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Strategic Plan
INSTITUTE FOR CHURCH LIFE
INTRODUCTION
What is cultural influence? Or, more to the point here, how does it occur? It occurs by articulating and sharing a vision that strikes the imagination of the culture. For a University, this vision will have several different "carriers." The most important one is the quality and distinctiveness of academic programming, for this is the most definitive bearer of the ideals represented in our scholarship and in our pedagogy. There are, however, other carriers of our vision that can serve as synergies with this first. One of these is our sports programming. This appeals to the imagination because it carries the ideals of excellence and discipline, as specific formations of youthful idealism and energy, in a way that translates into a popular idiom the vision underlying our pedagogy and scholarship. Another example is the broadcast of the 10:00AM Mass on the Hallmark channel? Through that broadcast, ND has the opportunity to impact the nature of worship life across the country, to set a standard. Since the Basilica staff is very aware of choosing music that is accessible to first-time attendees, with the exception perhaps of choral or organ pieces, much of it can be replicated in a local parish. Still other carriers of our vision, and so further instruments of cultural influence, are the University's outreach programs, many of which are contained under the aegis of the Institute for Church Life.
At a church-affiliated university such as our own, the cultural influence we seek has the culture of the Church, or "Church life", as one of its primary objects. Think of the immense influence such a small but determined institution such as Franciscan University of Steubenville has had on the culture of the Church. With no claim to prestigious academic reputation, this school, through its on- campus programs, its aggressive distance learning programming, its various off-campus extension programs (reaching some 37,000 young people every summer), has established itself as one of the primary suppliers of youth ministers, DRE's, catechists, and other lay pastoral ministers to the Church at large. This is only one example, but if the University of Notre Dame backs away from, or fails to enhance, the quality and scope of its outreaching programming, considering them an adventitious "add-on" or a kind of luxury for times when there is extra money, it will be ceding the ground to other institutions with a less balanced sense of mission. We will diminish considerably our opportunities for cultural influence, especially in the crucial area of church-related cultural influence.
Consider, for example, the Center for Social Concerns, surely one of the most effective carriers and interpreters of our University's vision of Catholic ideals and culture. Without our increasingly prestigious academic reputation, its influence would not matter as much. In fact, given an increasingly prestigious academic reputation it becomes proportionately more crucial to translate our academic excellence in programming that persuades people of its moral relevance in our world. It is not that as one's academic reputation grows one needs to rely less and less on "outreach" programs to carry one's vision, but rather that as one's academic reputation grows one needs these even more because they turn this ever more powerful academic engine, and its ever more persuasive academic reputation, into an ever more powerful witness to the values of the Gospel out of which we say our academic culture arises. And, vice versa: the Center's own witness value is synergistically enhanced by its connection to a powerful academic culture. Further, it provides academic culture with a kind of feedback into the intellectual endeavor because it piques the imagination of scholars and intellectuals. It exists as a kind of horizon of the imagination, and so is productive of scholarly vision and represents a claim on intellectual inquiry moving it in certain directions. Outreach programs, then, not only extend the University's cultural influence, but also expand the contours of scholarship and pedagogy.
AIM AND MISSION
What I have said here about the Center for Social Concerns, an affiliate of the ICL, is representative of the aim and mission of ICL in general. As an institute charged with outreach, its programming links the resources and energy of the University to church life in the person of believers and of pastoral leaders at all levels. To quote from the mission statement:
The Institute for Church Life of the University of Notre Dame exists as an integral component of the University's larger mission of teaching, research, and service to society and to the Church. Through its programs, projects, and affiliate centers the Institute serves the whole spectrum of Church leaders-its bishops, clergy, religious, and laity- through research, education, and pastoral training.
In this work, the institute seeks to embody the spirit and mandate of the Second Vatican Council, to implement a mission of transforming the Church and society in light of the Gospel, and to renew the theological, ministerial, pastoral, catechetical, and liturgical traditions of the Church.
Another way of looking at this is to think about what constitutes "church life" itself. What does the Church do? The Church
• Worships
• Teaches
• Contemplates
• Serves
The ICL, therefore, should link the resources of the University, research and teaching in particular, to the support of these activities.
