Loyola University Chicago

This course will explore the nature of spirituality, the depth experience out of which it arises, and the questions it responds to. We will attempt to reconnect with the vision that gave rise to Christianity and with the charter moments of our faith as foundational to our Spirituality. We will briefly explore the development of our tradition in order to come to grips with the context of our time. What does the present age ask of us? As American Christians we will also take note of the diverse traditions that influence Christian spirituality on this continent especially the unique African American insights and the wisdom of the aboriginal peoples of this continent that offer such riches for our spiritual lives.

MINISTERIAL PRACTICE

• 560 -Liturgical Leadership in Public Prayer, 3 hours

  This practicum develops skills in preparation for occasions, including public communication and preaching skills, supervising and training volunteer liturgical ministers.

• 565 -Pastoral Leadership

  Who is a leader? What is leadership? These contemporary questions creatively haunt every organization and endeavor. Church, diocese, parish, and other structures of religion find these questions particularly challenging in light of their mission, their membership, and their relationship with culture. This course examines contemporary leadership, its theories and practices, specifically focusing on pastoral contexts. The relationship between various ecclesiologies and leadership styles will be discussed. Models of leadership will be presented and processed. Distinction between leadership and management will be explored. The role of the congregation in pastoral leadership will be highlighted.

• 564 -Introduction to Pastoral Care & Counseling, 3 hours

  This course will examine the primary themes of pastoral care and counseling, the person and role of the minister of care and counseling, clinical theories, skills appropriate to this ministry, and issues frequently encountered. The course is designed for those who wish to develop pastoral care and counseling as a component of their ministry and as a means for assessment and referral. Issues of beginning and ending helping relationships well, diagnosis and assessment, and integration of theological and spiritual resources will be considered. Participants will have the opportunity to learn theory and practice care and counseling skills.

• -Ministerial Practice Elective, 3 hours

Ministry Focus names the process by which the M.Div. student reviews the work of the first half of his/her curriculum, declares an intended focus or particular character, and projects the remainder of this curriculum for assessment, feedback, and approval by the IPS faculty. While these two tasks are distinct they intertwine in many ways and are enacted in one procedure.

CONTEXTUAL EDUCATION

As a "pastoral" institute, IPS operates from a "praxis paradigm*" in relation to theological and ministerial education. This means that in Contextual Education students acquire knowledge for the sake of religious transformation as they experience God.s action in persons' lives and link this action with tradition. Thus, images of Contextual Education limited to giving students .work experience. while they are studying, or that understand Field Education to be the context in which to "learn skills," are marginal to and outmoded for the praxis paradigm for pastoral studies. On the contrary, Contextual Education is an essential locus for exercising and gaining the knowledge essential for pastoral studies. It is a theological exercise, including four movements:

• Describing the community's practice
• Analyzing this practice historically
• Systematically relating life themes in the practice to the religious traditions
• Establishing the norms and strategies of ministerial response to the practice

Contextual Education plays a major role in the very orchestration of theological education, an activity through which students generate data for theological construction and reconstruction. It also provides a setting for the student to exercise ministerial skills of caring for creation (cosmic, social, personal, and individual welfare), proclaiming the faith, and enacting the community.

Contextual Education then stands at the portal between the community and the university. In one direction the Contextual Education students join the community engaging the religious experiences of life. In the other, at the Institute, they join teachers and colleagues reflecting on the community.s practice in light of the religious traditions. During this exchange M.Div. Students learn to generatively practice reflection and reflectively practice. They learn to become "ministers," ambassadors to the community.

M.Div. students normally engage in Contextual Education during the second year of the program (or after 8-12 courses have been completed). This allows students to do one year of classroom work and to prepare to engage a Contextual Education placement. It provides another year of classroom endeavor after the experience to concentrate on one.s ministry objectives, refined in Contextual Education.

• 580 -Field Education I, 3 hours
• 581 -Field Education II, 3 hours

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is a an interfaith method of theological education through which a student learns pastoral skills within a context of ministerial relationships to people and under the direct supervision of a certified pastoral supervisor. It provides a learning situation for a ministerial student in which they may develop awareness of the theological and psycho-social concerns of persons in crisis.

The CPE component is typically completed before application to candidacy to address one key candidacy concern, namely, personal growth matters of self awareness and self reflection. The student uses material from the CPE report to support his or her candidacy.

Click here to see the IPS web page on CPE.

Candidacy is the process by which the IPS faculty exercises its responsibility to the church and other concerned publics by determining that the student has both the potential to satisfactorily complete this degree and a readiness to begin ministry. Students assess what they have accomplished, focus more clearly on their vision of ministry, and articulate issues and guidelines both for choosing future courses and for their remaining work in field education. Students also use this process to look ahead to the "M.Div. Project." Application for Candidacy typically takes place when the student has completed thirty-six hours (1/2) of course work. Ideally both CPE and the first semester of Field Education have also been completed; however, one must be completed.

The M.Div. Project is an opportunity to display competence gained in preparation for ministerial leadership through course work, field education, personal growth, and reflection during the years in the M.Div. Program. This final paper is intended as a demonstration of the student's ability;

• to take up a problem or issue he/she has experienced in ministry
• to use, correlate, and criticize resources in the Bible, theology, ethics, liturgy, spiritual theology, social and behavioral sciences and ministerial practice in order to address that problem;
• to offer a theory of ministry and strategies as appropriate responses to the issue or problem.

The project not only demonstrates the foundation out of which the student's work now grows, but also develops a project relevant to the future of the student's ministry. The M.Div. project exhibits integration, shows the capacity to reflect upon experience, demonstrates one's ability to research major issues of life and faith, and exercises the skill to link contemporary needs with the tradition. This paper is to be 25 to 40 pages in length. The completed and approved M.Div. Project is due approximately two working weeks before graduation.

FAITH FORMATION

The RG group is a formation component of the M.Div. Program. It is intended to offer students an opportunity within a communal context to foster their on-going development as ministers. Students must enroll in RG for their first semesters and their final semester. Students may enroll for a RG as often as they choose. This is a 0 credit hour course.

Spiritual direction is the process of deepening one's relationship with God through a reflection and discernment process shared with a mentor trained to facilitate listening and responding to God's continuing revelation in the whole of one's life. It is recognized that many M.Div. students have a spiritual director and the availability of this service is not intended to replace that long-standing relationship. However IPS does provide the opportunity of experienced spiritual directors for all IPS students. Individual sessions will be held for one hour every other week. A registration form available on the IPS website must be filled out and returned to the IPS Office 2 weeks prior to the beginning of each semester, and registration must be made through LOCUS. This is a 0 credit hour course.

Pastoral counseling is a process of developing a deeper understanding of self and self-in-relationship to others, to society and to the environment. Particular attention is given to theological and psychological dimensions of personal growth and integration. Individual sessions will be one hour each week. A registration form available on the IPS website must be filled out and returned to the IPS Office 2 weeks prior to the beginning of each semester, and registration must be made through LOCUS. This is a 0 credit hour course.