Lay Divinity Degree

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few” (Mt. 9:37).

If you have a passion for Catholicism and are ready to take your education to the next level with a Master of Pastoral Ministry, pursue your lay divinity degree at St. John’s Seminary. Our lay Catholic divinity degree is designed to help students improve their knowledge of Catholic tradition and deepen their ministerial skills for the life of the Church.

Candidates of the lay divinity degree will be prepared to work in different areas of ministry, as well as make personal and professional connections with others of a similar mind and spirit. Learn about our online lay divinity degree today. 

For more information: mapm@stjohnsem.edu

Students who are looking to earn their online lay divinity degree will find themselves grounded in the wisdom of the Catholic Church. Our online lay divinity training follows the guidelines established by the USCCB’s document of Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry.

Our curriculum consists of the following courses:

• The Old Testament and its Interpretation
• The New Testament and its Interpretation
• Dogmatic Theology
• Church History
• Moral Theology
• Catholic Social Teaching
• Pastoral Ministry in Theory and Practice
• Liturgical and Sacramental Theology
• Spiritual Theology and Practice
• The Nature and Order of the Church
• Pastoral Care for Marriage and Families
• Practicum

Students will read and discuss the best texts that the Catholic Tradition has to offer, including St. Augustine’s Confessions, St. Francis De Sales’s Introduction to the Devout Life, documents from Vatican II, St. John Paul II’s Evangelium Vitae, Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’, and many others.

Students will watch video lectures. A studio with professional video, audio, and lighting equipment has been built to produce visually stunning content by our world-class faculty. 

Students also will have the opportunity to discuss the readings and videos with their professors and fellow students.

Students synchronously will meet with the professor and other students in the course one day a week for class discussion. 

One Saturday each semester, students will be invited to the seminary grounds. Activities will include the celebration of Mass and eucharistic adoration, as well as intellectual, ministerial, and spiritual formation. Practical issues, such as budgeting and other common administrative responsibilities, will be covered in workshops. Students will get to meet their professors and fellow students in person. These Saturdays are optional.

For more information: mapm@stjohnsem.edu

Our M.A. in Pastoral Ministry is a lay divinity degree designed to prepare students for effective ministry in the Church and requires a minimum of four academic years of full-time work or the equivalent.

During your time in our Catholic lay divinity degree program, you will learn and master how to do the following:
 

• Convey the Catholic intellectual tradition clearly and coherently to people with little or no prior Catholic foundation
• Form the hearts, minds, and souls of K-12 students
• Develop youth, young adult, and college ministry programs
• Run an RCIA Program
• Prepare couples for Pre-Cana
• Guide parents on the baptism of their children
• Run a campus ministry program
• Lead a Bible study
• Network new and returning volunteers
• Develop administrative skills

Plus, we feel it is important that our students are able to complete this degree online, letting them do work on their own schedule and at their own pace. When students decide to pursue our online lay divinity degree, they can answer their calling without any challenges standing in their way. We are blessed to have a dedicated faculty and staff that have devoted their lives to the Catholic Church and wish to share this with our students.

For more information: mapm@stjohnsem.edu
 

Students called to pursue their Catholic master’s in pastoral ministry can expect the following program features:

• Students may join the program full time (three courses per semester) and complete the program in two years.
• Students may join the program part time (one or two courses per semester) and complete the program at a pace suitable to them.
• Students may take courses without pursuing the entire graduate program.

Financial hardship is one of the main factors preventing young Hispanic Catholics from engaging in graduate-level theological and ministerial formation; Haciendo Caminos Fellowships address this challenge by alleviating some of the financial burdens that come with life in a graduate program.

Through the Haciendo Caminos partnership, St. John's Seminary MAPM Program is able to offer eleven full-tuition fellowships to young Hispanic lay ministers.  

All nominations for fellowships are submitted by the institution on behalf of the student. Priority is given to nominations for students who, full time or part-time, can complete their degrees by the end of summer 2027.

The primary criterion for evaluation of nominations is the demonstrated capacity of the Hispanic student to engage in pastoral theological education and employ that education in pastoral leadership, particularly within Hispanic communities.

Fellowships are to be distributed to U.S.-born or U.S.-reared Hispanic Catholic young adult students who show great promise of contributing important ministerial leadership within their communities.

Nominations will also be considered in the context of individual student need.

For more information: mapm@stjohnsem.edu



These fellowships are generously funded by Haciendo Caminos.  Haciendo Caminos is a partnership of 18 Catholic graduate schools of theology that seeks to identify and form the next generation of U.S. Latino/a Catholics. Under the leadership of Boston College and the University of Notre Dame, Haciendo Caminos brings together Catholic institutions of higher education, advocates, and other entities in the wider Church to accompany Latino/a Catholic students pursuing graduate theological formation for ministry.

All eligibility requirements to receive these fellowships were written by the University of Notre Dame and Boston College, not St. John’s Seminary.

The Haciendo Caminos website: https://haciendocaminos.nd.edu/

To Apply for the Online M.A. in Pastoral Ministry Program for the Laity and Permanent Deacons:

Click Here!
 

For more information: mapm@stjohnsem.edu