Philosophy and Religious Studies

The Second Vatican Council directed that seminarians should receive humanistic and scientific training which enables other students in their own society to undertake higher studies.

At the beginning of their training in the Seminary, therefore, seminarians usually receive introductory courses that initiate them into the mystery of salvation and provide a firm grounding in arts and social sciences. (See the Decree on the Training of Priests, nn. 13-15, and the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, n. 62.)

St. Peter’s Seminary, by virtue of its affiliation with Western University and King’s University College, can provide a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Philosophy for candidates for the ministerial priesthood who are preparing for the study of theology. Students who enter the Seminary without an undergraduate degree, or with a degree partially completed, enroll in this program of study by registering and receiving their degree from Western University.

Those students who possess an undergraduate degree from a recognized university, but who lack the necessary core courses in philosophy, register in a qualifying year as special students of the University and complete these requirements in one academic year. Students lacking only one or two of the core courses in philosophy may take them concurrently while registered in the program of theology.