CENTERS
The Institute's work is carried out partly through the work of major programs or "centers," sponsored by the Institute. The work of these centers exhibits synergies of mutual support and cooperation in service and mission, as one will easily see from the descriptions offered below. All of the activities of the Institute's Centers are meant to support the Church as it worships, teaches, contemplates and serves.
Center for Social Concerns
The Center for Social Concerns, though affiliated with the Institute for Church Life and sharing the same advisory council, reports directly to the Provost and not to the Director of the Institute. The Center for Social Concerns has therefore submitted its own strategic plan, under separate cover. It is one of the principal ICL supports of the Church "serving." ICL urges the continuance of present levels of support to the CSC from the University, without cutbacks. ICL urges those who have given to the CSC to continue to support the Center.
STEP
STEP's mission is to provide quality theological education to pastoral ministers and other Catholic adults across the country via distance technologies. It supports all aspects of Church life through its instruction in various theological disciplines including theology proper, liturgical studies, spirituality and Catholic social teaching. Its primary target audience is lay and ordained ministers in the Church, as well as teachers in Catholic schools and volunteer catechists.
STEP began in June, 1999. During its first year, the program offered a combination videotape and videoconference series in core theological subjects. This series of "Institute Days" ran for three years. It has been discontinued, though the lectures offered as Institute Days are now available on CD's ("Catholic Lecture Series"). In its second year STEP piloted on-line courses offered on Notre Dame's WebCT server. The courses were offered free of charge to participants from three dioceses ( Reno , Erie , and Winona ). In STEP's third year of programming, six courses were offered for a modest fee to students across the country. All six courses operated at over 90 per cent capacity.
The fourth year of STEP brought major expansion with the signing of a three year contract with Collegis, Inc., a move required because ND's information technology infrastructure was not ready to develop the integrated services necessary to support a project of STEP's scope. Coincident with this move to Collegis, STEP developed a new style of course meant to reach a wider audience, the Open Enrollment course, in which a Notre Dame professor provides the primary course content (on-line video lecture) and overall design of the course, while a trained facilitator with an MTS or an M.Div. leads each class through the presented material, answering questions, running chat rooms, reading written work as submitted. This format produces courses which can be offered multiple times each academic year.
Strategic goals include: developing a Spanish language program; expanding the number of facilitators to meet anticipated growth as STEP expands into its market (according to eLearning consultants Todreas and Co. this market is 100,000 students and STEP aims to reach 10 percent of that market in 10 years). Also, improved marketing, support for parish and family catechesis, self-sustaining operation (not including capital investment in new courses, etc.); for-credit courses in conjunction with the Theology Department and ND-PACE; partnerships with dioceses for programs in certifying lay ministers; etc. STEP seeks to raise an endowment of $7 million over the next ten years.
Notre Dame Vocation Initiative
The primary purpose of NDVI is to raise vocational awareness among high school students, our own students and faculty members, and our recent alums. NDVI encourages students to think of their life's work not simply as a career but as a calling from God. It encourages awareness of the possibility of religious vocations as part of this overall cultivation of a climate of vocational awareness.
NDVI is funded by a major grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Its summer outreach program, ND Vision, brings 1200 high school students to campus in groups of 400 for 1-week intensive vocation camps, led by 70 undergraduate students who serve as counselors. Its campus program, CAMPUS Leaders, offers incentives for faculty to develop courses which integrate the concept of vocation across the curriculum of the Colleges and Schools of the University. This program also sponsors lecture series, reading groups, training for the facilitators of ND Vision, and other programming meant to influence campus culture directly. Finally, the outreach program to young alums, called Vocare, hosts retreats in 23 cities across the country and will expand beyond that next year. The Lilly grant, and a probable extension, will expire in August, 2005. We hope by that time to have raised an endowment, or consistent cash gifts, to allow the more properly speaking "outreach" programming (ND Vision and Vocare) to continue.
An endowment of $10 million will enable NDVI to continue functioning at its present level of service. $5 million would enable the summer programming to continue.
