Seminary curriculum

We received a great question about the actual seminary classes one takes. There are two tracks prior to theology studies. The first is college for those who haven't gone to college, or completed college. The second is pre-theology, which is designed for those who have already finished college.

College division:
I College Fall
Com 101 Oral Composition
Eng 101 College Composition
His 101 History of Western Civilization I
Lat 105 Elementary Latin I
Thl 101 Perspectives of Catholic Belief

Spring
Phl 102 Introduction to philosophy
Eng 106 Great Works of Western Lit I
His 102 History of Western Civilization
Mth 106 College Algebra and Trigonometry
Lat 106 Elementary Latin II
Thl 102 Introduction to Liturgy

II College
Fall
Eng 204 Great Works of Western Lit II
Latin 205 Intermediate Latin I
Phl 203 Logic
Psy 201 Human Development and Life Stages
Elective

Spring
Bio 201 Human Biology
Lat 206 Intermediate Latin II
Phl 204 Epistemology
Thl 203 Introduction to Scripture
Elective

III College
Fall
Hum 301 Humanities
Spa 301 Basic Spanish I
Phl 303 Metaphysics I
Thl 303 Introductory Church History
Elective

Spring
Grk 302 Elementary Greek I
Spa 302 Basic Spanish II
Phl 304 Metaphysics II
Phl 305 Ancient Philosophy
Elective

IV College
Fall
Grk 401 Elementary Greek II
Phl 401 Philosophy of Man
Thl 401 Christian Commitment and the Moral Life
Phl 405 Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy
Elective

Spring
Grk 401 Greek New Testament Readings
Phl 402 Ethics
Phl 406 Later Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
Thl 402 Introduction to Dogmatic Theology
Com 401 Oral Communication II
Elective

Pretheology Division:
Year 1
Fall semester
Phl 504 Logic
Phl 511 Ancient Philosophy
Thl 510 Practical Theological Concepts
Lat 507 Latin I
Elective

Spring
Phl 518 Medieval/Early Modern Philosophy
Phl 503 Epistemology
Thl 502 Introduction to Dogmatic Theology
Lat 508 Latin II
Elective

Year II
Fall Semester
Phl 519 Later modern/ contemporary philosophy
Phl 512 Metaphysics I
Phl 501 Philosophy of Man
Thl 505 History of Christian Spirituality I
Grk 507 Greek I

Spring
Phl 502 Ethics
Phl 504 Natural Theology
Phl Elective
Thl 506 History of Christian Spirituality II
Grk 508 Greek II


Some of the things you may notice is that the course load is very philosophically heavy. The Program for Priestly Formation put out by the USCCB (The Conference of Bishops) calls for at least 3o credits of philosophy before studying graduate level theology. Philosophy gives you important grounding in order to better grasp difficult theological concepts. The curriculums also give a great importance to the study of language, not only Greek and Latin, but the seminary recognizes the pastoral importance of Spanish.

In addition, seminarians are required to take a music class every semester, and seminarians have the opportunity to sing in the schola, or to play the organ. And I also believe that the music director also gives organ lessons to those who are interested. I hope this answers your question.