Go Into My Vineyard: Preparing for Pastoral Leadershipis the new exciting  certificate in theology and lifelong education.  It is being offered by Mater Dei Institute of Education, a College of Dublin City University in partnership with the Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry, Archdiocese of Armagh. It is being held in St Catherine’ College, Armagh, beginning on Tuesday 3 November 2009.  If you are interested in participating contact your parish priest.

 

Key Aims
The key aims of the programme are:
  • To prepare people to participate in pastoral leadership roles in parish, community, pastoral area and diocese;
  • To heighten awareness of the nature and significance of theological discourse, facilitating its study in the public space;
  • To provide participants with a clear understanding of the theological and philosophical traditions of contemporary Christianity;
  • To enable participants to engage in a dialogue between thses Christian traditions and contemporary experience in a pluralist, multi-cultural Ireland;To facilitate those who are interested in a level 8 award in theology and life-long education.
The Programme
The certificate in theology and life-long education consists of 12 modules offered between November 2009 and June 2011. Further progression to Diploma and Degree is possible. The programme begins with an orientation evening on Tuesday 3 November 2009. Of the six modules offered in the first year four will be held in the dungannon Centre on the Tuesday evenings. Participants will meet twice during each module (for one and a half hours) in small local groups to engage in structured discussion. In addition the internet will be used to provide on-line discourse once during each module.One module will be held on two Saturdays in Mater Dei, Dublin (November 14, 2009 and March 30, 2010) while the last module will be held on the weekend of 16-18 April, 2010 in Dromantine, Newry.

Modular Elements

  • Church: A Pilgrim People
  • Vitality of the Bible: To Act According the the Gospel
  • Doing Theology Together: Mater Dei Seminar
  • Wise Decision: Moral Dimensions of the Christian Life
  • Soul Space: Christian Spirituality in the 21st Century
  • Vitality of the Bible: From Let There Be Life to Let My People Go
  • Fashioning a People: Evangelisation and Catechesis
  • Ecumenism: That They May Be One
  • Doors to the Sacred: Sacraments in the Life of the Church
  • Parish: Tending to the Vine
  • Liturgy: Source and Summit of the Christian Life

Applications
Participants must be sponsored by a parish or religious community. The sponsor pays £1000 /€1125 per year while the participant pays £450/€525 per year. Application forms, available from the Office of Pastoral Renewal and family Ministry or from parish priests are to be returned to Mater Dei by Wednesday 7 October. Interviews will be held on Saturday 10 October.  To request an application form contact the Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry, 00353 42 933 6649, Armagh Diocesan Pastoral Centre, the Magnet, Dundalk, Co Louth.