Center for Pastoral Liturgy
The Center for Pastoral Liturgy [renamed Notre Dame Center for Liturgy in late 2003] serves the Church worshipping. After 30 years of service, the Center for Pastoral Liturgy recently underwent external review. This center originated in a request by the USCCB Committee on Liturgy to assist in the implementation of the reforms of Vatican II. At this time, our commitment to CPL is stronger than ever, as we seek to re-form and renew the Center to meet the needs of ongoing liturgical renewal. We seek more effective ways to assist in liturgical catechesis, to promote an authentic spirituality of the liturgy, to help improve preaching in Catholic parishes, to offer continuing education and formation to music ministers and to aid in the recovery and dissemination of the liturgical music of the Catholic tradition, to promote research which serves the liturgical agenda of the Church, and to serve as a resource for the USCCB Committee on Liturgy. CPL will continue to provide conferences and workshops on liturgical topics. One major goal will be to restore funding levels to their pre-2000 levels (the year CPL lost a major benefaction).
Future direction of the Center for Pastoral Liturgy
This proposal incorporates and supports the serious recommendations presented in the evaluative report submitted by the panel of external reviewers.
- Research and Education
In continuity with the scholarly and educational mission of the University and the
Institute, the Center for Pastoral Liturgy will "balance its original intention (strong research component) with ongoing developments in the pastoral area (with particular attention to addressing pressing pastoral needs)." (Evaluative Report - External Review, here after ER 1.2.1).
2. Rename the Center.
That CPL change its name to include more clearly the research/scholarly/academic component so necessary for quality programs, services, and publications.
Example:
The Michael Mathis, C.S.C Center for Liturgical Research and Pastoral Liturgy
(ER 1.2.3)
- Target Audience
That the work of the Mathis Center be directed toward two audiences 1) Liturgical scholars/academics and 2) Professional ministers (liturgists, musicians, artists, architects, etc.) whose role places them in national or (arch) diocesan positions of liturgical leadership. (ER Intro. 4, ER 1.3, ER 3.2)
- Focus Areas
Taking into consideration the present focus and strengths of ICL (scholarly and applied research, distance education, catechesis, and vocation formation) it is proposed that the Mathis Center develop complimentary areas of concentration with regard to liturgy.
- Scholarly/Applied Liturgical Research
The Center will sponsor scholarly and applied research projects in collaboration with ICL, the Department of Theology and other constituencies of the University as appropriate. The intended outcome of such research is to advance the academy with regard to scholarly works and to foster informed pastoral practice with regard to applied studies.
(ER 1.2.2)
Examples:
Scholarly Research - post doctoral fellows program and scholarly work of
the Center staff. (ER 3.4)
Applied Research - Projects which incorporate other disciplines to study liturgical and pastoral practice. (ER Intro. 3, ER 3)
Examples:
The Notre Dame Study of Parish Life
Study of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance
Studies initiated in collaboration with the USCCB subcommittee on the Liturgy and the Secretariat for Liturgy as well as other agencies of the Bishops' Conference (we have recently appointed someone to the staff, one of whose main tasks is to be a liaison with these episcopal committees on the liturgy).
- Distance Liturgical Education
In collaboration with STEP and the Department of Theology the Mathis Center will provide opportunities for continuing education directed at professional liturgists holding the Master of Arts degree or its equivalent.
(ER 3.3)
Examples
On line limited enrollment courses:
Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Christian Life
An Introduction to the Sacraments
Open enrollment courses:
Liturgy: A Guide for the Perplexed
- Liturgical Catechesis
In collaboration with the Director of PACE and the Summer Catechetical Institute housed in the Theology Department, the Mathis Center will identify current needs in the church for liturgical catechesis and develop appropriate resources for directors of (arch) diocesan offices of worship.
Example
Refocus Assembly as a publication that addresses areas of liturgical
catechesis.
- Formation for Liturgical Ministries
The Mathis Center will develop summer programs for professional liturgical ministers i.e. clergy, musicians, and preachers. These programs will focus on professional development and spiritual growth in the context of liturgical ministry.
Example
The first of such programs to be developed will be directed toward professional liturgical musicians. In collaboration with faculty members from the departments of theology and music along with the professional staff of the Basilica the Mathis Center will develop and conduct "Summer Institutes" (one week in length) which develop the professional skills of church musicians and deepen their knowledge and understanding of the liturgy.
