Pastoral Theology Courses for the 2010 Summer Session

Families come to Canada from every society of the world, bringing their diverse relationships, roles, structures and understandings. Clergy, teachers and parish workers need an awareness of what those might be in order to serve individuals and families from diverse cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Whether in pastoral work, in teaching family life education or in other forms of service, awareness of possibilities and questions will be useful. Two presentations and final exam.

Designed to be experienced early in the programs of all students preparing for vocational ministry, this course will provide a pathway toward spiritual refreshment, deeper commitment and disciplined living.  It will be a blend of classroom and practical experiences in the spiritual disciplines culminating in a 24 hour personal spiritual retreat.  It is not intended to be a time of learning about intimacy, commitment and spiritual discipline.  It is meant to be a week of making space for intimacy, reflection, prayer, worship, meditation, solitude, commitment and the nurturing of community.  Students should be prepared to fully engage in the exercises that will be planned for the sake of their own journey with God.  It is anticipated that having experienced some of these things together we will have learned some things about pointing others in similar directions. Lectures, discussion, spiritual retreat. Evaluation: pre-course reading, class participation, retreat, personal assessment.

This course is designed to address specific personal behavioural, emotional and relational issues faced by new millennium adolescents. It is meant to prepare students who are planning to be involved in parish youth ministry for a greater level of relational effectiveness through a deeper understanding and awareness of a number of specific adolescent struggles. They will develop a greater freedom to address and discuss these issues with both adolescents themselves and the adults who intersect with the adolescent world. Class content will be presented in an accessible, practical, usable way for front-line youth workers and the volunteers on their teams.

Reviews the challenges faced by urban development facilitators today.  Engages urbanisation and migration across the planet (especially the global South), the data on urban poverty, and today’s blurring of rural and urban into a continuous, dynamic rural-urban continuum.  Looks at the role of NGOs, churches and other partners in working with the urban poor, and reviews a range of urban community-based development approaches.   Also considers the five types of urban communities, the “new physics” of urban engagement, local partnering and multi-stakeholder processes.  Students will engage in an overview of possible approaches to urban theology and mission. Course methodology includes a range of participatory activities, multi-media, mini-projects, reading, lectures, a street outing.  Evaluation includes papers, projects, participation. Prerequisite: WYP1615H & WYP1616H or equivalent academic or professional experience. For more information contact Marion Taylor at m.taylor@utoronto.ca.

Drawing on his two recent publications The Singing Thing Part 1, and The Singing Thing Part 2, hymn composer, liturgy scholar, and Global music expert John Bell of the Iona community will lecture in Toronto at Emmanuel College. He will be assisted by Prof. Fred Graham. The course contents will consider the ways in which Christian worship expresses the life and teaching of Jesus in liturgy and song. This will encompass biblical witness and its representation in physical art, preaching, prayer and the songs of the church. An estimation of the importance of the Psalms as a spiritual resource will be included. Following the lectures, the students will be evaluated according to participation in  interactive seminars, book reports, discussions, journaling, a critical review, and submission of a summative paper. Requirements: one M.Div course in either New Testament or Theology.

Advanced reading assignments will be posted closer to date.

Secondary Practicum in Spiritual Direction: A two-week intensive course consisting of integration of theory and practice of spiritual direction. A model of non-residential Retreat in Everyday Life is used for this practicum. The course is the second phase of the Regis College Spiritual Direction Program. Discernment paper. Pass/Fail course. Prerequisites: RGP3661HY; 8-day directed retreat, RGP3687H, and RGP3688H. Restricted to students enrolled in Diploma in Spiritual Direction at Regis College.

Designed to enable students to teach and preach using insights drawn from Land of Israel in Scripture and Tradition. Lectures, audiovisual presentations, site visits. Evaluation based on pre-assigned readings, participation, paper upon returning to Canada, written or oral exam. (Israel)

