March 6, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 5Oakland, CA

Theological education thrives at East Bay universities

By Sharon Abercrombie
Staff writer

This past January, a group of lay students and seminarians from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley attended a three-day Sufi retreat in Indonesia. During this interfaith encounter with Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, attendees shared their respective beliefs on resurrection and other core theological issues.

They prayed together as well. The American visitors learned to say the hallmark prayer of Sufis and other Muslims: “La Il Allah Il Allah.” "There is no one but the One.”

Before 1962, such a joint interchange would have been rare. Interfaith dialogue was still in its beginning stages, and lay men and women would not have been studying alongside seminarians in Catholic schools of theology.

But Vatican II (1962-65) changed all that. Its documents, particularly “Lumen Gentium,” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), empowered the laity to assume their own unique ministries of service to the People of God “to fill the whole world with the gospel of Christ, from their unique perspectives and experiences as lay people living in the world,” notes Father Michael Sweeney, president of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley.

The JSTB Indonesian immersion retreat – an opportunity for Catholics and Sufis from two disparate cultures and religions to find out what they have in common and where they differ - is just one example of new developments which have been gradually percolating since Vatican II in Catholic theological schools throughout the country.

Locally, the major players are JSTB, DSPT and the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley and, since 2001, the religious studies department at Holy Names University in Oakland. Today, lay people, seminarians, religious and diocesan priests, Sisters and Brothers study together for a wide variety of graduate degrees in divinity and theology.

Many laypersons come to the schools to prepare to work alongside clergy and religious in growing multicultural parishes, hospitals, and schools. Others temporarily leave their secular careers for two or three years to learn more about their faith and to enrich their own spiritual lives. Retirees with the luxury of leisure time delve into theology and philosophy for the joy of learning. Some plan to teach these topics as second careers.

Some students are already working in parish ministries. Irish Franciscan Father Adrian Peelo arrived in Berkeley last August with extensive experiences in both teaching and retreat work. Now he feels called to serve immigrant African and Muslim communities in Dublin, so he has come to FST to learn about multicultural ministry. He is one of the 28 priests, seminarians and religious women among the 89 FST students.

Bill Schulz, 53, and his wife, Teresa, came from the business community. Three years ago, the couple put their respective careers in the insurance industry and university corporate relations on hold in Portland, Maine, to study with the Berkeley Franciscans. Each had heard a compelling call from within to serve the Church as lay people.

Bill earned a Master of Theological Studies last May and is now working as FST’s recruitment and communications director while Teresa completes her academic studies for the Master of Arts Degree for a Multicultural Church. She spent the past two semesters working as a hospital chaplain.

The three Catholic GTU schools are working closely with people like the Schulz’s. “Lay ecclesial ministry is one that the Church will continue to require even should there be a surfeit of candidates for ordination,” predicts Father Sweeney. The laity has a competency that the clergy do not have, the priest said during a talk last fall at the annual meeting of lay ecclesial ministers in the Oakland Diocese.

Father Joseph Daoust, president of JSTB, holds similar views. He envisions lay ministry moving from “an ancillary, not very central part of ministry, to an essential part of it.”

Both his institution and DSPT also are attracting an increasing number of lay students. Holy Names Sister Delores Rashford, director of Holy Names’ master’s program in lay ecclesial ministry, sees a similar trend happening on the Oakland campus.

So what does lay ecclesial ministry look like at these four East Bay schools? Busy, engaged and responding to the unfolding challenges of the Roman Catholic Church in the 21st century.
JSBT, DSPT, and FST have been offering lay persons the same academic disciplines as their clergy counterparts for more than 40 years when the three Catholic seminaries became a part of the new Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, an interfaith consortium of seminaries and schools.

Today GTU, sometimes referred to as “Holy Hill,” has grown to nine schools with an additional 11 affiliates and programs.
In 1964, DSPT became the first Catholic school to join the GTU. “We welcomed lay men and women since then,” said Father Sweeney. JSTB came aboard two years later, with the Franciscans following in 1968. They, too, began reaching out to laity, in those early days.

In fact, Father Kenan Osborne, past president of FST, recalls asking his seminary board more than 40 years ago for permission to enroll lay men and women who wanted to prepare for Church ministry. When the board said yes, “I took the opening and pushed it open as far as I could,” he recalls in a recent FST publication.

All three Berkeley schools offer a wide array of degree opportunities, such as a Master of Divinity, which prepares students for the active ministry, plus various kinds of MA’s and Ph.D.’s in theology and philosophy. Students take a rigorous academic schedule of classes in philosophy, theology, ethics, and Biblical studies.

At FST they work in hospital chaplaincy programs, interact with day laborers, and serve at St. Anthony Dining Room in San Francisco. They come together once a week to talk about the joys and challenges of their ministry.

JSTB’s academic schedule also involves hands-on ministry through prison, hospital and parish work, explained Julie Benbow, director of communications. The school has formed a partnership with the West Oakland Deanery, where students serve in RCIA programs, Bible study, and youth ministry at five parishes.

JSTB’s students, both lay and seminarians, study and work together in what Benbow calls a “culturally contextualized ministry.” The January trip to Indonesia was part of an annual immersion experience, which also involves jaunts to Mexico and India, said Jesuit Father Jim Redington, professor of interreligious dialogue.

JSTB’s full-time student enrollment is 195. Forty-six percent are lay people, of whom 35 percent are women. Thirty-four percent hail from outside the U.S.

DSPT’s enrollment currently tops in at 110 students “and is growing,” says Father Sweeney. More than half are lay people. While some of them are preparing for active church work, others are pursuing philosophical and theological studies for future academic teaching careers.

Father Sweeney said he is particularly concerned about expanding upon the depth and breadth of spiritual resources needed to lead people in the 21st century, not only within Church ministry, but within the secular realm, as well.

His concern is morphing into a new master’s program scheduled to begin in September 2007. This degree will focus on people who work in the business and corporate worlds to help them address moral and theological issues regarding the economy, globalization and the environment. He has brought in Andre Delbecq, a professor of business administration at Santa Clara University, to help design the new program.

Design is also a key word in Holy Names University’s Master’s program in lay ecclesial ministry, stressed Holy Names Sister Delores Rashford. Her school has fashioned its classes specifically for busy laity, many of whom are already working in parish settings and who need “flexible, part-time affordable programs.”

The three-year program was created in 2001 in consultation with the Oakland Diocese’s Lay Ecclesial Advisory Board. Each new cohort of incoming students forms its own on-going faith and study communities to support them through the three-year program.

They meet for four hours each Monday, taking six units per semester. The program includes classes in theology, S cripture, liturgy, sacraments, ministerial skills and a final self-designed class in each student’s area of ministry. So far, the Holy Names program has graduated 28 students, with an additional dozen in the process of completing class work.

This program recently received a $65,000 grant from an anonymous foundation to develop a new college undergraduate degree in religious studies. The university hopes to reach out to lay leaders within the East Bay’s diverse immigrant community. If they qualify, students can work on both a B.A. and M.A. and finish both degrees in only three years.

(Next issue: Profiles of theology students in the East Bay.)

Dominican Father Hilary Martin, history professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, talks with a fellow Dominican who is studying at the school. Greg Tarczynski photo

Students meet for a seminar at the Franciscan School of Theology. Classes can include students from other GTU schools. FST photo

At Holy Names University, classes for the M.A. in pastoral ministries are held on Mondays to accommodate the work schedules of lay ministers. HNU photo

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