The Distance Learning program has expanded to support other communities lacking resources for the training of lay ministers. In 1998, the program began in the Diocese of Colorado Springs and fifteen students are now preparing to graduate in May from this program. And, in 2002, the program joined with the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, to offer the degree. Fifteen students are currently enrolled in this community.It was 1992 when representatives from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City approached the Vincentians at St. Thomas Theological Seminary in Denver to discuss the need for a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry degree for working lay students interested in attaining graduate-level theological education for ministry. When asked if the Vincentians and the St. Thomas faculty would be willing to bring such a program to Oklahoma – a state that was lacking the traditional resources of a seminary or school of theology – the answer was a resounding yes.
Ten years of students and many technological advances later, the Distance Learning Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry (MAPM) degree program is thriving in three cities under its founding premise of taking education to the people who need it.
For the rest of the story and photos visit http://www.vincentian.org/newsletter/archive/0212/feature2.html
