. This formation is centered around sound principles of pastoral care and key methods of authentic catechetical renewal envisioned and articulated by the documents of Vatican II, the writings of St. John Paul II, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

4. Human Formation:

Through coursework, seminars, and practicum experiences, students receive practical and essential human formation that forms them to be effective leaders for the New Evangelization. These crucial skills and dispositions include the key moral virtues for lay ecclesial leadership, communication and management skills, an appropriate awareness and understanding of ecclesial life and structures, and interpersonal skills related to ecclesial life and service.

Three Pillars

The course of study in the Graduate School of Theology leads to the Master of Arts degree in Theology; it is available on our campus in Denver or via distance education. The program consists of three pillars:

1. Sacred Scripture

Students learn to express the narrative of salvation history, explain the biblical foundations of Catholic doctrine, interpret the texts in light of tradition, and substantiate the reliability of Sacred Scripture.

2. Sacred Doctrine

Each of our students develops a foundational knowledge of the Catholic Church’s dogmatic, sacramental, moral, and spiritual teaching as exemplified by the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

3. History and Mission

Students come to grasp the main themes of Church history, particularly in the West, with special emphasis on evangelization and on the saints and martyrs as teachers and models.

Programmatic Goals

I. Theology: to demonstrate a foundational knowledge of the Catholic Church’s dogmatic, sacramental, moral, and spiritual teaching, building upon that doctrine as exemplified by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Graduates will be able to analyze, explain, and where relevant defend the following elements of understanding:
II. Spiritual Interiority: recognizing that a mature Christian interior life is both a prerequisite to effective mission and the goal toward which that mission is oriented, as well as an essential part of the methodological structure of all catechetical practice, graduates will be able to explain and defend the following elements of understanding:
III. Pastoral, Evangelical & Catechetical: to demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental principles of evangelization and catechesis, as well as strategies of pastoral care and the ability to develop, to implement, and to assess effective evangelistic, catechetical, and pastoral initiatives in an ecclesial setting which respond to the leading challenges facing the Church’s mission today. Graduates will be able to analyze, explain, and where relevant defend the following elements of understanding:
IV. Leadership: to demonstrate readiness for collaborative work and management in the life of the Church so as to implement effective discipleship strategies. Graduates will demonstrate an articulate understanding of and principled commitment to the following elements:

The Catholic Church understands “the study of the sacred page” to be “the soul of sacred theology” (Dei Verbum §24). Confessing that God is the author of Scripture, the Church also affirms that the biblical books are the product of human writers. Just as the Church has rejected views of the person of Jesus Christ that deny or minimize his human nature, so too does the Church’s approach to Scripture affirm the importance of discerning the intention of the Bible’s human authors, as we see in this celebrated passage from the documents of the Second Vatican Council:
The interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words. . . The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture (Dei Verbum §12). 
Following this direction, the Augustine Institute’s M.A. in Biblical Studies puts the historical, linguistic, and literary tools of contemporary scholarship in conversation with the Church’s theological and exegetical traditions, in the hope that its students will experience a rich harvest of wisdom.

Degree Requirements

The Concentration in Catechetics requires the completion of 42 credit hours, that is, 14 courses of three credits each, including:

  • Five Scripture and Doctrine courses required for the M.A. Pastoral Theology
  • Three of the four required Pastoral Theology courses (Christian Life and Discipleship, Pastoral Care and Ecclesial Life, and Leadership for the New Evangelization)
  • Four-course sequence in Catechetics (Augustine the Educator, Divine Pedagogy and Catechetical Methods, Kerygma and Catechumenate, and Catechism of the Catholic Church: Doctrinal Synthesis)
  • Two courses from the Catechetics area

On-campus students in Pastoral Theology who elect the Concentration in Catechetics will continue to participate in the internship and mentorship program. Online students will participate in the monthly videoconferences of their cohort – or, if the size of the concentration allows it, a separate cohort of students pursuing this concentration – and complete a synthetic project during the final semester or year in the program.

Courses

The Concentration in Catechetics requires the completion of 42 credit hours, that is, 14 courses of three credits each, including:

  • Five Scripture and Doctrine courses required for the M.A. Pastoral Theology
  • Three of the four required Pastoral Theology courses (Christian Life and Discipleship, Pastoral Care and Ecclesial Life, and Leadership for the New Evangelization)
  • Four-course sequence in Catechetics (Augustine the Educator, Divine Pedagogy and Catechetical Methods, Kerygma and Catechumenate, and Catechism of the Catholic Church: Doctrinal Synthesis)
  • Two courses from the Catechetics area

On-campus students in Pastoral Theology who elect the Concentration in Catechetics will continue to participate in the internship and mentorship program. Online students will participate in the monthly videoconferences of their cohort – or, if the size of the concentration allows it, a separate cohort of students pursuing this concentration – and complete a synthetic project during the final semester or year in the program.

