A Vision Shared

Priests of blended STL program come together in brotherhood for second summer term.

In July, the seminary welcomed twenty priests for the summer residency term of the Licentiate in Sacred Theology program, or STL. This is the second year of this unique blended program that allows priests from across the world to earn the Vatican-approved post-graduate degree by taking most of the courses at home online. The men are away from their active ministries only for four short summer terms of five weeks here at Sacred Heart.

For the 2015 summer term, priests came from thirteen dioceses across the United States, two religious communities, two dioceses in India, and one diocese in Southern Sudan. The group was a merging of men attending their second year of summer residency (cohort one) and those attending their first summer term (cohort two).

The innovative STL programthe first of its kind in the blended formatis pastorally-focused, concentrating in the theories and techniques of what has come to be known as the New Evangelization. It emphasizes Catholic analysis of contemporary social problems, family and bioethical issues, and practical solutions for reaching an increasingly secularized culture.

Although the summer term is academically intensethe men take four post-graduate-level courses in five week—it is also a time of rewarding collegiality among fellow priest-students.

Fr. Joseph Kim, director of vocations and director of evangelization for the Diocese of San Jose, just completed his second summer term. Father Kim says he continues to be surprised at the sense of fraternity the men develop, which reflects the sense of community among the STL faculty members and Sacred Heart's administration.

We are all driven by the same mission at Sacred Heartthe New Evangelization. That is the direction of the Church today, and that is the direction fully imbued at the seminary.

Father says he definitely would recommend the program to any priest whose bishop wants him to earn the degree but is swamped' with his own pastoral duties back home. For such a priest, This is the place to be.

Fr. Michael Pawlowicz of the Diocese of Joliet heard a lot about the New Evangelization as a seminarian but says he never completely understood what it meant until entering the STL program. Father is impressed particularly by the instructors teaching in the program.

They are very smart, very prepared in their fields, but they are living the gospel, too. They are not just teaching us theory but are speaking heart to heart' and allowing the Spirit to do the work.

Sacred Heart's STL program is attractive for a number of reasons, Father Pawlowicz says, but especially so because of the willingness of Sacred Heart's administration and admissions office to work with priest-students who can't afford to be away from their parishes for a year at a time. And it is good to be around brothers with a shared vision. We are all interested in how to get the New Evangelization rolling in our dioceses.

Priests can learn more about the Licentiate in Sacred Theology in the New Evangelization by visiting Sacred Heart's website here.