St. Peter's
Seminary

Field Education 5181
School Ministry

2009 - 2010 

A. COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to discuss the mission of the Church, with particular attention to a broad base of activities in a Parish pastoral environment. Students will be individually assigned to a particular Parish within which they engage themselves in the discernment of a vocational call to ministry in the Church. It is expected that the experience so gained will help the students to understand the dynamics of shared responsibility, collaboration and team work. Within the context of pastoral/parish placement, students will be under a supervisor who is expected to assess their performance at the end of their placement. Also, as part of the course, students will participate in a monthly peer reflection and then write a monthly reflection paper. A Final Reflection Paper on the student’s experience gained from the pastoral placement brings the course to a logical conclusion. 

B. GOALS

This course will assist students to grow in the following knowledge, skills and attitudes.

KNOWLEDGE:

1. To know and understand how pastoral ministry is generally carried out in a Parish-School setting.
2. To be sensitive and attentive to the Church’s social teaching and how to develop appropriate application of the teaching in a Parish-School setting.
3. To have knowledge of Parish School environment where one will be doing one’s pastoral ministry.
4. To know one’s own strengths and weaknesses as applied to pastoral situations in Parish Schools.

SKILLS:

1. To test the call to and aptitude for pastoral ministry within a school.
2. To integrate the students theological knowledge with pastoral experience through theological reflection.
3. To enable the students to reflect upon their pastoral identity within the Catholic tradition.
4. To help the student identify and articulate areas of needed personal and professional growth in working in a Parish-School setting.

ATTITUDES:

1. To recognize and affirm their prior ministerial experiences and unique gifts for School ministry.
2. To encourage the practice of theological reflection on ministerial experience as a life-long habit.
3. To appreciate the collaborative nature of pastoral ministry vis-à-vis ordained and lay, women and men and a Parish-School setting.
4. To appreciate and recognize the reciprocal nature of giving and receiving in pastoral ministry.
 

C. STRUCTURE OF THE SCHOOL MINISTRY

1st Semester – Weeks of visitation (3 hrs/visit) [travel time is extra]

Oct. 13 - 16	Oct. 26 - 30	Nov. 2 - 6
Nov. 9 - 13	Nov. 16 - 20	Nov. 23 - 27

2nd Semester – Weeks of visitation (3 hrs/visit) [travel time is extra]

Jan. 25 - 29	Feb. 1 - 5	Feb. 8 - 12
Feb. 22 - 26	Mar. 1 -5	Mar. 8 - 12
Mar. 22 - 26	Mar. 29 - 31

D. ASSESSMENT

 1. Student’s participation in four Theological Reflection Group discussions – two per semester during scheduled Monday Formation Evenings (20%)
 

i.	October 19, 2009	7:00 pm
ii.	November 22, 2009	7:00 pm
iii.	February 1, 2010	7:00 pm
iv.	March 22, 2010	7:00 pm

 2. Student shall prepare four Theological Reflection Papers (300 – 350 words) two per semester on one’s personal response to questions in relation to experiences in one’s parish placement (20%)

Due Dates:

i.	October 16, 2009
ii.	November 20, 2009
iii.	January 29, 2010
iv.	March 19, 2010

 3. Students shall prepare a Final Theological Reflection Paper (7-8 pages) to show how one has integrated The Art of Theological Reflection and developed an integrated pastoral identity (30%) Due: March 31, 2010.

4. Student’s supervisor in one’s placement shall evaluate the student’s performance (30%)
 

E. POLICY REGARDING SUBMISSION OF ASSIGNMENTS

I. Assignments are due by 3:00 p.m. on the dates as given above.

II. It is the responsibility of the student to organize his or her work so that the assignments are completed on time. For a serious reason, a student may approach the professor before the due-date, and may be granted an extension at the discretion of the professor. Any medical reasons will be confirmed by proper documentation as approved by the Dean’s Office. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment will be deducted for each day it is overdue without permission.

F. POLICY REGARDING ACADEMIC OFFENCES

I. The Senate of the University of Western Ontario requires that students be informed of the policy regarding academic offenses, accordingly:

Scholastic offences (i.e. plagiarism and other forms of cheating) are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a scholastic offence, at the following website:http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholoff.pdf.

II. Checking for Plagiarism:
Required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for this purpose. Submitted papers will be included as source documents in the reference database for future similar purpose. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement between the University and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).