I'm Going Gack to School

Here's something that you might  find interesting. I'm going back to College to get  a Masters degree in Theology. So why would a sixty-six year old retired dude want to do something like that? Shouldn't I be kicking back, taking it easy?

I am a cradle Catholic. I first became interested in Theology many years ago, at a family Thanksgiving dinner, my older brother announced that he was agnostic. He eventually left the Catholic Church and now identifies as an atheist.  I didn't have any answers to my brother's objections, but promised myself that I would attempt to find answers.  A lot of his beliefs came from Bart Ehrman. He would also read: Sam Harris,  Raymond Brown,  Hans Küng and others.  In my mission to find answers,  I would  listen to and watch EWTN radio and TV. I would read The National Catholic Register. Father Corapi and Catholic Answers Live were some of my early sources for information.
I began attending the Midwest Catholic Family Conference and reading books by  Steve Ray,  Tim Staples,  Dr. Scott Hahn, Trent Horn, Peter Kreeft, David B Currie, Carl E. Olson, Marcus Grodi, CS Lewis, and Dr. Brant Pitre. I've watched videos and listened to talks by Fr. Chris Alar, Fr. Michael Schmitz, Dr. Edward Feser, Fr. Spitzer. Fr. John Riccardo, William Lane Craig, Dr. Craig Blomberg, Gary Habermas, Mike Licona,  Gregory A Boyd, and Lee Strobel. I always wanted to learn more

When I retired almost three years ago  I made a commitment to teach PSR at my parish. For those of you who aren't Catholic or don't know, PSR stands for Parish School of Religion.  It's what used to be called CCD  (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) when I was growing up. The definition of confraternity is a brotherhood. We had our CCD on Sunday mornings between the 9 and 11 O'clock Masses. It's for kids who don't have a Catholic school  or for kids who go to public school. PSR is how these kids learn their Catechism. At my parish we have classes on Wednesday nights from 6:30 - 7:30pm. Classes started after Labor Day and go until May.   I teach 5th Grade.  We teach them about the Sacraments.

I made this commitment because over the years,  it has hurt me to see too many Catholics who don't know their faith.  They don't know how to explain what the Catholic Church teaches.  Why do we believe what we believe?  I had two choices.  I could sit back and complain about it,  or I could get up and do something about it. I love learning about my faith.  I love sharing my faith. I love Jesus Christ! I love the Catholic Church.  I believe it to be the OneTrue Church that Jesus Christ started.  Jesus Christ is my ticket to heaven. The Catholic Church is my vehicle to get there.

Going back to school and studying Theology is a great way to learn about my faith.  I can't think of a better way to: 1) Come up with answers for my atheist brother,  2) become a better Catechist and PSR  teacher, and  3) learn how to improve my spiritual life and share it with others.  The best part is that I am receiving a tuition free scholarship  to get a masters degree at Newman University. 

So back in August,  I  spotted the following advertisement on the Facebook page of a friend who worked in the Admissions department at Newman University here in Wichita.

One of the requirements was to be a Catechist, a PSR teacher or OCIA  teacher in the Wichita Diocese.  Check.  I would meet that requirement. The Facebook post that led me to this program/scholarship  said "any bachelor's degree". My degree was in Business Administration and Economics.  My GPA  was 3.094. Check. It looked like I would qualify for this scholarship.

Excited and interested,  I went to the  Newman  University website to check it out and it said... "Bachelor’s degree in theology or related field, such as philosophy or history from an accredited college or university with a GPA of 3.0 or higher."  That confused me because her Facebook post said "any degree." I pointed that out to her and she put me in touch with the Dean of Catholic Studies. He told me that was a misprint on the website  and they would take any BA degree. I was definitely interested  but after talking to the  Dean,  I found out that their quota was full for the fall  semester but they put me on a list and I would get in on the next opening if someone drops out,  or possibly in the summer or fall semester next year.  

Well, I couple of weeks later,  he called me back and told me that an opening had come up and I could get in mid semester.  I would have to move quickly. I needed to go online and register,  get my  transcript  sent from my previous school to Newman, write an essay telling them why I was interested in the program, get a letter of recommendation from my pastor,  and go online and enroll. Got all of that done, hope I didn't forget anything.  Then  I got an email officially welcoming me to the program and I started on October 13th and still needed to get my textbooks

I am in the MTS program,  It's not as intense as the MA program. The program is 30 credit hours. That's 10 classes.  Watch the short  6 minute video below which explains how it works. Students take  one class at a time.  Each class lasts 8 weeks. In all including summer semester,  it's a little over 2 years. Most is online  and there are textbooks required for each class.  Each week, there are two video modules, assigned reading,  and discussion in study groups on the course website. Three weeks into the program  students come to campus for an intensive weekend. We also had to do a six to eight page research  paper. 

https://youtu.be/PoxyuxsTjUg?suCPe4b-q3E3QnUNt

The Master in Theological Studies degree (M.T.S.) is intended to deepen the theological understanding of diocesan catechists and teachers of religion. It prepares students to explore and explain the Catholic theological tradition and provides a solid grounding in that tradition. The program is intended for those working in catechetical ministry in a Roman Catholic context and anticipates questions that frequently arise in the classroom and during the RCIA process. The MTS program prepares students to teach in Catholic high schools, apply to hospital chaplaincy programs, or work in parishes or diocesan offices. It also prepares lay people to teach classes in Parish Schools of Religion (PSR), teach or direct the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) and participate in other parochial ministries.

