Fewer Roman Catholic clergy members and
increasing numbers of Catholics living in the United States
have led more Catholic colleges to offer distance-education
programs to train their lay members to perform ministerial
tasks.
While the institutions uniformly see a
great need for pastoral distance education, some debate
exists on whether traditions fit as well with Catholic teaching
traditions as more traditional distance-learning techniques.
Officials at some Catholic colleges think
that online courses and pastoral education are a match made
in heaven. For example, the Satellite Theological Education
Program at the University of Notre Dame offers six not-for-credit
courses online. Students can download their course material,
turn in assignments by e-mail, and participate in online
chats. The program now serves eight dioceses with 300 participants
and expects to add the Anchorage, Alaska, and Atlanta archdioceses
soon, said Thomas Cummings, its director.
"We think the national scope
of the market is approximately 100,000, and we think it's
possible to reach 20,000," Mr. Cummings said.
On the other hand, the Loyola Institute
for Ministry Expansion at Loyola University in New Orleans,
the largest granter of lay ecclesial-ministry degrees and
certificates in the nation, offers no online courses.
"We've pretty much decided
that the majority of our work will be face to face,"
said Cecelia Bennett, the institute's associate director.
"Right now, [Internet] technology doesn't enhance what
we're doing."
Loyola offers 51 degree and certificate
programs via distance education. More than 800 students
from 49 states and Britain gather weekly in groups of 12.
A facilitator guides discussion and shows a video prepared
by a Loyola professor.
"The key to quality education
is communication between the faculty member and the student,"
said Sister Angela Ann Zukowski, director of the Institute
for Pastoral Initiatives at the University of Dayton.
Dayton uses live teleconferencing through
the Internet to hold classes every three weeks with students
at Chaminade University, in Oahu, Hawaii, said Sister Zukowski.
The university's new Virtual Learning Community for Faith
Formation, which she heads, started last month and offers
online courses to Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana residents.
To foster a sense of community among students, class sizes
are limited to 12 students per section.
Catholic colleges are training lay members
to do pastoral work that priests, nuns, and brothers no
longer do because of falling numbers. Since 1965, the total
number of Roman Catholic clergy members in the United States
has dropped more than 48 percent, to 128,793, according
to figures from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate,
at Georgetown University. In that same period, the Catholic
population in the United States has grown by 33 percent,
to 60.6 million. More than one parish in six doesn't have
a resident priest.
More than 26,000 lay ministers now hold
leadership posts in dioceses, parishes, and Catholic organizations.
From 1985 to 2001, the number of lay ecclesial-ministry
programs has doubled, to 314 nationwide, and enrollment
has tripled, to 35,582. Most Catholic colleges offering
pastoral-ministry programs grant master's degrees or certificates
in pastoral ministry, religious education, and pastoraleducation.
Sponsoring dioceses get professionally
trained lay ministers with graduate-level credentials and
competencies to teach religious education, said Ms. Bennett,
of Loyola.
"For religious educators who
will be parish or diocesan directors, having credit gives
them a big advantage," she said. Some dioceses -- including
many in the Northeast -- require their personnel to have
degrees or certification."
