Spiritual Community
Your personal development as an energized, love-filled member of the Body of Christ is a prerequisite for effective ministry. Our M.Div. program calls you into a process of spiritual growth, on both the deeply personal and profoundly communal levels, that will sustain you in ministry.
M.Div. students are part of a small, close-knit community of men and women from all over North America. In turn, your M.Div. group is part of the much larger University of Notre Dame community. Members of both tend to be inclusive, interested in others, and inclined toward outreach beyond the narrow niche.
Our program especially invites increased participation by members of historically underrepresented groups and students somewhat older than traditional graduate school age.
In our community, lay ministry students and seminarians in the Congregation of Holy Cross (C.S.C.) study, work, and pray together. This prepares them well for the collaboration so vital to their futures in ministry. Meanwhile, aspects of spiritual formation for the two groups have their own appropriate focus.
Lay Ministry Formation Program
In our Lay Ministry Formation Program, your human and spiritual development are understood as essential toward promoting the personal qualities needed for ministry. Opportunities abound to work together, pray together, eat together, reflect together, and share faith.
“Opportunities to worship in such a setting and to have prayer with a community are really wonderful. The formation aspect is a hallmark [of the Notre Dame program].”
--JENNY WISWELL
“Helping my spiritual life helps me become a minister. Three years of spiritual direction is extremely helpful.”
--STEPHANIE WHALEY
“I think the strongest aspect of Notre Dame’s M.Div. program is the community formation and support provided through prayer, common worship, conversation, scholarly endeavors, and ministry placements that challenges people to grow up and grow deeper as students and ministers. This is a safe place where people take care of each other allow perspectives and opinions to be jostled in a number of ways where you cannot compartmentalize work apart from faith.”
--ELIZABETH MORIARTY
“The interaction and relationship between lay M.Div. students and Holy Cross seminarians has been phenomenal. It offers a good model for the future as to what we’re going to experience in ministry, with vowed, ordained, and laity working together.”
--MANDY DILLON
“What is most special or beautiful is the sense of community that exists among my classes and between all classes …. The attentiveness of the professors, students, and M.Div. directors has been incredible …. We have a lot of people helping and shaping us.”
--COLLEEN MOORE (M.Div. ’04)
“The communal aspect of the program is definitely unique. It was a huge draw for me.”
--WHITNEY THOMPSON
“Notre Dame’s program is unique in many ways. It is exclusively a full-time program, and primarily attracts men and women in their twenties or early thirties. It addresses ministerial identity and the nature of ministry in the contemporary Church in a very real way—by educating both seminarians and lay people for ministry together. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the program is its small size and communal nature, which fosters a sense of shared journey among classmates, both inside and outside the classroom.”
--MARK DeMOTT
Ordained Ministry Formation
For M.Div. students preparing for the ordained priesthood in the Congregation of Holy Cross, their religious order shapes and supervises their spiritual formation, although the vast majority of experiences in the M.Div. program are shared by the entire student community, in keeping with the collaborative model of church leadership that embraces both ordained ministry and lay ecclesial ministry.
As one preparing for ordained ministry in the Church, I strongly believe that my training for that ministry has been greatly enriched and enhanced by studying side-by-side with people preparing for lay ecclesial ministry. The opportunity to study together is simply invaluable preparation for working together in the future. I know that I personally have learned so much from the insights and wisdom of my lay colleagues in the program, and I hope they have learned from me, too.
Without a doubt, one of the best parts of the M.Div. program at Notre Dame is the opportunity to take class from some of the best theological minds in the world today. There is just such a treasure of wisdom in the faculty that really invites one to grow in knowledge and understanding of the faith and its mysteries.
As much as I have learned from my classes, I must say that I have probably learned just as much from my amazing classmates. From day one, I was amazed at the great diversity and wealth of experiences that my classmates brought to the program, whether it be in education or in ministry. And since day one, I have been reaping the gifts of being surrounded by such a great group of God’s children.
-- DREW GAWRYCH, C.S.C.
