Patricia Bartos, Senior Staff Writer, Pittsburgh
Catholic
August
26, 2005
Area Catholics can tap into the vast resources of the University
of Notre Dame's theology department without leaving the comfort
of home.
Through
its Theology Online series, the university provides courses taught
by Notre Dame theology professors and available via the Internet
for pastoral ministers and lay Catholics around the world (http://step.nd.edu).
The
continuing education program will begin its fourth year Sept.
6 by offering some 25 online classes.
"We
began with the simple idea of putting the university's theological
and technical resources at the service of the church," said
Thomas Cummings, director of the university's Satellite Theological
Education Program.
"Ultimately,
it's about evangelization," he said.
The
effort began with a series of video conferences for people in
small dioceses that didn't have the benefit of Catholic universities
to use as resources.
The
response was impressive, and planners decided to expand it by
adding several of Notre Dame's best theology courses, making them
accessible to all.
More
than 300 students from 80 dioceses, plus Botswana, Canada, England,
Ireland and Vietnam are now enrolled, and Cummings expects that
total to soon jump by another 100. The courses average an enrollment
of 18 to 20 students per class.
"We've growing steadily year after year," Cummings said.
"Hopefully, they will deepen people's faith and devotional
practice."
He
noted that "Initially we saw some skepticism, but we discovered
a bona fide learning community. People feel connected, it's such
a concentrated audience of adult Catholics."
The
satellite program is an outgrowth of Pope John Paul II's interest
in using modern media in the church's work of evangelization.
"It
is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian
message and the church's authentic teaching," the pope once
said. "It is also necessary to integrate that message into
the 'new culture' created by modern communications.
"Doing
that is all the more important today, since not only do the media
now strongly .influence what people think about life but also
to a great extent 'human experience itself is an experience of
media,'" the pope said.
The
program is offered through the university's Institute for Church
Life and enables people to learn from experts in theology and
to interact with others taking the same classes in what Notre
Dame calls a "quality educational experience."
The
courses are offered on a certificate basis and are not taken for
credits. They are grouped under five categories: Catholic doctrine,
liturgy, church history, Christian life, Scripture and religion
and literature. Individual courses focus on the Creed, the mystery
of creation, the papacy, introduction to the sacraments, RCIA,
Vatican II, American Catholicism, prayer and youth ministry.
Cummings
reported that the most popular courses focus on the Eucharist
and the letters of St. Paul. At least six courses are also being
developed on Mary.
New
this fall are courses on the Old Testament, the Gospel of John,
and women and Catholicism.
Shorter,
four-week courses this fall will include book review sessions
on Dorothy Day's "The Long Loneliness," Thomas
Merton's "Seven Storey Mountain" and St. Augustine's
"Confessions."
Faculty include theology professors Lawrence
Cunningham and Jesuit Father Brian Daley, plus Nathan Mitchell,
associate director in the Center for Pastoral Liturgy; Jay Dolan,
emeritus professor of history; and Maura Ryan, associate professor
of theology.
"Notre Dame is one of the premier Catholic
theological faculties in the country," with 55 theologians
in the department, he said.
Courses range in cost from $29 to $109.
The program has also begun offering graduate
theology courses for Notre Dame's master's degree program as a
service to that department.
Among its other services, the program customizes
courses for dioceses participating in its affiliate program.
It has prepared a video lecture series of 12
talks on core theological topics, making them available on CD-ROM
individually or as a set. More than 1,000 lectures have been sold.
The satellite program's Web site also includes
an animated demonstration of one of the e-courses.
Cummings can be reached at 574-631-8207 or Cummings.8@nd.edu.
The Web site at http://step.nd.edu
is still accepting online registrations for the new semester beginning
Sept. 6.
