The Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park is anticipating an inflow of functions thanks to 1 very well-known alumnus.
Robert Francis Prevost, who was raised in suburban Dolton and graduated from the varsity in 1982, was elected pope of the Catholic Church on Thursday.
“We couldn’t include our pleasure,” mentioned Ferdinand Okorie, the varsity’s vp and tutorial dean.
The college, referred to as CTU, has 215 college students, and its 2,500 spiritual alumni have served in ministries in additional than 60 international locations.
It was based in 1968, shortly after the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II, a gathering of church leaders that revamped the church’s doctrine and practices to higher align with the fashionable world. The council launched a dedication to ecumenism, or selling unity amongst Christian denominations.
Leaders on the college say Vatican II laid the groundwork for the outlook on schooling on the college throughout its founding. Since its inception, the union has promoted collaboration and dialogue amongst totally different faiths and Christian denominations.
A world perspective
On the college, males pursuing the priesthood or church management examine alongside laypeople, and the campus is usually full of full of life discussions, Okorie mentioned. Within the college’s teachings, the objective is to use the gospel to various conditions, communities and faiths, he mentioned.
“The kids of God are somewhere else in numerous conditions of life,” he mentioned. “A few of them are migrants, a few of them are minorities, a few of them are in a spot of consolation, and a few are in locations of challenges and struggling.”
Peggy Plastina, who graduated with a grasp’s of arts in pastoral research in 2005, mentioned the varsity introduced college students from totally different backgrounds collectively they usually discovered how their schooling might be utilized throughout numerous cultures.
“It does draw college students from all around the world, actually, who can come for this schooling,” Plastina mentioned. “In order that was fascinating to sit down in a classroom with individuals from Africa, South America, European international locations.”
The “international perspective” that Prevost gained by way of his time in Chicago, Peru and Rome was CTU’s mission in motion, in keeping with Sister Barbara Reid, the varsity’s president.
The college’s mission is to arrange college students to be leaders for the church, “able to witness to Christ’s excellent news of justice, love, and peace,” in keeping with its web site.
The union brings collectively faculties from three Catholic institutes, making it the one “union” mannequin theological college, the web site says.
Okorie mentioned college students are educated in a method that makes them “attentive to the indicators of the instances” and discover ways to apply their spiritual classes to present occasions.
“Present occasions within the lives of the kids of God [are] inviting them to listen to the gospel come alive of their lives,” Okorie mentioned, including that college students are urged to think about the context that led to sure occasions. “There are lots of many conditions which have brought about the world as we speak, at a selected time and placement.”
Many, together with Reid, have predicted that Prevost would comply with the legacy of Pope Francis in his dedication to serving to the poor, and Okorie mentioned the CTU perspective contains recognizing the experiences of individuals all around the world.
Packages embody Catholic-Jewish and Cathlolic-Muslim research, feminist theology
The college gives interfaith and intercultural programs, in addition to applications just like the Catholic-Jewish Research Program and Catholic-Muslim Research Program. These put together college students to bridge the hole between totally different faiths and be taught from one another, Okorie mentioned.
Plastina took courses on subjects comparable to feminist theology and inculturation within the church, or making use of the gospel to numerous cultures. These programs and the instructing strategies cemented CTU’s stance as a extra progressive establishment inside the Catholic church, and Plastina mentioned it was centered on the evolution of the church to use to fashionable instances.
“The standard [aspect] is revered, however we’ve to maneuver on,” Plastina mentioned. “The church has to maneuver into this century, it could actually’t drag its ft.”
Many Catholic establishments are largely led by males, however Plastina mentioned she appreciated Reid and different feminine leaders and professors at CTU. Ladies had been admitted to CTU starting in 1972, 4 years after its founding.
Why the varsity is in Hyde Park
The selection to find the varsity in Hyde Park, at 5416 S. Cornell Ave., was deliberate, because it permits college students to check in a various space the place different seminaries and theological faculties thrive, together with the College of Chicago Divinity Faculty and McCormick Theological Seminary, Okorie and Reid mentioned.
“CTU made the choice to find proper right here within the midst of the town on the South Facet, right here in Hyde Park and to be very near the needy neighborhoods round us and discover ways to be good ministers for the church and the world in that context,” Reid mentioned.
Since Prevost was introduced as the following pope, CTU has been flooded with interview requests and questions in regards to the incoming pope. In coming days, weeks and months, Okorie mentioned he anticipated a brand new class of scholars to be energized by the information the pope attended college there.
“Individuals will need to go to the identical college as Pope Leo XIV,” he mentioned.
