Associate of Arts in Ministry (AAM) Program Requirements
  • A minimum of 64 semester hours of credit must be earned through completion of the course of study.

  • A minimum of 24 semester hours of credit must be earned at SHMS.

  • The student must maintain a C average (2.0).

  • The student must participate in three Formation Sessions during the course of study.
    a. Discernment
    b. Theological reflection
    c. Spiritual Direction

  • The student must participate in assessment of the academic program.

Course of Study (64 credit hours)
Communication and Language Arts (9 credit hours)

CLA 153 Rhetoric (3 cr)

CLA 154 Crit­i­cal Research Skills (3 cr)

CLA 161 Intro­duc­tion to Oral Com­mu­ni­ca­tion (3 cr)

Social Sciences (6 credit hours)

SOC 101 Soci­ol­o­gy of Reli­gion (3 cr)

OR a course in soci­ol­o­gy or psychology

A course in his­to­ry (3 cr)

Science and Mathematics (3 credit hours)

A math­e­mat­ics course (3 cr)

OR a sci­ence course

Humanities & Fine Arts (6 credit hours)

HUM 302 West­ern Art (3 cr)

OR a course in the human­i­ties or fine arts (stu­dio and per­for­mance class­es are not eligible)

A course in lit­er­a­ture (3 cr)

Music (3 credit hours)

MUS 350 Art of Litur­gi­cal Music (3 cr)

Theological Studies (19 credit hours)

THE 123 Intro­duc­tion to the Catholic Faith (2 cr)

THE 210 Intro­duc­tion to Litur­gy & Sacra­ments (2 cr)

THE 219 Intro­duc­tion to the Catholic Church (2 cr)

THE 249 Intro­duc­tion to Sacred Scrip­ture (3 cr)

THE 243 Intro­duc­tion to Spir­i­tu­al­i­ty (2 cr)

THE 274 Intro­duc­tion to Moral The­ol­o­gy (2 cr)

THE 310 Apolo­get­ics I* (3 cr)

THE 315 Apolo­get­ics II* (3 cr)

*To be tak­en in the student’s final year in the AAM program.

Ministerial Studies (12 credit hours)

MNS 101 The­ol­o­gy of Min­istry (2 cr)

MNS 228 Intro­duc­tion to Pas­toral Coun­sel­ing (2 cr)

MNS 271 Pas­toral Cat­e­chet­ics (2 cr)

MNS 300 Canon Law for Parish Min­is­ters (2 cr)

MNS 315 Litur­gi­cal Prayer of the Church (2 cr)

MNS 375 Cat­e­chet­i­cal Admin­is­tra­tion (2 cr)

Electives (6 credit hours)

Cours­es in oth­er dis­ci­plines with­in the lib­er­al arts may be tak­en in con­sul­ta­tion with the aca­d­e­m­ic advi­sor and with the approval of the dean of stud­ies. These cours­es can be cho­sen from the cur­ricu­lum of SHMS or the Detroit Area Catholic High­er Edu­ca­tion Con­sor­tium. Elec­tive cred­its may also be trans­ferred from anoth­er col­lege with the approval of the dean of stud­ies, sub­ject to trans­fer cred­it guidelines.

© 2026 Sacred Heart Major Seminary
All rights reserved
search