The Program

Contemporary Christian Leadership is extending beyond the boundaries of the church building. Whether you are currently in ministry or a person who has had a sense of wanting to give back and serve the community, the Walsh University Master of Arts in Theology program will prepare you to take your faith into the market-place providing you with the tools needed to turn theory into practice, serve the community, and respond effectively to contemporary pastoral needs. 

With a unique Clinical Pastoral Education elective track, graduates can begin to prepare themselves to serve in hospitals and health care, correctional facilities, retirement homes, hospices, physical rehabilitation centers, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers and many other settings where people may be in need of pastoral care.  Clinical Pastoral Education provides hands-on-learning that extends beyond the classroom into a supervised practical setting where theories can be applied.

Certification opportunities are also being developed in Hispanic Ministry, Catechetical Leadership, Catholic School Leadership, Pastoral Ministry, and Youth Ministry.

Ever since her foundation, a threefold mission has been entrusted to the Church: She must proclaim redemption through Christ; she must bear witness to this in her good deeds toward humanity; and she must celebrate the salvation offered through Christ in the liturgy.

"Martyria," "Diakonia" and "Leitourgia" are therefore the three basic functions of the Church that express her deepest nature. In "Deus Caritas Est," the Pope declares strongly: "The Church cannot neglect the service of charity any more than she can neglect the sacraments and the word" (No. 22).

Indeed, the three are inextricably linked. Good deeds as the expression of the evangelical love proclaimed in the word and celebrated in the sacraments, most especially the Eucharist, occupy a central place in the evangelizing mission of the Church. This connection may well warrant further reflection, given the declining numbers of indigenous Catholics in our pews. As numerous saints have shown us, most recently Mother Teresa, in the witness of love a seed of belief can be sown in the fallen away, non-Christians and even the most skeptical.

 - Cardinal Paul Cordes

President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum