USCCB - (FLWY) - Type of Program

Type of Program

To examine possible differences among various types of ministry formation programs, programs were grouped into five categories based on their sponsorship and institutional affiliation: programs that are sponsored and conducted by a diocese, programs that are based at a college or university, programs conducted by a seminary or school of theology, clinical pastoral education (CPE) programs, and independent programs. Examples of programs in the last category include those conducted by Education for Parish Service (EPS) and the Mexican-American Cultural Center.

The five types of programs and the percentage of all programs that fall into each category are as follows:

89 diocesan programs – 45 percent
62 college or university programs – 31 percent
25 seminary or school of theology programs – 13 percent
11 clinical pastoral education (CPE) programs – 5.5 percent
11 independent programs – 5.5 percent

Another ten programs returned questionnaires but did not identify either the name or type of program. Those programs are included in the overall analysis presented here, but are excluded from analyses that discuss the differences among types of programs.

The analyses that follow compare the responses of programs from each of these five categories. Due to the relatively small number of programs in some categories, however, differences among types of programs should be treated with caution. In particular, comparisons involving CPE and independent programs generally do not meet standard statistical tests. The differences among types of programs presented in this report are at best suggestive of possible differences that may actually exist between various types of lay ministry formation programs.