Category Archives: Featured Spotlight

An online apologetics seminar, The Art of Evangelization through Apologetics, will be offered October 2–23. Popular instructor Allan Wright will share the good news of Jesus Christ, whose teachings entrusted to the Church encompass truth, beauty, and goodness. Learn to communicate a faith that is both relevant and foundational for one’s life, and gain the confidence to share the Gospel in an engaging, natural way and appreciate why being a credible believer is the most effective apologetic tool.

Tuition is just $99, with discounts for our diocesan partners. To register, visit https://www.pathlms.com/cdu/courses/38096.

Two new Catholic Social Teaching (CST) programs, supported by an $879,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., recently began enrolling students. In the Fall I term, the first cohort of students began taking classes in a new AA degree program in Theology with a concentration in Catholic Social Teaching designed especially for Hispanic Catholics, who will make up the majority of the U.S. Catholic population by 2030.

All courses in the affordable online AA degree program are taught in Spanish to ensure wider access to higher education for students who may not be fluent in English or prefer to learn in their first language. Upon earning the degree, students will be prepared to serve as lay ecclesial ministers in Catholic parishes and pursue further academic study. There is great need in the Hispanic community to develop well-educated leaders for the Church of the 21st century.

A graduate certificate program in CST, with classes taught in English but with options for reading and writing in Spanish, is also now enrolling students. In the Fall II term, graduate certificate students can enroll in CST 510. Social Doctrine of the Church: 1891-1965. Classes begin October 23rd.

The graduate program was developed by Rev. Avelino González-Ferrér, a priest in the Archdiocese of Washington, and is targeted to ecclesial ministers who seek to deepen their understanding of CST to better serve their faith communities. Many Catholic pastoral leaders feel insufficiently knowledgeable when faced with the challenges of immigration, racism, poverty, and family breakdown. The curriculum draws upon the Church’s broad and deep intellectual tradition to provide the wisdom and insights needed to address these issues within local parishes. There are also plans to develop a hybrid seminar-travel experience in Rome through which students can earn academic credit.

“CST is essential to the new evangelization and provides a lens through which to view the issues of our time more clearly,” says Bishop Robert Barron, the 2021 recipient of CDU’s Founders Award.  He added that Catholic social teaching is “not just for us, it’s for the whole world. We need to propagate it, we need to teach it. We need to announce it from the rooftops.”

Catholic Distance University made Forbes Advisor’s top-four list of “best options for Theology degrees online” for 2023. This accolade confirms what we have known for a long time: the great value and high quality of a CDU education.

To determine rankings, the Forbes Advisor Education team sources data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and pulls information from reputable professional organizations and education providers’ websites. The rankings use a strict methodology to determine the best schools and programs for each category.

An expert advisory board of experienced professionals and educators reviews and verifies Forbes Advisor Education content to ensure accuracy and completeness.

On September 17th, Dr. Marianne Evans Mount was awarded Christendom College’s St. Catherine of Siena Award for Distinguished Service to the Church and Catholic Higher Education. The award was presented at the college’s 45th anniversary, which featured an academic convocation.

President Mount, who is recognized widely as an innovative leader in the field of education, encouraged students, faculty, and staff to always make Christ present. “Like Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, to be a Christian is to be a teacher. May your knowledge and witness make Christ present wherever you go and wherever you are,” she said in her acceptance remarks.

Also honored at the event were Leonardo Defilippis of Saint Luke Productions, who received the Fra Angelico Award for Excellence in Fine Arts in Service to the Beauty of the Catholic Faith, and Dr. John Bruchalski of Tepeyac OB/GYN, who received the college’s Pro Deo et Patria Award for Service to God and Country.

Uncover secret beauty hiding in plain sight with Theology of Sacred Architecture taught by Professor Erik Bootsma in the approaching Fall II term.

Class begins October 24th and registration is already open!

Theology of Sacred Architecture introduces the history, theology and symbolism of Catholic sacred architecture, focusing on how its development has affected the shape, configuration and use of the Catholic Church throughout various architectural styles and eras.

The class will trace the Church’s development from Pagan and Old Testament ideas of sacred architecture through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Counter-Reformation and Vatican II.

Professor Bootsma is a prominent architect, lecturer and commentator. His work on sacred and classical architecture has appeared in journals and outlets such as First Things, Crisis Magazine, Catholic World Report, Adoremus and Catholic News Agency.

He has also lectured at the Catholic Art Guild, the Hillsdale College Kirby Center, the University of Notre Dame, Franciscan University of Steubenville and The Catholic University of America.

He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture and an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College in California. He is a registered architect in the state of Virginia and has been in private practice since 2014, focusing on ecclesiastical architecture.

The cross-listed course (HUM 260 & THEO 290/590) fulfills Humanities or Theology credits at the undergraduate level or graduate level. Students will learn to:

• Articulate the major periods of development in Catholic sacred architecture.
• Identify the essential parts of a church and their theological symbolism, particularly the baptistry, the sanctuary, the altar and the tabernacle and the liturgical celebrations proper to each.
• Have general knowledge of the various documents touching on sacred architecture and general knowledge of the canonical and conciliar decrees about sacred Architecture and the liturgy.
• Evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of a given design in communicating theology of the Catholic Faith.

