Course Catalogue 2026-2027

In the summer of 2022, Pope Francis named the Catholic sponsorship and administration of residential schools in Canada as an evil. This course will investigate the historical, educational, and theological roots of the residential schools, particularly those sponsored by the Catholic Church; it will pay particular attention to the voices of those who survived them. It will explore the ways that the Church and its contemporary Catholic schools must being to atone for this evil. Throughout the course, critical, decolonial, and Indigenous pedagogies will be reflectively practiced as a way of confronting and deconstructing the settler colonialism and oppressive pedagogies that created the residential schools.

This Old Testament course evaluates the possibility of interaction or dialogue between Orthodox theoria-reading, which understands the Old Testament eschatologically in reference to the New, and modern Western critical approaches to reading the Old Testament text which emphasise historical theology. Students will be introduced to selected texts of the Old Testament, of intertestamental Judaism, and to the early Christian reception and understanding of such texts, together with the critical tools and methodological ideas which make an exegesis possible. Readings of contemporary Orthodox critique and struggle with these tools and ideas will be engaged along with post-critical Western scholarship with a view to forming a responsible Orthodox hermeneutic and exegetical approach to reading and understanding the Old Testament, one that is relevant to the faith and practice of the church today.

This Old Testament course evaluates the possibility of interaction or dialogue between Orthodox theoria-reading, which understands the Old Testament eschatologically in reference to the New, and modern Western critical approaches to reading the Old Testament text which emphasise historical theology. Students will be introduced to selected texts of the Old Testament, of intertestamental Judaism, and to the early Christian reception and understanding of such texts, together with the critical tools and methodological ideas which make an exegesis possible. Readings of contemporary Orthodox critique and struggle with these tools and ideas will be engaged along with post-critical Western scholarship with a view to forming a responsible Orthodox hermeneutic and exegetical approach to reading and understanding the Old Testament, one that is relevant to the faith and practice of the church today.

Study and discussion of difficult topics in current ecumenical dialogue among Christian churches where both breakthroughs and barriers are evident. The course will focus on justification, women's ordination, Eucharist, teaching authority, papacy, ethical decision-making and the uniqueness of Christ and/in interreligious dialogue. Auditors welcome. Located at St. Michael's College. Lectures, readings and discussions; take-home exam and final paper.

This course explores the history and identity of what currently goes by many names-spiritual care, pastoral counseling, chaplaincy, congregational care. The first half of the course explores a series of "snapshots" of the historical foundations and classic texts from the Christian tradition, including Biblical warrants and early church practices, self-reflexivity, the rise of religious institutions of care, Roman Catholic sacramental vs Protestant life-support approaches, social gospel vs . clinical trajectories, clerical vs. lay participation, and correlation of mandates from faith traditions with those of human sciences. The second half of the course explores contemporary issues in the Canadian context, including challenges from postmodern, postcolonial, ecumenical, interfaith, and institutional perspectives. We will conclude with identity transformation issues as they currently inform debates surrounding the care of souls in hospitals, prisons, the military, nursing homes and congregations.

This course will examine the Catholic Church's understanding of culture and context as it applies to and in relation to a Christian understanding of leadership. The association between education, culture and its context, and leadership will also be explored. An understanding of how growth and conversion into responsible and authentic adulthood becomes the integral foundation that links cultural context and Catholic leadership.

This course will examine the Catholic Church's understanding of culture and context as it applies to and in relation to a Christian understanding of leadership.  The association between education, culture and its context, and leadership will also be explored.  An understanding of how growth and conversion into responsible and authentic adulthood becomes the integral foundation that links cultural context and Catholic leadership.  Lectures, seminar readings, discussion, class participation, one short and one long paper.  Basic Degree Students enrol in SMP3469H.

This course will examine the Catholic Church's understanding of culture and context as it applies to and in relation to a Christian understanding of leadership. The association between education, culture and its context, and leadership will also be explored. An understanding of how growth and conversion into responsible and authentic adulthood becomes the integral foundation that links cultural context and Catholic leadership. Lectures, seminar readings, discussion, class participation, one short and one long paper.

This course will examine the Catholic Church's understanding of culture and context as it applies to and in relation to a Christian understanding of leadership. The association between education, culture and its context, and leadership will also be explored. An understanding of how growth and conversion into responsible and authentic adulthood becomes the integral foundation that links cultural context and Catholic leadership

The Roman Catholic Church is in the midst of a Synodal process, one which Pope Francis has declared to be the ongoing manner of proceeding for the Church. "The Synod is not a parliament or an opinion poll; the Synod is an ecclesial event and its protagonist is the Holy Spirit." This course will trace the theological origins from Vatican II (Lumen Gentium and the particular focus on the People of God) and key characteristics of the process (listening, spiritual conversation, discernment, all of which have a significant theological foundation). The responses already received from the universal church will be considered including concern for: the ecumenical and inter-faith engagements that have occurred; the importance of co-responsibility; the participation of women and young people; and a universal concern for minority groups; the ongoing need for formation. The course will also consider the challenges that the process faces as it continues.

The Roman Catholic Church is in the midst of a Synodal process, one which Pope Francis has declared to be the ongoing manner of proceeding for the Church. "The Synod is not a parliament or an opinion poll; the Synod is an ecclesial event and its protagonist is the Holy Spirit." This course will trace the theological origins from Vatican II (Lumen Gentium and the particular focus on the People of God) and key characteristics of the process (listening, spiritual conversation, discernment, all of which have a significant theological foundation). The responses already received from the universal church will be considered including concern for: the ecumenical and inter-faith engagements that have occurred; the importance of co-responsibility; the participation of women and young people; and a universal concern for minority groups; the ongoing need for formation. The course will also consider the challenges that the process faces as it continues.

This course will use the Christian preaching in the first millennium as a laboratory to inform and develop the composition and delivery of contemporary homilies. We will discuss their methods of biblical exegesis, deployment of classical rhetoric, contributions to moral formation, and the development of Christian doctrine. Beyond exercises in composition and delivery of homilies, course also gives students an opportunity to refine peer review and self-assessment skills.