The Loyola School of Theology (LST) in Manila recently announced its partnership with the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in offering one of its graduate programs in pastoral ministry beginning in August 2015. This civil degree program in Pastoral Leadership and Management is an updated version of the Master of Arts, major in Pastoral Ministry (Pastoral Management) program that the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) has offered since 1996.
“This MA program is special because it offers something beyond just academics,” said Fr Eric Eusebio SJ, Vice President for Academic Affairs at LST, speaking of the value of the collaboration with EAPI. “It offers an experience of living together in the international and multi-cultural community of EAPI.”
All students enrolled in the civil degree program will be required to take EAPI’s Pastoral Leadership and Management for Mission (PLMM) program. The EAPI program is a six-month residential program that extends learning beyond the classroom. This holistic approach to teaching and learning about pastoral leadership in context, leadership ethics, leadership for mission, conflict management and responsible financial management has made the PLMM program one of the most popular in EAPI.
This collaborative effort between LST and EAPI will also see EAPI offering electives and some courses in the graduate students’ fields of concentration. According to Fr Eusebio, these classes will be essential to earning the graduate degree.
For EAPI, it means that its students now have the option to transition from the diploma they receive upon completing the PLMM program to the LST-EAPI graduate degree program.
“In a sense, it’s a way for EAPI to recruit students for the PLMM module, and it’s also a way for LST to attract students who might be interested in this MA program,” said Fr Eusebio, adding that the program is open to lay people “who are quite active in different church settings”, including parishes and other church-affiliated organizations.
“This is a way for us to encourage lay people to be more active participants, to be leaders in their own right, in different settings of the church, whether in the parish or in organizations,” he said.
The East Asian Pastoral Institute is an international work of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific. Located within the grounds of the Ateneo de Manila University, its mission is to provide programs for the formation and renewal of the laity, religious, and ordained ministers. Each year, it offers a range of residential programs in an intercultural setting to foster personal renewal and growth, and to enable their students to be more effective in their ministries as pastoral ministers and leaders of communities.
The LST-EAPI graduate civil degree in pastoral ministry was announced in early April and already two applications have been received, as well as several enquiries. To be admitted to the program in the First Semester (August to December), the deadline for applications for Filipino applicants is on June 17, while international applicants applying from the Philippines must submit their applications by May 15.