The Department of theology offers two degrees in its graduate program of theology. The Master in Theological Studies (MTS) provides a solid grounding in the Catholic theological tradition and is intended for those working in parish ministry in a Roman Catholic context. 

The Master of Arts (MA) in Theology  has more rigorous requirements and is intended to prepare students to teach theology in a classroom setting as well as preparing those interested in pursuing doctoral work in theology. The MA degree requires some different course work than the MTS degree; it also requires the completion of a thesis and a comprehensive examination, as well as foreign language requirements, none of which are required for the MTS.

The tuition free scholarship is made possible through the Catholic Diocese of Wichita... The St. Maria de Mattias Endowment is a fund of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita which is intended to support innovative catechetical programs in order to help strengthen religious education in the Wichita and Dodge City Catholic Dioceses.

Through the support of the St. Maria de Mattias Endowment and the through the generosity of the Most Reverend Carl Kemme, Bishop of Wichita, a limited number of full-tuition scholarships are available to qualified catechists of the Wichita and Dodge City dioceses. To qualify for a full-tuition scholarship, students must be active in the catechetical ministry within the Diocese of Wichita or Dodge City at the parish level and must also have the approval of their pastor. DRE’s; RCIA catechists; Youth Catechists; Adult Education Catechists and any other catechetical ministry at the parish level supported by the local pastor qualify a student to receive a full-tuition scholarship from the St. Maria de Mattias Endowment.

https://newmanu.edu/academics/graduate-programs/theology/scholarships

Thanks to Newman University, Bishop Kenme, and the Diocese of Wichita for making this opportunity possible. 

And so I've completed my first class, a study on saints Athanasius, Augustine,  and Aquinas.  My first thought is to admit a preconceived notion that I always had, that Catholic Doctrine was "set in stone." That's one thing that I  always liked about the Catholic Church.  You could read the Bible and even some of the early Church Fathers and see something similar to what we have today. Boy was I wrong.  I had skipped over these three outstanding theological minds. While today, I will admit that Catholic Doctrine is not "set in stone, it does  have a strong foundation and is very stable on its its established teachings.

The Church has adapted and evolved over time. That's where the A-Team, as Professor Papsdorf calls them come in. It is exciting to see how they were all responding to issues of their time, addressing new societal issues or interpretations of scripture. But in the end it all fits together like, solving a jigsaw puzzle.  How exciting it was to see how things developed historically and how we got from point A to point B. I think what we can learn today is that teachings can and do change, although today,  probably more cosmetic changes. I don't think we're going to see any new major doctrinal changes. Hopefully we shouldn't get too troubled when things like the recent Church Synod take place, because in the end, I think that the Holy Spirit is watching over us. Just in case, I hope that we will always have some strong minds similar to the A-Team who are ready to step in and defend the faith should modern day heritics come forward.  And didn't Jesus give us a guarantee that the Church would not be overcome with evil?

Matthew 16:18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,* and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

What I liked most is that all of their teachings gave me a handbook, setting goals, kind of like a road map, on how to achieve perfection and get to the end. But too often we get off the road. We have temptations in our journey. Fr Aaron at Mass a couple of weeks ago, gave us a golf analogy. He tells the story of his uncles going golfing. ⛳ Occasionally they would take their grandmother with them.  One time she made the comment that she couldn’t understand.  The flag is over there, but you hit the ball that direction, and you hit it the other direction.  Why don't you hit it towards the flag? He says that's the last time grandma went with them.  But isn't that the way our journey is? Even though we know what the ultimate goal is, we make choices that take us off course. 

What I like about the readings  form  the A-Team is that they also showed us how to fight temptations that we will encounter in our daily journeys. They gave us a road map. Some of my favorite readings were Life of Antony,  Augustine against the Pelagians, City of God,  the Summa Theologica,  especially St Thomas Aquinas Five Ways, and the chapters on Vices and Virtues. And the Sacraments which I will definitely take advantage of in my 5th Grade PSR class.  I also enjoyed figuring out Faith and Reason. Wow! So much there. While eight weeks is just enough to wet the appetite,  hopefully,  someday I'll have time to sit down and really soak all of this in.

The spring  semester starts on January 19th.  The two classes that I will be taking ar "New Testament Theology" and "The Four-Fold Gospel".