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The Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS) degree program prepares students for ministerial service in a variety of contexts. Embracing four areas of development—human, spiritual, intellectual, and ministerial—the program guides students in the development of their own pastoral identity through an integrated exploration of theology and pastoral practice.

Through graduate coursework, focused contextual experiences, and an integration project, students explore and work to develop those personal qualities necessary for faithful service, spiritual practices grounded in God's Trinitarian life, theological knowledge and intellectual skills, and the pastoral abilities appropriate to their gifts and ministerial context. The MAPS degree at the Institute of Pastoral Studies offers students a systematic and broad foundation for a variety of ministries and the tools necessary to engage critically and constructively the challenges and opportunities of our contemporary context.

Courses are available online, in person at Loyola's downtown Chicago campus, or in Rome, Italy. Students who enroll in the master's degree can study under the general MAPS program or focus their studies in one of four areas of concentration: church management, digital communication, health care chaplaincy, and  religious education.

In addition, for the MAPS concentration in Healthcare Chaplaincy:

• An understanding and personal integration of methods of pastoral care appropriate to the healthcare setting, supported by a conceptual foundation of theology and ethics.
• A readiness to complete successfully the process for certification as a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) with The National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC).

In addition, for the MAPS concentration in Religious Education:

• The ability to administer religious education programs in a variety of contexts and engage, catechize, and educate groups of all types.

In addition, for the MAPS concentration in Church Management:

• The ability to engage in general business operations related to budgeting, project management, human resources, marketing, and organizational development and change.

In addition, for the MAPS concentration in Digital Communications:

• An understanding and integration of best practices in communications using digital media into their ministerial context and work.

Program Concentrations

• MAPS - Church Management
• MAPS - Digital Communication
• MAPS - Health Care Chaplaincy
• MAPS - Religious Education

To learn more about the master's degree in pastoral studies, please visit our request for information form or attend an online information session.

To learn more about state and international authorization of programs, please refer to our State and International Authorization page. To learn more about the accreditation of Loyola University Chicago and its schools, as well as information about professional licensure, visit our Accreditation page.

Curriculum

Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies

This traditional curriculum, designed to provide a solid first-degree experience in education for ministry includes courses in scripture, pastoral theology, and ministerial skills, as well as numerous concentrations, including one in Healthcare Ministries. This MA in Pastoral Studies forms the basis for the MDiv degree. Students have the option at any point during their degree program or upon completion of their degree program to apply for the MDiv degree, and all of these courses will count toward their MDiv degree.

36 semester credit hours: 12 course

• 8 core theology courses—24 credit hours
• 3 elective ministry area courses—9 credit hours
• Contextual education courses -3 credit hours

Intellectual Development

Intellectual development seeks to expand the pastoral minister's understanding and appreciation of faith. It consists in theological studies, and draws also upon a wide range of other disciplines: philosophy, the arts, psychology, sociology, culture, and language studies.

Ministerial Development

Ministerial development cultivates the knowledge, attitudes and skills that directly pertain to effective functioning in the ministry setting, or to the pastoral administration that supports direct ministry and draws also upon a wide range of other disciplines: counseling, medical ethics, business administration, leadership, organizational development, and law.

Three courses—9 hours

Chosen from course offerings to address elements in pastoral ministry competencies in areas such as:

• Promoting or organizing action on behalf of justice
• Youth ministry
• Pastoral presence and care for the sick and the dying
• Parish ministry
• Health ministries

Contextual Development

The contextual development is where the ministry student brings together all four developmental aspects of the degree program. It is the place to integrate the theological, ministerial, personal and spiritual learnings of this degree in the context of the lived everyday ministry setting. Here, in a structured program that combines on-site mentoring and supervision located in actual ministry practice with peer and faculty weekly reflection sessions, the student achieves and realizes that sense of professional and personal competency as minister.

These field learning settings can be directly related to the student's present work situation or can be selected from placements IPS has cultivated. Because of the ability to operate in a blended and on-line teaching manner, these placements can be located in the resource rich area of Chicago or other settings around the nation or the world.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
IPS 578	Contextual Education Preparation	0
IPS 579	Contextual Education Introduction	0
IPS 580	Contextual Education I	3

Contextual Education is the experience during the student's ministerial education that directly engages pastoral practice in the context of ministerial studies. Simultaneously, the student refines pastoral skills, ministerial theology and vocational identity. Contextual Education consists of 10-15 hours per week of ministry at a site, reflection with a site supervisor and as well as a weekly peer reflection seminar on campus. In the weekly seminar students review learning contracts, prepare and reflect on pastoral events, and exercise peer evaluations.

Human Development

Human development seeks to enhance the pastoral minister's human qualities and character, fostering a healthy and well-balanced personality, for the sake of both human growth and ministerial service.

Spiritual Development

Spiritual development aims to arouse and animate true hunger for holiness, desire for union with God through Christ in the Spirit, daily growing love of God and neighbor in life and ministry, and the practices of prayer and spirituality that foster these attitudes and dispositions.

Integration Project

Students complete the program with IPS 593 Integration Project, the zero-credit Integration Project, in their final year.

MA in Pastoral Studies - Online Curriculum

Loyola University Chicago's Institute of Pastoral Studies (IPS) offers courses leading toward the M.A. in Pastoral Studies via online distance-learning. Students can take all or part of the 36-hour master's degree program through online courses.

Founded in 1964, IPS is one of the first and most prestigious education-for-ministry programs in the nation. It is one of the few university-based programs that offers an online curriculum identical to its on-campus courses. Students are able to take as many as three courses online each semester. The courses are also available for non-degree seeking student. While students can complete the entire degree completely online, students always have the option of also taking courses in Chicago, if they so choose. These on-campus courses are offered daytime and evenings during the week, on weekends, and through intensive courses during the summer.

The structured online curriculum, designed to provide a solid first-degree experience in education for ministry, includes courses in scripture, pastoral theology, and ministerial skills, with possible concentrations in Church Management, Healthcare Ministries, and Religious Education. For more information on any of these concentrations, click here. Required courses for the Masters in Pastoral Studies degree include:

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
IPS 570	Introduction to Theology and Ministry	3
IPS 402	Church and Mission	1-3
IPS 417	Introduction to the Old Testament	3
IPS 416	Introduction to New Testament	3
IPS 530	Clinical Pastoral Care Registration	0
IPS 541	Liturgy and Christian Sacraments	3
IPS 553	Moral Theology and Christian Ethics	3
IPS 555	Human Person and Psychological Development	3

Learning Outcomes

By completing the Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies, students will be able to demonstrate:

• A fluency with the theological, ministerial, and interpersonal resources that make successful service to the church and world feasible in positions of formation, scholarship, or ecclesial leadership.
• The capacity to understand and critique the social and cultural contexts in which the graduate will be called to serve, always with an eye toward the marginalized, excluded, and systems of oppression.
• The ability to articulate with rhetorical skill and persuasion convincing command of relevant theological and ministerial themes and applications to various potential audiences, both orally and in writing.
• Personal engagement with, and an ability to draw upon, spiritual and psychological insights and scholarship that will nourish them as they make successful ministerial or academic contributions to their particular settings and contexts.