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PhD in Spirituality offered at Oblate School of Theology Oblate School of Theology (OST) in San Antonio, Texas, is now offering Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Ministry programs in Spirituality. “This is unprecedented; there are no other Catholic PhD programs of any kind in the southern part of the USA and only two other Christian universities in the country that offer the PhD in Spirituality,” said Fr. John Markey, OP, the PhD program director. Five students are currently enrolled at OST as either PhD or Doctor of Ministry candidates in Spirituality, and the expectation is eventually to have a full cohort of eight to 10 students in the program in any given academic year.
The PhD and MDiv in Spirituality are only the latest additions to a broad, multi-faceted OST Spirituality program. It includes the Master of Arts (Spirituality) program, which has both onsite and online students; the growing Continuing Education program, which offers a rich variety of spiritual learning events; the ACTS Spiritual Companion Formation Program; and all the retreats conducted at the Oblate Renewal Center.
“What’s really remarkable is the whole spirituality program itself,” Father Markey noted, pointing out that OST has invested a great deal of its financial, physical, academic and research resources to support the Spirituality program, even incorporating the 40,000 volumes from the Lebh Shomea Retreat House of Prayer in Sarita, Texas, into OST’s Donald E. O’Shaughnessy Library inventory.
“The Spirituality program is already very successful. The Master of Arts curriculum includes an online international program with internationally renowned scholars. We have a professor in Ireland teaching students in Africa, India and the Philippines. We’ve brought Peter Tyler over here from the United Kingdom to teach online. We’ve got the very best people in the field,” Father Markey explained.
“We also have a very successful DMin program. We see the PhD moving us to a new level, bringing an academic research dimension,” he said, adding: “Even though we’re fundamentally a seminary and a school of ministry, we’re also one of the few academic programs in Catholic theology in the whole South; and there are only one or two other doctoral programs in the United States that focus directly or exclusively on Christian Spirituality.”
Part of the goal of an academic institution is to train and develop scholars to carry on the work and to be primary resources – to go other places and help build up other programs. “Our goal is not to be the exclusive program in contemporary spirituality but to be a fundamental resource for the development of other programs in contemporary spirituality in all kinds of ecclesial settings – not just in the Catholic Church and not just in the United States. We want to help all the churches develop resources for spirituality all over the place,” Father Markey said. (From OST News, Fall 2013)
The Research
Chair for the Religious History of Canada was established by Saint Paul
University in April 2013. Like the Centre of the same name to which it
succeeds, its main objective is the promotion of first quality research in the
field of Canadian religious history, on the one hand, by supplying researchers
working in the said field with adequate research tools; on the other, by
organizing meetings enabling them to put together the results of their research
or plan new research projects.
The Research Centre for Religious History of Canada has closed its doors, but the Chair will ensure that work in this field continues. The Archives and Documentation Centre, which was part of the research centre, is now part of the Jean-Léon ALLIE O.M.I Library and Archives.
Fr. Pierre HURTUBISE, professor emeritus, is the first holder of the Chair. The University in this way wishes to recognize his many contributions as an experienced researcher and director of the Research Centre for Religious History of Canada. Pierre Hurtubise will continue his research on the Rome Projectand on the history of Oblate missions with First Nations peoples. A Symposium marking the establishment of the Research Chair will be held on October 31-November 1, 2013.
