Seminary receives $5M grant for further training of priests, lay leaders
Submitted by Tania Surane
USML/Mundelein Seminary has received a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. USML/Mundelein Seminary will be using these funds to develop the Cor Iuxta Meum ("After My Own Heart") Project, an effort focused on integrating new pedagogical methods into formation programs for seminarians, priests, and lay leaders within the Church.
For the Cor Iuxta Meum Project, USML/Mundelein Seminary will engage a broad collaboration among major Catholic seminaries in the United States and the dioceses they serve, as well as the Seminary Formation Council, an organization dedicated to the training of diocesan seminary formation faculty. This initiative is designed to achieve the goals of seminary formation as laid out by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, while also identifying and addressing the future needs of ministerial leadership in local church communities over the coming decades.
The project is being funded through the competitive third phase of Lilly Endowment's Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. The initiative is designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the most pressing challenges they face as they prepare pastoral leaders for Christian congregations. Phase three grants are supporting a limited number of large-scale, collaborative efforts that explore and develop new educational and financial models for theological education. Lilly Endowment expects to award additional phase three grants in fall 2022.
A key component of the Cor Iuxta Meum Project is its focus on encounter-based formation, i.e., the principle that one's self-reflective experience of multiple interpersonal encounters (with parishioners, family, colleagues, etc.) provides the best preparation for growth in the mastery of theology, the exercise of pastoral skills, and the deepening of one's contemplative prayer life, all of which are critically important for the development of an effective priest or lay leader. Central to the project's pedagogical innovation is the adaptation of the simulation learning methodology that has been successfully employed in the field of health care education for many decades.
"Our goal is to help the students become more effective leaders in parish settings, an environment in which their self knowledge, resilience and capacity for competent, compassionate interpersonal relating are paramount," said Father John Kartje, rector of USML/Mundelein Seminary. "We envision implementing encounter-based pedagogy within our ordained and lay leadership training programs, taking advantage of our university's unique opportunity for forming ordained and lay leaders side-by-side, preparing them for the professional collaborative relationships they will soon be undertaking." USML/Mundelein Seminary successfully introduced a pilot version of the simulation learning concept on a smaller scale during the 2020-21 academic school year, as detailed in a video viewable at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr2D55sDIq8&feature=youtu.be.
In addition to restructuring the traditional approach to seminary pedagogy, the grant award allows for constructing a complete simulation laboratory on the USML campus that will be fully outfitted for the unique needs of parish ministry.
"This facility will allow us to maximally leverage the benefits of simulation learning while modifying applications that have previously been designed specifically for health care education," Father Kartje said.
Under the guidance of USML/Mundelein Seminary, the project's consortium comprises Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in Maryland, Saint Paul Seminary in Minnesota, Saint Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Florida, Saint Mary Seminary in Ohio and the Seminary Formation Council. Together, the schools and the council will explore the most effective means for preparing select parish sites to complement and partner with the seminaries as centers of excellent formation within active parish ministry surroundings.
The project development and implementation will be aided by a team of national leaders in simulation and encounter-based pedagogy including researchers from Rosalind Franklin University, Marquette University and the University of Notre Dame. As the project advances, collaboration will broaden to include non-Catholic seminaries and centers for ministry leadership development.
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