Pastoral Ministry

Pastoral Ministry Course Descriptions

The Pastoral Institute department offers a bilingual Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Pastoral Ministry (PMIN), through a collaborative academic arrangement with the Mexican American Catholic College (MACC) in San Antonio, Texas. The degree program is housed in the UIW Pastoral Institute, which serves the Catholic community through education and formation for contemporary ministry. The curriculum is based on solid Catholic biblical and theological foundations with pastoral application to concrete situations in ministry. In keeping with this mission, this program is designed to provide students with a multidisciplinary breadth of knowledge in the liberal arts and Catholic culture; offer a solid foundation in biblical and theological studies in preparation for ministry; ensure language proficiency for ministry in a bilingual (English and Spanish) pastoral setting, and for English-language graduate studies; equip students with the leadership skills and intercultural competencies needed for effective pastoral ministry in today’s multicultural dioceses, parishes, and institutions; and offer an optional concentration in Philosophy which fulfills requirements of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for seminarians at the college and pre-theology levels.

Students complete the standard required core curriculum courses at UIW’s main campus. Most of the courses in the major are offered at MACC and are taught primarily by regular MACC faculty members who have been appointed as UIW part-time faculty. Upon completion of their degree requirements, students receive a UIW degree (Bachelor of Arts in Pastoral Ministry).

Students are subject to all UIW’s admissions standards.

This degree program is open to MACC and UIW students alike.

The Bachelor of Arts with a major in Pastoral Ministry requires 121 credit hours for graduation: 43 hours in the UIW Core Curriculum; the specified 39 hours of the foundational core courses in philosophy, theology, and scripture; and 39 hours in a concentration in either Philosophy, Catholic Leadership, or Catechetics. Students will complete the required 45 clock hours in community service.