August
26, 2005
Area Catholics can tap into the vast resources of the University
of Notre Dame's theology department without leaving the
comfort of home.
Through
its Theology Online series, the university provides courses
taught by Notre Dame theology professors and available via
the Internet for pastoral ministers and lay Catholics around
the world (http://step.nd.edu).
The
continuing education program will begin its fourth year
Sept. 6 by offering some 25 online classes.
"We
began with the simple idea of putting the university's theological
and technical resources at the service of the church,"
said Thomas Cummings, director of the university's Satellite
Theological Education Program.
"Ultimately,
it's about evangelization," he said.
The
effort began with a series of video conferences for people
in small dioceses that didn't have the benefit of Catholic
universities to use as resources.
The
response was impressive, and planners decided to expand
it by adding several of Notre Dame's best theology courses,
making them accessible to all.
More
than 300 students from 80 dioceses, plus Botswana, Canada,
England, Ireland and Vietnam are now enrolled, and Cummings
expects that total to soon jump by another 100. The courses
average an enrollment of 18 to 20 students per class.
"We've growing steadily year after year," Cummings
said. "Hopefully, they will deepen people's faith and
devotional practice."
He
noted that "Initially we saw some skepticism, but we
discovered a bona fide learning community. People feel connected,
it's such a concentrated audience of adult Catholics."
The
satellite program is an outgrowth of Pope John Paul II's
interest in using modern media in the church's work of evangelization.
"It
is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian
message and the church's authentic teaching," the pope
once said. "It is also necessary to integrate that
message into the 'new culture' created by modern communications.
"Doing
that is all the more important today, since not only do
the media now strongly .influence what people think about
life but also to a great extent 'human experience itself
is an experience of media,'" the pope said.
The
program is offered through the university's Institute for
Church Life and enables people to learn from experts in
theology and to interact with others taking the same classes
in what Notre Dame calls a "quality educational experience."
The
courses are offered on a certificate basis and are not taken
for credits. They are grouped under five categories: Catholic
doctrine, liturgy, church history, Christian life, Scripture
and religion and literature. Individual courses focus on
the Creed, the mystery of creation, the papacy, introduction
to the sacraments, RCIA, Vatican II, American Catholicism,
prayer and youth ministry.
Cummings
reported that the most popular courses focus on the Eucharist
and the letters of St. Paul. At least six courses are also
being developed on Mary.
New
this fall are courses on the Old Testament, the Gospel of
John, and women and Catholicism.
Shorter,
four-week courses this fall will include book review sessions
on Dorothy Day's "The Long Loneliness,"
Thomas Merton's "Seven Storey Mountain" and St.
Augustine's "Confessions."
Faculty include theology professors Lawrence
Cunningham and Jesuit Father Brian Daley, plus Nathan Mitchell,
associate director in the Center for Pastoral Liturgy; Jay
Dolan, emeritus professor of history; and Maura Ryan, associate
professor of theology.
"Notre Dame is one of the premier
Catholic theological faculties in the country," with
55 theologians in the department, he said.
Courses range in cost from $29 to $109.
The program has also begun offering graduate
theology courses for Notre Dame's master's degree program
as a service to that department.
Among its other services, the program
customizes courses for dioceses participating in its affiliate
program.
It has prepared a video lecture series
of 12 talks on core theological topics, making them available
on CD-ROM individually or as a set. More than 1,000 lectures
have been sold.
The satellite program's Web site also
includes an animated demonstration of one of the e-courses.
Cummings can be reached at 574-631-8207
or Cummings.8@nd.edu.
The Web site at http://step.nd.edu
is still accepting online registrations for the new semester
beginning Sept. 6.
