Configuration Stage

The Master of Divinity program at Mount Angel Seminary assists students in integrating theological learning with pastoral skills, and their own continuing conversion to Jesus Christ, educating candidates to priesthood in their search for “an ever-deeper knowledge of the divine mysteries” (PDV 51PPF 163). Intellectual formation for Master of Divinity candidates is to be “fides quaerens intellectum, faith seeking understanding…. The Seminary study of theology begins in faith and ends in faith, as should all true theological inquiry and study” (PPF 291 163).

Program Outcomes

1. Students will be able to think theologically in a way that is faithful to Sacred Scripture, the Catholic Tradition, and the teaching of the Church, using critical reasoning and appropriate methodologies, and to articulate the Catholic faith from the perspective of communion ecclesiology, demonstrating the connections and coherences of faith’s mysteries by discerning their Trinitarian, Incarnational, and Eucharistic foundations.
2. Students will manifest integration of theological learning with focus on the liturgy, deepening and broadening intellectual insights through prayer and the spiritual life and manifest an ever more profound grasp of their own human condition and respect for the dignity of each person.
3. Students will demonstrate the ability to orient and integrate their learning towards effective pastoral ministry, especially preaching and teaching.

The Master of Arts (Theology) degree at Mount Angel Seminary, like the Master of Divinity, is founded on Communion Ecclesiology, recognizing that the master themes of the Catholic theological tradition have their roots in the Eucharistic celebration. The program is designed to provide a solid theological foundation in the Roman Catholic tradition and the skills to communicate that knowledge effectively.

Program Outcomes

1. Students will be able to think theologically in a way that is faithful to Sacred Scripture, the Catholic Tradition, and the teaching of the Church, using critical reasoning and appropriate methodologies, and to articulate the Catholic faith from the perspective of communion ecclesiology, demonstrating the connections and coherences of faith’s mysteries by discerning their Trinitarian, Incarnational, and Eucharistic foundations.
2. Students will demonstrate a capacity for theological research, including the ability to identify a manageable and pertinent research question, to identify and accurately utilize sound theological sources, and to develop and complete a thesis on the basis of that research.

In order to provide an ecclesiastical degree which initiates students into the whole compass of Catholic Theology, seminarians studying at Mount Angel Seminary are able to earn the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (STB) degree in affiliation with the Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome. Sant’ Anselmo was established as an institute of theological studies for the Cassinese Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict by Blessed Innocent XI in 1687. Pope Leo XIII reestablished it on 4 January 1887 for students from all of the Benedictine congregations and granted Sant’ Anselmo the right to confer academic degrees in 1891. In 1933, Pope Pius XI bestowed the title “Pontifical” upon the “Academic Institute of the International College of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome.”

The STB degree provides a firm academic foundation for further studies in pursuit of post-graduate ecclesiastical degrees of License and Doctorate in Sacred Theology. As taught at Mount Angel Seminary, as well as at Sant’ Anselmo, the STB curriculum follows the standard lines of theology programs as outlined in the Apostolic Constitution of Pope St. John Paul II, Sapientia Christiana. Both Sant’ Anselmo and Mount Angel Seminary teach theology in the context of the Benedictine tradition: “The monastic practices of the celebration of the Divine Mysteries in the liturgy and of lectio divina give the tone for both teaching and study. This is not a theology only for those who lead the monastic life, but a monastic gift to theology’s wider dialogue” (Sant’ Anselmo: Benedictine Tradition of Theology).

The program for the STB at Mount Angel Seminary is ordinarily completed in four years, and may be earned concurrently with the Master of Divinity (MDiv), with some distinctive requirements for the STB degree.

The purpose of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree is to provide an opportunity for suitably qualified Roman Catholics, ordained and religious/lay, to deepen and enrich their engagement in and commitment to ministry in their local communities, parishes and (arch)dioceses through the pursuit of this professional doctorate.

Program Outcomes

The DMin program assists candidates in integrating deeper theological learning with their existing and ongoing pastoral skills/experience, and their own continuing conversion to Jesus Christ. It invites and enables “an ever-deeper knowledge of the divine mysteries” (PDV 51), especially as this relates to pastoral ministry in the Catholic Church. To this end, the following outcomes – already expected to be in place in some measure – should be met more intensively by the completion of the DMin degree:

1. Students will be able to think theologically in a way that is faithful to Sacred Scripture, the Catholic Tradition, and the teaching of the Church, using critical reasoning and appropriate methodologies, and to articulate the Catholic faith from the perspective of communion ecclesiology, demonstrating the connections and coherences of faith’s mysteries by discerning their Trinitarian, Incarnational, and Eucharistic foundations.
2. Students will manifest integration of theological learning with personal and spiritual growth and a deepening and reinvigoration of their vocational calling, with, e.g., starting or restarting initiatives to foster spiritual growth in their local church, exercising new or expanded leadership roles, and/or manifesting a deeper appreciation of and more frequent participation in the liturgy and other spiritual practices like deep reading, Liturgy of the Hours, lectio divina and the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
3. Students will demonstrate the ability to orient and integrate their learning towards effective ministry.

Having been initiated through Baptism and Confirmation into the communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are deepened in that communion every time we celebrate the Eucharist.

The “shape” of the Eucharistic celebration images for us who God is and who we are: God is a communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we are all together caught up into this communion. Our ongoing formation aims at ever more concretely embodying this image of communion in our way of being, loving, and working together.

Taking on the vision of Communion Ecclesiology will influence and inform all that we do. It does not simply give shape to our theological curriculum, but it also reshapes the way we approach liturgy, spiritual and personal formation, pastoral education, community life, and our interaction with each other in the world.