Augustine the Educator

Based upon the book of the same title by Eugene Kevane, this course focuses on the contributions to the field of evangelization and catechesis made by Augustine of Hippo, drawing upon Instructing Beginners in Faith (DCR) and On Christian Doctrine (DDC), but also upon some his other works, especially the Confessions and some of his early dialogues. It will propose a thematic paradigm for an Augustinian approach to the apostolate centered around the four themes of interiority, studiositas, sobriety and amicitia/societas.

Divine Pedagogy and Catechetical Methods  

The Catechism tells us that God’s self-disclosure in Revelation “involves a specific divine pedagogy,” by which he discloses himself to us gradually in history.  The GDC indicates that all catechesis is to echo that divine pedagogy and that all catechetical methods are to be regulated by it. In this course that meta-methodology will be examined and applied in particular methodologies of teaching and classroom management.

Kerygma and Catechumenate

This course will examine the dynamism of kerygma, the initial proclamation of faith, as found in New Testament and early Church sources, as well as the catechumenal forms that followed these in the ancient practice of the Church. Since the catechumenate is to inform all other catechetical forms “in both their objectives and in their dynamism” (GDC 59), this study will inform not only the practice of the RCIA but all other catechetical and parochial ministries as well.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: Doctrinal Synthesis  

“This catechism is conceived as an organic presentation of the Catholic faith in its entirely. It should be seen therefore as a unified whole.” So speaks the Catechism of itself at paragraph 18.  In this course the body of the faith as an integrated whole is sought.  This involves both the account of doctrinal content and development, but also by way of reflection upon the methodological ordering of that content, such that the CCC establishes a “methodological-content,” and a paradigm for all forms of evangelization and catechesis. Other doctrinal and catechetical sources will be presented (Conciliar canons, Roman Catechism, etc.) so that a full doctrinal synthesis will be presented.

History of Catechesis and Catechisms  

This course will present a survey of the catechetical practices and instruments used throughout the history of the Church for the purpose of grounding an ad fontes approach to catechetical practice, that is, to equip catechists to be good stewards, capable of drawing out both the old the new, in their catechetical practice.  Particular attention will be given to the ways in which the events and cultural movements of Church history have influenced the catechetical apostolate.

Liturgical Catechesis and the Pedagogy of Prayer   

Since the Liturgy of the Church is one of the important loci for Tradition and the place where the faith is enacted and God is adored, it has a central part in the work of evangelization and catechesis.  As Pope John Paul II put it, “Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity, for it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of men” (CT 23).  This course will show that fruitful reception of Holy Communion is an essential goal of all evangelization and catechesis (EN 14) and present specific strategies for making the sacraments the “source and summit” of Catholic life (SC 10).

Teaching Scripture for the New Evangelization   

Pope Benedict XVI called for a “biblical apostolate” in which Sacred Scripture inspires and informs all pastoral work. This class responds to his call by helping students to engage the Word of God so that it may enliven faith, transform the mind, and inform the way the gospel message is communicated. We will look at teachers of Scripture from across the history of the Church. Students will gain a deeper appreciation of the Word of God by an attentive reading of select biblical passages, considering them in light of their historical milieu, representative patristic sources, reflections offered by saints, and select contemporary scholarship. This class will be a seminar focused on practical application.

Catholic Education  

“It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’” (John 6:45). These words of Christ set the stage for this course, one which offers an opportunity to reflect upon the nature of education in light of the Gospel. In this course, students, teachers, and administrators reflect upon the vocation of teaching, the history and goals of Catholic education, and the practices and tools of the craft of teaching. Students also examine particular challenges in the contemporary teaching context as well as the perennial challenges of following in the footsteps of Christ the Teacher.

Pauline Literature

This course considers the life and writings of St. Paul, exploring his Jewish origins, life-changing conversion, and vocation. Students encounter St. Paul’s writings in context and understood both as essential to the Church’s teaching and in light of varying exegetical approaches through the centuries. Students see St. Paul as a rabbi and a theologian, and also as a catalyst in the early Church, who simultaneously criticizes and utilizes the Greco-Roman and Jewish worldviews in his proclamation of the gospel. This course treats St. Paul’s mastery of rhetoric and his pastoral sensitivity in a way that prepares students to formulate effective strategies for evangelization.

Graduate Bulletin

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