Undergraduate Studies in Theology

The Institute of Catholic Theology has formed an innovative partnership with Franciscan University of Steubenville to provide college students in the Phoenix area the opportunity to study orthodox theology directly at the Institute of Catholic Theology and to receive transferable credit to universities in the Diocese of Phoenix, as well as hundreds of out-of-state colleges and universities.

How much we need, in the Church and in society, witnesses of the beauty of holiness, witnesses of the splendour of truth, witnesses of the joy and freedom born of a living relationship with Christ!

Sharing in the dynamic spirit of Franciscan University, the primary goal of the Institute’s undergraduate studies is to deepen the student’s love for Christ through the study of Catholic theology. These courses are designed to strengthen in students a Catholic worldview through the formation of their intellect and imagination, providing an essential foundation for the development of a mature Christian faith, personality, and creative engagement with culture.

Benefits of the Program

The ICT Undergraduate Studies in Theology program is designed to assist college-age Catholics to strengthen their love for Christ by introducing them to core theological concepts. The program will help students to:

• Deepen their Love of Christ: The primary goal of the program is to deepen the student’s love for Christ through the study of Catholic theology.
• Build Christian Community: Students in the program meet in-person in the ICT classroom and at a distance via video conferencing, allowing for the authentic building of community and Christian fellowship supported by instructors from the Phoenix area.
• Strengthen their Vocation: The formation helps students to articulate their faith in order to strengthen their Christian witness through prayer and charity.
• Prepare to Engage the Culture: To support the New Evangelization, the program helps students to live and renew the Christian life in today’s complex world.
• Complement their Educational Goals: For those enrolled at other academic institutions, this program helps them to earn credit towards those degrees while fostering in them a Catholic worldview.
• Prepare for Further Studies: For those considering a theological degree, the program prepares them to study theology academically, either at the undergraduate or graduate level.

Prospective Students

ICT undergraduate studies in theology are taught at the undergraduate level and are suitable for any adult, regardless of the level of one’s catechetical/theological formation. The program is specifically geared towards:

• Current College Students
• High School Students looking for College Credit
• Prospective College Students taking a gap year
• Young Adults
• Adult Catholics looking to learn and share their faith
• Adults Seeking Degree Completion
• Youth Ministry Core Teams
• Parish Catechists
• Catholic School Teachers

Course of Studies

Students take one class per semester. Students are accepted on a rolling basis and may enter the program at any semester and year.

Year A: Academic Years beginning with an Even Number

Fall — Foundations of Catholicism
Spring — The Word of God: Scripture and Tradition

Year B: Academic Years beginning with an Odd Number

Fall — Christian Moral Principles
Spring — Catholic Social Teaching

Instructors

All instructors in the program are in full communion with the Catholic Church and will receive the mandatum from our local bishop and make the Profession of Faith as outlined in Ex Corde Ecclesia. Instructors have at least a masters, licentiate, or doctorate degree.

Homework

Students can expect up to two hours of readings and assignments for every hour of class.

Schedule and Location

Courses will be on Mondays from 6pm-9pm. Each semester consists of 14 weeks and offered in-person at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Parish.

Distance education option available. Classes available for live participation via video conferencing.

Tuition and Books

ICT Tuition is $450/course. Tuition for current High School students age 16 and above and in at least 11th grade is $300/course. Payment in full due by beginning of class. ICT will discuss payment plans upon request. Tuition does not include textbooks. Students are responsible for obtaining textbooks/class resources.

Course Descriptions

ICT 101: Foundations of Catholicism

This course introduces the student to the teachings of the Catholic Church as it is rooted in Scripture and Tradition and faithfully proclaimed by the Church’s magisterium (teaching office). Besides an introduction to Catholic doctrine, the course will also include some discussion of Church history, prayer and liturgy, the moral life, and Catholic life and theology.

