Courses may be accessed online via Zoom from anywhere in the world. All Catholic theology courses online are listed in Eastern Standard Time (EST/EDT). If a location is listed, this indicates the location from which the course will be taught: students who are within commuting distance to that location are encouraged to attend in person. Further details on distance learning can be found here.
Summer 2026 Courses - Session II
June 29th - August 14th (Session II)
Application deadline for Session II is June 19th.
Add/drop deadline is July 6th [Session II].
ROC (Rochester Campus)
A/C388: The Gospel of John: Theological Themes and Textual Analysis (Matthew Kuhner, Ph.D.)
"We may be bold enough to say that the Gospels are the first fruits of all the Scriptures, and that the Gospel of John represents the first fruits of the Gospels" (Origen of Alexandria). This course will meditate upon and study the Gospel of John, lauded throughout the centuries for its expressive richness and its spiritual depth as it communicates the person of Jesus Christ. In terms of method, this course will provide a dynamic combination of theological exposition and textual analysis. Because a comprehensive treatment lies beyond the scope of a single course, crucial theological themes and texts will be discussed: themes such as glory, love, life, and truth, and texts such as the prologue, the signs, the high priestly prayer, and the crucifixion narrative will be studied (among others). Finally, the impact and significance of the Johannine witness throughout the life of the Church (especially in the 20th and 21st centuries) will be considered throughout.
3 credits | ROC and Online
Tuesdays, 6:00 - 9:00pm EDT, June 30th, July 7th, July 14th, July 21st, July 28th, August 4th, August 11th
B/C361: Revelation, God, and the Angels According to Thomas Aquinas (Stephen Loughlin, Ph.D.)
This course is the first of six dedicated to a reading of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae, a work that constitutes his mature thought concerning those things essential to the Christian Faith: revelation, God, creation, the human person, the Christian life, the theological and cardinal virtues, and Jesus Christ and the sacraments. We begin by considering the first 64 questions of the first part of the Summa (the prima pars). We deal, first, with his brief but well considered views concerning the nature of Sacred Doctrine. From this, we then launch into the quality of our knowledge of God, both concerning His existence and what can be known of Him both in His unity and in His trinity, and all of this according to both natural reason and revelation. We then complete this course with a consideration of God's creative activity, beginning with those beings that are purely immaterial, namely the angels and the demons (with the remaining questions of the prima pars treated in B/C362).
3 credits | ROC and Online
Wednesdays, 6:00 - 9:00pm EDT, July 1st, July 8th, July 15th, July 22nd, July 29th, August 5th, August 12th
B/C461: Tolkien the Artist: Creativity and the Image of God (Siobhan Latar, S.T.D.)
"We make because we are made in the image of a Maker” (J.R.R. Tolkien). What is the role of creativity in human life? Is it just an incidental addition, reserved for those with a particular skill set or extra time? Or is it something that speaks to the heart of what it means to be a human person? This course will explore the work and thought of beloved author, J.R.R. Tolkien, a devout Catholic and a devoted artist, to see how he himself answers this question. We will uncover Tolkien’s understanding of the role of creativity and what it shows us about our relationship with creation, ourselves, and God the Creator.
3 credits | Online
Thursdays, 6:00 - 9:00pm EDT, July 2nd, July 9th, July 16th, July 23rd, July 30th, August 6th, August 13th
CP641: Philosophy of God (Marco Stango, Ph.D.)
This course concerns the natural ascent of the human mind to a knowledge of the existence and the attributes of God – can God’s existence be proven, and can our language at least begin to represent God’s attributes without falling purely into metaphorical language or simple anthropomorphisms?
3 credits | Online
Thursdays, 6:00 - 9:00pm EDT, July 2nd, July 9th, July 16th, July 23rd, July 30th, August 6th, August 13th
Fall 2026 Courses
August 24th - December 11th, 2026
Application deadline for Fall is August 14th; add/drop deadline is September 18th.
ROC (Rochester Campus)
A202: Old Testament (Matthew Ramage, Ph.D.)
Introduction to the Old Testament introduces exegetical methodology and theology of the Old Testament. Students will consider the fruits and the assumptions of exegesis, using and examining its methodologies both as helpful tools and as products of a particular era. Hebrew poetry and narrative, ritual and ethical instruction, prophecy, historiography, and novella will be analyzed as literature, and students will also examine the development of traditions within the texts of the canon. Since Sacred Scripture is double-authored by both man and God and interpreted in the context of the Catholic Church, this course will also emphasize the theology of the Old Testament, with a special focus on the People of God, and will read spiritual readings of the Old Testament from the Church Fathers to present.
3 credits | Online
Every other Wednesday, 6:30 — 9:30pm EDT, August 26th, September 9th, September 23rd, October 7th, October 21st, November 4th, November 18th, December 2nd
B/C362: The Human Person and God's Governance of Creation (ST. I. 65-119) (Stephen Loughlin, Ph.D.)
This course is the second of five dedicated to a reading of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae. In this course, we focus our attention upon the two remaining treatises of the prima pars: a consideration of the human person from four perspectives — psychology, epistemology, and both our pre- and post-lapserian conditions; and His governance over all creation and the roles that man, the angels, and demons play in this. This course, together with B/C 361, offers an overview of St. Thomas’ understanding of creation as it issues forth (exitus) and is guided by God to its good and completion.
3 credits | ROC and Online
Wednesdays, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, August 26th, September 2nd, September 9th, September 16th, September 23rd, September 30th, October 7th, October 14th, October 21st, October 28th, November 4th, November 11th, November 18th, December 2nd, December 9th
B/C419: The Life and Thought of Fulton Sheen (Edmund Lazzari, Ph.D.)