In addition to the collaborative work between the Mathis Center and the University of Notre Dame, the Center will work in collaboration with other national organizations in particular the Liturgy Committee of the USCCB and the Federation of Diocesan Liturgy Commissions. (ER 5.1, 5.2)
5. Other Services
All other services (webpage, conferences, symposia, publications) will be shaped and developed according to the stated foci.
ND-PACE (Parish Alliance for Catechetical Excellence ) [Renamed Center for Caterchetical Initiatives in Summer 2003]
This is the newest Center at ICL. Its mission is to renew the catechetical mission of the Church by educating recent college graduates in Theology and encouraging them to pursue a career in religious education or catechetical or youth ministry. Another purpose of the program is to encourage dioceses to offer realistic career paths for young people seeking careers in catechetical ministries.
Program participants will enroll in summer courses leading to the M.A. in Theology, while serving in diocesan and parish service internships during the academic year. This program has recently hired a director ("Director of Catechetical Initiatives") with a national reputation in the area of catechesis and religious education. We will be seeking endowment monies to assist in the funding of this project, though we will also be appealing to alums in the dioceses we will be serving.
A number of factors need to be considered in exploring the beginnings of new catechetical initiatives at the University of Notre Dame. Critical to any such program or approach will be a thorough grounding in the ministry of catechesis, with special attention to a number of diverse elements that contribute to shaping solid catechetical leadership. Not least among these, of course, is a strong foundation in the teachings of the Church, derived from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other essential sources, and enlivened by the General Directory for Catechesis.
Distinctive in vision, outlook, implementation, and application, this catechetical initiative surely will benefit both in its beginnings and subsequent development from a particularly strong resource: Notre Dame students, already known for their generous and exemplary commitment to serving others.
Curriculum: Curriculum offerings could be rooted
in the academic offerings of the summer program of the Department of Theology.
Special courses in catechesis could be provided or parts of the dimensions
identified below could be treated in courses as suitable. Foundations'
courses would be Catechism -based. Related courses could include:
• Overview of parish catechetical ministry and parish faith formation
• Rooting catechetical ministry in creed, sacraments, moral life, prayer (4 pillars)
• History of catechesis and its relation to spirituality in the life of the Church
• Mission of parish catechetical ministry: from theory to practice
• The six tasks of catechesis (cf. General Directory for Catechesis )
• Pastoral life and contemporary catechesis
• Studying catechetical documents of the Church and their interrelation
• Relationships in ministry: enabling dynamic interaction among parish ministries (liturgy, youth ministry, adult faith formation, family catechesis, children's catechesis, sacramental formation and catechesis, etc.)
• Promoting an ecclesial spirituality
• Examining the spirituality of leadership
• Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi: liturgy and catechesis in dialogic movement toward ongoing conversion of life
• Shaping and developing programs (group, individual, web)
• Staffing for parish catechesis
• Administering and managing for sound catechesis
• Inspiring catechesis: the baptismal catechumenate
• Umbrella issues: community, justice, Catholic social teaching, stewardship
• Relationships among liturgy, catechesis, and Catholic social teaching
Diocesan Relationships: Visitations would need
to be made to key diocesan offices of catechesis/faith formation/evangelization
to solicit support for and participation in the Notre Dame-Parish
Alliance for Catechetical Excellence program. Dioceses would need
to see clearly the potential benefit for local catechetical ministry.
Criteria would need to be established for diocesan and university expectations
for such a relationship. University legal office might need to be consulted
for guidance on liability issues.
In addition, members of the hierarchy would be contacted to engage their
support as the program gets underway. The incoming Director of Catechetical
Initiatives has already engaged in conversation with several bishops and
diocesan catechetical leaders about the new program, with an enthusiastic
response from all.
National Program Exposure: The incoming Director of Catechetical
Initiatives has already had the opportunity to identify the new program
in brief remarks made to more than 1000 DREs at a regional convention.
He is also seeking some time on the spring programs of both the National
Association of Parish Catechetical Directors (NPCD) and the National Conference
for Catechetical Leadership (NCCL) to announce this new Notre Dame initiative
and its potential for serving parish catechetical ministry. In addition,
he is joining NCCL as an academic member. A number of diocesan and parish
catechetical leaders have inquired about the program, its potential for
implementation, and its appeal to student populations beyond those to
be directly engaged from within existing University structures.