Contemporary interest in spiritual transformation has been growing in fields as diverse as theology, psychology, education, the health sciences and management theory. There is an emerging recognition of the need for a fuller critical understanding of the nature and dynamics of transformation and its implications for human development and social change. Transformation has also become the subject of renewed scholarly investigation in the Christian tradition, as churches seek to recover their vitality and relevance in a radically secularized and pluralistic culture. The emerging disciplines of practical theology and Christian spirituality have made major contributions to the current discussion of spiritual transformation. Bernard Lonergan’s philosophy of self-transcendence, James Fowler’s groundbreaking studies in faith development, Benedict Groeschel’s exploration of spiritual passages, and Evelyn and James Whitehead’s investigation of Christian life patterns are representative of the many efforts being made to clarify the power of grace and the nature of transformation in Christian spiritual experience.
What are the dynamics of spiritual transformation? How do images of spiritual growth and maturity impact on our understanding and practice of ministry? This course explores these questions through a multidisciplinary investigation of transformation in the light of the Christian experience and understanding of God. Scriptural, patristic and contemporary theological perspectives on the human person are brought into critical dialogue with depth, developmental and humanistic psychologies to illumine the processes of change and growth in relationship to the divine. Understood broadly to include the notions of metanoia and religious conversion, the phenomenon of transformation will be explored as a shift in consciousness, identity, and behavior leading to human and spiritual maturity. Consideration is given to the implications of these perspectives for the understanding and practice of ministry in ecclesial and public life.
Teaching Method: Lecture, Group Presentation, Group Discussion
Means of Evaluation: Class Attendance/Participation 20%, Four Reflection Papers/In-class Presentations 10%, Mid-course Focus Paper 25%, Research/Reflection Paper OR Oral Exam 45%

Offered by the CAPPE Supervisors of the Ontario Central Region. A 400-hour unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at the basic level meeting standards of Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice & Education (CAPPE). May take place in general, psychiatric, chronic, geriatric, rehabilitation hospitals, correctional institutions, facilities for mentally/physically challenged, parishes.

Offered by the CAPPE Supervisors of the Ontario Central Region. A 400-hour unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at the basic level meeting standards of Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice & Education (CAPPE). May take place in general, psychiatric, chronic, geriatric, rehabilitation hospitals, correctional institutions, facilities for mentally/physically challenged, parishes. Prerequisite: TSP3551Y (CPE - Basic 1) and TSP3552Y (CPE - Basic 2)

Offered by the CAPPE Supervisors of the Ontario Central Region. A 400-hour unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at the basic level meeting standards of Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice & Education (CAPPE). May take place in general, psychiatric, chronic, geriatric, rehabilitation hospitals, correctional institutions, facilities for mentally/physically challenged, parishes. Prerequisites: TSP3551Y (CPE - Basic 1), TSP3552Y (CPE - Basic 2) and TSP3553Y or TSP6553Y (CPE - Advanced 1)

Secondary Practicum in Spiritual Direction: A two-week intensive course consisting of integration of theory and practice of spiritual direction. A model of non-residential Retreat in Everyday Life is used for this practicum. The course is the second phase of the Regis College Spiritual Direction Program. Discernment paper. Pass/Fail course. Prerequisites: RGP3661HY; 8-day directed retreat, RGP3687H, and RGP3688H. Restricted to students enrolled in Diploma in Spiritual Direction at Regis College.

Offered by the CAPPE Supervisors of the Ontario Central Region. A 400-hour unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at the basic level meeting standards of Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice & Education (CAPPE). May take place in general, psychiatric, chronic, geriatric, rehabilitation hospitals, correctional institutions, facilities for mentally/physically challenged, parishes. Prerequisite: TSP3551Y (CPE - Basic 1) and TSP3552Y (CPE - Basic 2)

The course aims at distinguishing some of the more significant ways of conceptualizing human development in psychology and how they have influenced contemporary thinking about religious development. It will discuss the nature/nurture debate of religious development, that is, the various contextual factors and intra-psychic processes at work across the life span and their implication and influence in religious development. In the process it will explore some of the psychological issues involved in religious development and point out their applied relevance. Students will be asked to write several reports on assigned readings and a longer essay for the end of the term. A previous course in psychology and religion would be helpful but not essential.

History and leading themes in Orthodox spiritual –pastoral writing by monks, bishops, laymen and laywomen, from the hesychast period until the present. Filling in of background and developments from 1300 through the 18th and 19th c. revival, but concentration on 20th C. writers. Readings (from a kit of excerpts) will include monastic writings, spiritual anthologies and inspirational texts, catecheses, sermons, and letters, and some diaries.

This course traces the development of Catholic Social Teaching and action from an historical and theological perspective. A Christian concept of justice will be explored within Biblical and theological contexts. Cultural developments that have impacted, and those that continue to influence, social thought, teaching and action within the Church will be discussed. The primary texts for the course are the social documents of the Church beginning with the Encyclical of Pope Leo X111, Rerum Novarum (1891) and continuing to the present day. Students will become familiar with the content of such documents and they will be encouraged to analyse the theological and social foundations upon which the documents have been developed. Key principles of Catholic Social Teaching will be introduced. The course will also explore the Christian call to justice and ways in which the social teachings of the Church can be integrated into personal spirituality and ministry. To facilitate such integration, examples will be highlighted from the lives of social activists within the Church. Teaching and learning methods will include, lecture, discussion, media and biographical analysis.