Purpose

The LT degree offered by Sacred Heart Major Seminary is a post-graduate ecclesiastical degree in pastoral theology with a focus on the New Evangelization. The Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome confers the degree through the faculty of SHMS.

Goals

1. Have an advanced understanding of biblical, theological, and magisterial principles of the New Evangelization. Demonstrate the ability to apply these principles in analyzing scholarship and in assessing both existing and proposed programs of evangelization.
2. Have an advanced understanding of the principles of spirituality that are essential for evangelization. Based on this understanding of both the sanctifying and charismatic dimensions of the Spirit’s work, be able to apply this understanding in assessing programs of evangelization.
3. Have an advanced knowledge of how the theological, spiritual, and methodological components of evangelization express themselves in various times, places, and cultural settings.
4. Have an advanced understanding of the cultural milieu in which evangelization takes place. Be able to evaluate positive and negative features of the cultural environment. Be able to articulate what inculturation and transformation of culture would mean in such situations.
5. Be familiar, both on a theoretical and pastoral level, with contemporary models, programs, and movements of evangelization and be able to analyze and assess them from theological, spiritual, and methodological perspectives.
6. Be familiar, both on a theoretical and practical level, with leadership skills necessary for evangelization, including actual experience in the field.