3 credits | Online
Every other Monday, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, August 24th, September 21st, October 5th, October 19th, November 2nd, November 16th, November 30th
C/D333: Catholic Bioethics at the Beginning of Life (Jean Baric Parker, D.Be.)
3 credits | Online
TBD
C217: Fundamental Moral Theology (Taylor Patrick O'Neill, Ph.D.)
This course introduces the field of moral theology. Students will contemplate the purpose of moral theology in the life of the Church, its methods, and the problems it addresses. Topics will include happiness, action theory, sin, conversion, vice and virtue, and methods of moral decision making.
3 credits | Online
Every other Wednesday, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, September 2nd, September 16th, September 30th, October 14th, October 28th, November 11th, December 2nd, December 9th
C226: Liturgical and Sacramental Theology (Rev. Peter Van Lieshout, S.T.L.)
An historical, anthropological and theological investigation of Christian worship and sacrament with special attention to: the Roman Catholic Sacraments of baptism and Eucharist; a historical overview of liturgical practices, texts, and theology from Jewish and scriptural origins to the 20th-century reforms of the Second Vatican Council; basic principles of liturgical and sacramental theology; and groundwork for interpreting liturgical documents and ritual texts from pastoral practice, multi/inter-cultural concerns, and ecumenical considerations.
3 credits | ROC and Online
Every other Monday, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, August 31st, September 14th, September 28th, October 19th, October 26th, November 9th, November 23rd, December 7th
C302: Christology and Trinitarian Theology (Siobhán Latar, S.T.D.; Apolonio Latar, S.T.L.)
This course treats the biblical, historical, and dogmatic dimensions of Christology and Trinitarian theology. It aims to treat the person and mission of Jesus Christ, showing the mutual illumination and inseparability of anthropology and Christology, as well the unfolding of Trinitarian theology from the revelation of God fulfilled and completed in Christ. Central to the course will be an in-depth reflection on the statement of Gaudium et spes 22: “Only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light.... Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.” The course will thereby introduce students to an understanding of Jesus Christ as a union of two natures in one divine person, and the One Triune God as a communion of three persons in one divine nature.
3 credits | Online
Every other Tuesday, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, September 1st, September 15th, September 29th, October 13th, October 27th, November 10th, November 24th, December 8th
CP601: Introduction to Catholic Philosophy (Marco Stango, Ph.D.)
This course centers the student upon the discipline of philosophy as it has been developed and practiced within the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. The methods particular to philosophical investigation will be examined as the philosopher seeks to articulate the nature of wisdom, how it can be attained, and especially incorporated into the entirety of one’s life. The student will understand the differences between philosophy, the sciences, and theology, as well as their respective complementarities, with a focus upon the supportive and illuminative role that philosophy plays in theological education.
3 credits | Online
Every other Tuesday, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, August 25th, September 8th, September 22nd, October 6th, October 20th, November 3rd, November 17th, December 1st
CP611: Our Search for Meaning: The Beginning of the Greatest Conversation (Ancient Philosophy) (Marco Stango, Ph.D.)
A survey course from the beginning of philosophy with the pre-Socratics, through Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and ending with the Cynics, Skeptics, Epicureans, Stoics, and Neoplatonism. In particular, those problems posed by Heraclitus, Parmenides, Socrates, and Plato that are important to the philosophical tradition will be considered, Aristotle’s philosophy will be surveyed as a whole, and the themes that are central to post-Aristotelian philosophy will be examined.
3 credits | Online
Every other Thursday, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, August 27th, September 10th, September 24th, October 8th, October 22nd, November 5th, November 19th, December 3rd
CP631: Metaphysics (Marco Stango, Ph.D.)
This course examines the basic concerns and principles that undergird the whole of reality and guide the way by which we think of the ultimate things to which the mind can aspire: existence, essence, the categories of being, the transcendentals, the analogy of being, and the existence and creative activity of God. This course acts as a capstone study to the whole of philosophy and is preferably engaged upon at the end of one’s certificate/degree studies.
3 credits | Online
Every other Tuesday, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, September 1st, September 15th, September 29th, October 13th, October 27th, November 10th, November 24th, December 8th
D211: Discernment and Formation for Ministry (TBD)
This course is an introduction to formation for diaconal ministry. The first half of the course is an exploration of the historical development of and the theological basis for the diaconate. Special attention will be given to the unity and relation of the four dimensions of formation and the deacon in his state in life (either marriage or celibacy). The second half of the course will focus on the integration of the spiritual and human dimensions of formation through attention to one’s lived encounter with God in and through the daily circumstances of life. To aid one in this pursuit of holiness through life—which is to “seek God in all things”—key aspects of Ignatian spirituality will be explored, including the importance of spiritual accompaniment, the function of spiritual direction, the basic principles of discernment of spirits, and the practice of the daily examen.
3 credits
TBD
D214: Spiritual Formation (TBD)
This course provides a broad introduction to the ways in which people appropriate the mystery of faith, the process entailed in that appropriation, and an overview of the history of that process and the types of experiences which have emerged in that history. Students can achieve reflective understanding of their own practice, develop it more consciously, and be enabled to appreciate and assist others in this area of ministry.
3 credits
TBD
D215: Introduction to Pastoral Theology (Jessica Cole, D.Min.)
3 credits | Online
Every other Tuesday, 6:00 — 9:00pm EDT, August 25th, September 8th, September 22nd, October 6th, October 20th, November 3rd, November 17th, December 1st
W500: Academic Research and Writing (TBD)
This course is intended for students who have never written or have been long removed from the task of writing a research paper. It will focus on research methods and techniques with an emphasis on: selecting a topic, identifying sources, as well as writing and grammar principles and style. Students will be afforded guidance and suggestions on how to compose a research document written on a scholarly level. Students will also receive helpful information for constructing theological questions and arguments.
1 credit
TBD