Those interested in understanding the role of sacred architecture and art in the Catholic Church’s theology and liturgy should complete their application quickly as registration is already underway for the Fall II term, which begins October 24th. There is no application fee!

At the January meeting of the CDU Board of Trustees, Stephen D. Pryor was elected to serve as chairman of the Board of Trustees effective March 15, 2021. He succeeds Dr. Charles R. Wasaff, who has been a CDU trustee since 2012 and chairman since October 2017.

“CDU has a life-changing impact on its students in terms of the growth of faith and service to the Church. We are excited about the opportunities ahead to extend the University’s reach and share its expertise as a pioneer in Catholic distance education,” said Mr. Pryor.

President Dr. Marianne Evans Mount said, “I am thrilled to welcome Stephen Pryor as our new Board Chair effective March 15, 2021. CDU has been blessed with extraordinary board leadership in the work of retiring Board Chair Dr. Charles Wasaff. That tradition will continue with Stephen Pryor.”

“Steve brings remarkable corporate success with a deep commitment to the Catholic Church and the mission of Catholic Distance University. He is a strategic thinker with great insights about current opportunities and CDU’s strength as the only and exclusively online Catholic university whose expertise in theological education impacts all areas of knowledge. I am privileged to work with him,” she continued.

A highly accomplished business executive with a long history of service to the Church and Catholic organizations, Mr. Pryor brings a wealth of experience and visionary leadership to the role of chairman. He retired as president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company in 2015 after more than 43 years of ExxonMobil service. Before his appointment in 2008 as president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company, he was president of ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company and president of ExxonMobil Lubricants and Specialties Company. He also served as vice president of Exxon Mobil Corporation from 2004 until his retirement.

Before the merger of Exxon and Mobil in 1999, Mr. Pryor was executive vice president of Mobil International Marketing and Refining and president of Mobil Asia Pacific. He joined Mobil Corporation in 1971 in the U.S. Marketing Division and went on to lead marketing / refining and chemical business units in Cyprus, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Mr. Pryor is a trustee emeritus of Lafayette College and former vice chair of the board. He is a director and retiring board chair of The Immokalee Foundation and a director of the Foundation for Government Accountability. He earned a BA in Biology from Lafayette College and an MBA from Harvard University.

With CDU’s Graduate School of Theology having received accreditation from The Association of Theological Schools in 2020, CDU is poised for growth in both its student body and educational offerings.  The university has also just embarked on a newly adopted strategic plan. The Board and staff look forward to Mr. Pryor’s service to the university as Board chair. He was first elected to the Board of Trustees in October 2017.

Undergraduate Theology professor David Bonagura, Jr., has published a new book: Staying with the Catholic Church: Trusting God’s Plan of Salvation, which explains the mystery of the Church and why we need her to encounter Christ in light of contemporary challenges. The book can be ordered on Amazon.

Professor Bonagura, who also teaches Theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., was inspired to write the book in 2018, after the revelation of a new wave of scandals within the Church hierarchy. “So many Catholics were angry, confused, and questioning how such things could happen in God’s Church,” he says. “These reactions are understandable–I shared them. But, if the Church is what we know in faith that she is–the Body of Christ, the temporal extension of the Incarnation–then there has to be more to her than the sins of her members.”

“I set out to explain what the Church is, why Christ founded her, and what her mission is in the hope that Catholics would understand that the Church is a great mystery, a collection of sinners ministering divine healing to sinners, that is worthy not only of our continued support, but our faithful love,” Professor Bonagura says.

People are turning away from the Church in increasing numbers today. “Cascading waves of secularism and radical individualism have caused people to move away from organized religions. Added to this are the Church scandals and lack of understanding the essential truths of our faith,” Professor Bonagura says. “The way to return Catholics to the Church is the same way in which people have been brought into her for centuries, all across the globe: bold proclamation that Christ and His Church are necessary for our salvation, coupled with a tireless witness of Christ-inspired charity toward other people. Scandal draws people away from the Church. Holiness attracts them. The degree to which we live out our baptismal call to holiness will predict how successful we are in bringing people back into the Church.”

Professor Bonagura published the highly rated Steadfast in Faith: Catholicism and the Challenges of Secularism in 2019, which is also available on Amazon.

Professor Rev. Bevil Bramwell, OMI, has published a new graduate textbook on the philosophical and theological aspects of the priesthood. The bishops and their assistants, the priests, participate to different degrees in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. This book focuses more on the priest, exploring the rich and profound theological background of the priesthood as well as the shattering distraction of scandal. The liturgy, spirituality, the intellectual life, and even the life of Saint John Vianney, the Patron of Pastors, are also covered. The Catholic Priesthood: A 360 Degree View can be purchased on Amazon.com.