ICT 102: The Word of God: Scripture and Tradition

This course studies God’s self-revelation throughout salvation history as it has been received and handed on by the believing community in the forms of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Based on the Catholic doctrine of revelation and its reception as expressed in Dei Verbum , the course examines the central teachings of the Catholic faith, such as creation, fall, and redemption, Trinity and Incarnation, the Church and the Holy Spirit, as these have been expressed in the Scriptures and developed throughout the history of the Church’s tradition. Emphasis is placed on reading primary sources, including major Biblical texts, writings of Church Doctors and Fathers, major theologians, magisterial documents, and writings from the Franciscan tradition.

ICT 103: Christian Moral Principles

This course elucidates the principles of morality that regulate Christian living. These principles are studied as they are found rooted in the New Testament documents and articulated throughout the history of the Christian community’s lived existence, with a thorough look at the contemporary understanding of Christian moral theology as it is articulated by the magisterium of the Catholic Church and by theologians in union with the magisterium. Students will examine these principles as they apply to some perennial moral issues.

ICT 104: Catholic Social Teaching

This course is a broad study of general Church teaching on social questions with strong emphasis on the papal encyclicals and other Church documents. Major issues explored are poverty and the distribution of wealth, prejudice and racism, war and peace, criminal justice, the Gospel and the State, and international community and business ethics.

ICT 105: Theology of the Body

Through a careful study of “the theology of the body” developed by Pope St. John Paul II in Man and Woman He Created Them, this course exams the deep connections between Christian anthropology, sexual ethics, and sacramental spirituality and the significance of embodiment within the Catholic tradition. While addressing specific questions regarding sexuality, love, and marriage and continence for the Kingdom, this course also provides an understanding of how the theology of the body presents a vision the dignity and vocation of the human person through the lens of salvation history and its culmination in the mystery of redemption in Jesus Christ.

ICT 106: Christian Spirituality

Christian Spirituality is designed to open the student to the themes of holiness in Scripture and to point out the different Fathers of the Church and other spiritual masters and the uniqueness in their spirituality. The course will also investigate some modern authors in the spiritual life and provide the principles of growth in holiness, their applications to historical and cultural situations, and their implications concerning life in the modern world.

ICT 107: Ministry of the Word

This course provides a survey of the content, purpose and functions of the ministry of the word, the particular focus on the nature of catechesis and theology. "The ministry of the word, within the context of evangelization, transmits Revelation, through the Church, by using human words (GDC #50)." This course surveys the history, methods, content and contemporary practice of catechesis, inspired by God's Pedagogy of Revelation and the Response of Faith. This course introduces the student to the graduate study of sacred theology by examining the nature and mission of theology as an ecclesial vocation, in light of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's 1990 document, "Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian" (Donum Veritatis). The nature of theology is examined as a "science" in the classical sense, that is, an intellectual habit which certitude is available through rational reflection, in the light of faith, on divine revelation.

ICT 108: Human and Spiritual Integration

Human and Spiritual Integration is a course in contemporary Psychology and Christian Humanism. This interdisciplinary approach is designed to critically examine stage theories, normative behavior, human perspectivity, faith experiences, Christian conversion, and Catholic anthropology. Practical applications of pastoral psychology to issues of human development, character deficiencies, and growth potential will address differing strategies used in pastoral counseling, therapeutic intervention, and spiritual direction.

ICT 109: Philosophy of the Human Person

Studies what it is to say that human beings are persons and have freedom and subjectivity; the different powers of the human person, including the powers of understanding, willing, feeling, and loving; the difference between body and soul in human beings, and the unity of the two; and the question of the immortality of the soul. Some classic texts from the tradition of Western philosophy are read. This is a particularly fundamental course that underlies many of the other courses.

Application and Admission

Students will apply online, and admissions is rolling.

Fall Semester — Applications open January 15
Spring Semester — Applications open September 15

Courses can be audited (no homework); however, no academic credit will be awarded for auditing.

Students who are at least 16 years old and in grade 11 in High School can attend ICT 101, 102, 103 and 109 courses.

Obtaining Academic Credit

Students who transfer to Franciscan University will pay no additional cost for the credit.

Students who transfer to other universities will pay Franciscan University $450 ($300 for currently enrolled High School Students) per ICT course for 3 undergraduate credits. Payment to Franciscan University happens at the beginning of the ICT course.

ICT undergraduate courses correspond to the following Franciscan University courses:

Frequently Asked Questions