Future Center for Church Life Research
If social concerns, liturgy, catechesis, and continuing theological education are three of the most important areas of outreach, the fourth would be an extension and renewal of the 1985 Notre Dame study of parish life. It is our hope that the next 5 years will see the establishment of a center devoted to updating and continuing the surveys and studies now almost 20 years old. Though we currently do not have a "church life research" function, it is crucial that we recover this function.
Future Center for Retreat Functions and Adult Spiritual Formation
Another goal for the future is to establish at Fatima Retreat Center an outreach function specializing in local and nationally advertised retreats in partnership with the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Such a project would be in keeping, with the apostolic mission of Fatima as indicated in the Province's mission statement for it.
A retreat and spiritual formation center would fill the "slot" in ICL currently occupied by Retreats International, which will be leaving the ICL umbrella in the Fall. Instead of RI, I would propose setting up our own retreat project, which we might call the Brother Andre Center . It would evolve its own style of retreat, based in the spiritual classics of the Christian tradition and in the special charism of Holy Cross as articulated by Basil Moreau. It would provide these retreats both for locals and also for targeted national audiences (e.g. deacons, young theologians, those considering vocations to the priesthood, priests three years into ministry, Hispanic parish teams looking to find ways of keeping Latino/a Catholics in the Church, etc. -- so called 'signature retreats'). It would also teach others how to give these retreats. Eventually we may be able to set up a network of retreat houses which share this pedagogy or spiritual approach, and then we will have a renewed "Retreats International," but one based here, in Holy Cross spirituality and roots, expanding outward. The center would link resources already on campus (in the true fashion of ICL), such as Holy Cross priests, professors in the theology dept. and M.Div. program, etc. It could also run shorter, one day or one evening workshops for local people, perhaps in partnership with our surrounding dioceses.
Such a project would be very flexible. The Province could maintain a presence on its advisory board, to make sure that it retained the original apostolic directives of its founding. A schedule could be worked out that would permit these projects to go forward while sharing space some weeks with Campus Ministry retreats. Perhaps it could become a self-supporting venture in the long run.
Projects
The ICL is engaged in a number of major projects which do not have the relative permanence associated with a "Center" but which nevertheless are major undertakings in their own right. These projects are generally initiated directly from the central office.
Sustaining Pastoral Excellence
This is a five-year project, funded by a major grant (about $1 million) from the Lilly Endowment, and intended to help foster pastoral excellence at the level of the office of bishop. Through a series of workshops and other projects planned, the project hopes to provide resources and venues for ongoing discernment and formation in a time of transition for the Church.
Pastoral Summit : Excellent Catholic and Protestant Parishes
Funded by a $900k grant from the Lilly Endowment, this project is directed by Paul Wilkes and is intended to foster, through summit conferences and on-line projects, "best practices" in parochial excellence.
Church Music Initiative
This is a project emanating from the Center for Pastoral Liturgy but carried on with input from the Central Office. Under the guidance of its Director, it is seeking grant monies for an ecumenical project in church music that will radiate out from ICL into academic units at our own university (theology and music), and at other church related colleges and universities throughout the country. The unique contribution that ICL has to offer musicians in parishes is a spiritual and theological foundation for what they do. Good musicians can be trained in many places. Good CHURCH musicians cannot. ND and ICL have all the resources to do the latter. (Craig Cramer reports that students who graduated from the former M.A. in liturgical music say the most important part of their ND experience was the theology coursework. It has allowed them to work from informed theological perspectives with the priest in their parish.)
The Church Music initiative, if it finds external funding, will be synergistic with other initiatives of ICL: STEP will be able to offer coursework for musicians in parishes. This could be developed as a non-credit option for continuing education, or be linked to for-credit courses through the Theology Department. With regard to NDVI and especially ND-PACE: Music is a powerful tool for spiritual formation and catechesis. As we seek to bring back the richness of the music of the church, we just might find that music can be vital to catechesis. Certainly helping children to sing their faith can aid in their faith formation. Music, especially singing, is a whole-body, visceral-as-well-as-cognitive experience, a vehicle that can not only carry deep theological ideas but also help to recall them. Not only that, but it may be that eventually ND-PACE can include a component specifically for music ministers, who can study music ministry in the summer and be placed in service opportunities in parishes in the academic year.
