By Sam M. Lucero
Catholic Herald

Diocese, St. John's to offer advanced studies program

The program will enable religious educators and other parish lay ministers to take college level courses locally. The classes, which begin next fall, will be taught by instructors from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn.

Sr. Genevieve Schillo, CSJ, director of the diocesan Department of Christian Formation, announced the Program for Advanced Lay Ministry Study (PALMS) Feb. 14.

"I think it's a great leap forward for us in our diocese," she said in an interview. "I felt for a long time that what we lack in our area is that systematic approach to a sound and firmly rooted knowledge of Scripture and theology. Because we are a mission diocese and we don't have these resources that are readily available, it's a new venture for us -- and also a new venture for St. John's."

The program is made possible through the generosity of St. John's University and a three-year, $72,000 grant from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Support Fund, Inc.

According to Victor Klimoski, director of lifelong learning at St. John's University, a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. of Indianapolis is subsidizing the university's expenses. Klimoski is putting together course materials and members of the School of Theology faculty will teach the courses. He said the Lilly grant, issued two years ago, enabled the School of Theology to establish its lifelong learning program.

The Milwaukee support fund grant will help the diocese pay for expenses it incurs. In addition, tuition fees and financial commitments from local parishes will help fund the program. Schillo said a better picture of tuition costs will be available when orientation sessions are held in March and May (see sidebar story).

The three-year program will consist of six Saturday seminars each year. Participants will also be required to complete independent study assignments and group projects. The meeting place will be determined after participants have registered.

Klimoski said the first year will be an introduction to the Old and New Testaments. The second year's focus is the church and its story of faith and mission in the world. The final year focuses on the study catechetics, the field of religious education in which the doctrinal and moral principals of faith are taught.

According to Schillo, the time was right for an advanced studies course for members of the Superior diocese.

"This diocese has worked very hard over a long period of time to help catechists and other adults to learn about their faith and to learn how to communicate it effectively," said Schillo.

Many entry-level workshops and conferences are sponsored by the diocese throughout the year for adults who teach religion and sacramental preparation in parishes and Catholic schools, said Schillo. In addition, the permanent diaconate program and the lay ministry formation program offer quality educational opportunities for local Catholics.

However, with a shortage of priests and women religious, who in the past directed a parish's or school's religious education program, the need for advanced training of lay ministers is imperative, said Schillo. She estimates that 95 percent of lay people who serve in parish lay ministries such as catechetical programs, liturgy, and youth and young adult ministries, have no formal preparation in theology or Scripture.

"I don't know how many people are able to attend a Catholic college" outside the diocese, she said. "So lacking that, we as a (diocesan) staff felt it was time to consider some other options."

Last spring Schillo learned about St. John's University's lifelong learning program. Since then the Department of Christian formation and Klimoski have been developing the lay ministry program. Deacon Roger Cadotte, director of the Office of Religious Education and Youth Ministries, will direct the PALMS program.

While St. John's faculty will teach the course and college credit can be received, Klimoski is reluctant to identify PALMS as a college-level program. He worries that this description may intimidate potential students and instead refers to the courses as advanced studies for people who have already shown an aptitude for learning about the Catholic faith and sharing it.

"It's really designed with people in mind who have experience as a catechist or a teacher of religion, so that they come with sort of the basics already in hand," he said.

He encouraged all members of the diocese involved in parish ministry to attend one of the orientation sessions.

Klimoski said he is unaware of any similar program between a Catholic college and a rural diocese. It could serve as a model for other dioceses that lack Catholic institutions of higher learning.

"This is a way to test how a school like ours within a university can really work in partnership with a diocese to enhance the good works they are doing," said Klimoski. "We're not coming in with a notion that we are a savior because they're doing a good job there."

He expects St. John's to benefit from the partnership as much as the Superior diocese.

"Whenever you work with a local church like this you learn what's happening in real time and space," he said. "It's a wonderful instruction for us as a faculty and for our students."

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001