Boston College School of Theology and Ministry

Boston College
School of Theology and Ministry

Former names	Weston College Weston School of Theology Weston Jesuit School of Theology
Type	Private
Established	1922
Parent institution	Boston College
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic (Jesuits)
Dean	Mark S. Massa
Academic staff	60 (including the Department of Theology)
Students	402
Affiliations	Boston Theological Institute
Website	www.bc.edu/schools/stm

The Boston College School of Theology and Ministry in Brighton, Massachusetts, United States, is the graduate divinity school of Boston College and an ecclesiastical faculty of theology that trains men and women, both lay and religious, for service, especially within the Roman Catholic Church. The school is operated by the Jesuits.

History

Founded in 1922 as Weston College in the Massachusetts town of Weston, the school was integrated into Boston College in 1959.

In 1974, Weston College became independent but coordinated with Boston College under the Boston Theological Institute. In 1975, Weston College was renamed to Weston School of Theology and operated from facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts in a cooperative arrangement with the Episcopal Divinity School. In 1994, the school was renamed to Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

In December 2004, Boston College announced plans to create a School of Theology and Ministry by merging the Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry and the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. The reaffiliation of Weston Jesuit School of Theology with Boston College took place in 2008, and the school was moved to the Boston College campus in Brighton, Massachusetts, purchased in 2006. These buildings formerly housed the chancery of the Archdiocese of Boston and portions of St. John's Seminary.

Academic programs

The Boston College School of Theology and Ministry

The Boston College coat of arms, showing the Jesuit monogram in the shield

The Boston College School of Theology and Ministry is a fully accredited member of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.

Theology and Ministry Library

The Theology and Ministry Library is located on the Brighton Campus. It is open to all Boston College students, faculty and staff, and is a part of the Boston College Library System. Integrating the former collections of Weston Jesuit School of Theology and St. John's Seminary, it contains more than 2.44 million volumes. The library also participates in the Boston Theological Institute library program, which allows STM students to borrow materials from any of the other BTI libraries.

New Testament Abstracts

The School of Theology and Ministry publishes New Testament Abstracts, a scholarly journal that abstracts at least 2,150 articles selected from over 500 periodicals in different languages, as well as over 850 current books annually. New Testament Abstracts is published three times per year and is edited by professor Christopher R. Matthews.

Administration

The current Dean of the School is the Rev. Mark S. Massa, S.J. The previous Dean was the Rev. Richard J. Clifford, S.J., who oversaw the merger in 2008 and served in that capacity until 2010. Clifford is currently a professor of Old Testament at the STM.

Faculty

There are 27 full-time faculty members at the School of Theology and Ministry, in addition to 33 members of the Boston College Department of Theology with which students are able to work and take classes. The faculty at the STM can be divided according to their research in the following fields:

• Historical Theology
• Systematic Theology
• Practical Theology
• Church History
• Moral Theology
• Biblical Studies
• Religious Education
• Pastoral Counseling
• Canon Law
• Liturgical Theology
• Liturgy and the Arts

Student demographics

As of 2010, the current number of students at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry is 402 students during the academic year (and 380 students in the summer institute). While the majority of students at the STM are Catholic, it is also home to a number of Anglican/Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Evangelical, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist, Nondenominational, Buddhist and Hindu students. The student body includes representatives from 27 nations and 6 continents, and students range in age from 21 to 74 years old. 65% of students at the STM are laypersons, with 35% representing a religious order or diocesan priests. Lay students in all programs study alongside Jesuit scholastics.

Notable alumni

• Robert Araujo, S.J., John Courtney Murray Professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law
• J. Donald Freeze, S.J., Academic Vice President of Georgetown University from 1979 to 1991
• Michael Holman, S.J., current Provincial of the British Province of the Society of Jesus
• Joseph Koterski, S.J., Associate Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University; Editor-in-Chief, International Philosophical Quarterly (1994-current); renowned expert in Aristotelian studies; President, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars (2008–present).
• Richard Joseph Malone, Bishop of Portland from 2004-2012, and current Bishop of Buffalo
• James Martin (Jesuit), S.J., Jesuit priest, a writer and Culture Editor of the Jesuit magazine America
• Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J., the 47th President of Georgetown University
• David O'Leary, Senior Lecturer in Religion and Medical Ethics and Chair of the Social, Behavioral and Educational Institutional Review Board at Tufts University
• Katarina Schuth, Endowed Professor for the Social Scientific Study of Religion at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas
• Jeffrey Paul von Arx, S.J., current president of Fairfield University
• Kevin Wildes, S.J., current president of Loyola University New Orleans
• T.J. Martinez

See also

• Pontifical university
• Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University

External links

• Official website