One element of the Church Music Initiative is the extensive web resources that we intend to develop as part of the project: a website that will help parish musicians find ideas for and sources of music for their congregations. The project thus will have both academic and practical outcomes. In addition, a research component will help to determine how music really works in congregations in support of the liturgy. There is little to no research available on how music in liturgy works. The research findings will inform the curricular and resource development components of the project. (This latter item would also fit into the call to renew the Notre Dame Study of Parish Life, 4.a. above, Applied Research.)
Conference Initiatives
The ICL undertakes major conference initiatives with regular frequency. Currently we are working on a conference intended to call attention to and foster the values of the USCCB document, In Solidarity with Africa . This conference will feature speakers from academe and from the church, as well as from government and the private sector. It will take place in two phases, one at Notre Dame (Sept. 2003) and one in Nigeria (Jan. 2004). The conference is being undertaken in partnership with the USCCB Committee on International Affairs.
Previous conferences have included a conference on projects of renovating diocesan cathedrals, and conferences in the future will include one on the 40 th anniversary of certain documents of Vatican II, and one on ministry to families and family life, etc.
Workshops
The Workshop for Military Chaplains is timed to coincide with home Navy games. It provides an opportunity for continuing education to an overworked group of very dedicated people.
We are in the planning stages for a Workshop for helping parishes appeal to Hispanic Catholics so that they stay within the Catholic Church. This will provide information on best parish practices from around the country, as well as theological education on the issues most likely to be challenged by fundamentalist groups. This workshop would be offered every summer.
Another workshop we have begun discussing is an ongoing initiative in Jewish-Christian dialogue, in conjunction with Prof. Michael Signer of the Theology Department.
We are also in the beginning stages of planning an annual summer workshop for priests from Latin American, African or Asian cultures who will be serving in dioceses of the U.S . These workshops will help them learn about U.S. culture and pastoral issues in U.S. Church Life so that they can be more effective ministers and so that their future parishes will benefit more readily from their services.
Scholarship Support for Various Educational Experiences in Church Life
The ICL has supported and will continue to support programming for students intended o provide internships or experiences in aspects of Church life they would not have encountered without assistance. Recently ICL supported M.Div. students' travel to border communities on the Mexican side of the US-Mexican border. These experiences in border ministry were life changing experiences for many of the lay ministers and seminarians who undertook this service.
ICL is seeking partnerships with monastic communities in order to support students who seek experiential learning situations, with credit being offered by the Theology Department (1-credit experiential learning courses). This would serve the contemplative office of the Church.
ICL sees to provide modest scholarship opportunities for diocesan lay ministers who are seeking to upgrade their education in ministry.
A Building for ICL
ICL faces a space crisis as its programming expands. A building housing all of its various centers and projects would be part of a strategic plan for the next ten years. Plans for such a building are at a beginning stage. The University architect has helped us assess our space needs and a building featuring the Center for Social Concerns on its ground floor (extending to upper floors), along with other student oriented initiatives, and other centers and programs on other floors, has seemed to all parties involved eminently feasible and particularly desirable.
At the same time, this strategic plan does not emphasize a building at the expense of program support, and would in fact prioritize support for programming over support for a building. Much of our programming is in such a fledgling stage, or in such a stage of transition, that it is more crucial to find these programs a secure financial footing than it is to find a place to put them. Needless to say, there will come a point when space becomes such a preponderant consideration that constructing a building will eventually emerge as a top priority. The building would provide, in addition, the ultimate and efficacious representation of the unity of the projects of the Institute.
CONCLUSION
If the University commits itself to the outreach programming here described, designed as it is to support the Church as it worships, teaches, contemplates and serves, the opportunity for a renewal of US Catholic ecclesial life, so badly needed in the wake of one of the worst crises in Church life in the history of US Catholicism, will be translated into the benefit of an ecclesial culture vitally re-invigorated from the grassroots up to the episcopacy. And the renewal of this culture will emanate from the University of Notre Dame because of the educational resources it can bring to bear on this renewal, and because of its commitment to reach out forthrightly and courageously in this way.