Fr. Michael Sweeney, O.P.
President of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
Lecturer
Office phone: (510) 883-2083
E-mail:
In order to take the lay role in the Church seriously two things must be acknowledged; first, that there is actually a world out there and second, that it is not the Church.
~ in the spirit of Yves Congar, O.P.
Fr. Michael is most concerned with the mission of the Church, which is to redeem the world. That means we have to understand the relationships within the Church and we have to find new ways of relating the clergy, the laity and community in light of that mission. Some of the more pressing questions we need to address are; what is the integrity of our local Christian community? What is a parish, really? What are the relationships there that ought to be observed – the relationship to the local parish and the diocese and to the community? How should the Church present herself to civil society? What follows are questions concerning cannon law, corporate law and constitutional law but in addressing these questions, Fr. Michael argues that we need to appeal to the laity. Fr. Michael says that the mission of the Church must be a collaboration of the religious and the laity and not a delegation. You collaborate with peers whereas you delegate to subordinates. Collaboration is when all the involved parties are equally responsible for the end result. As each party has different things to bring to the effort, they each have different competencies. If those things are satisfied then you have true collaboration.
He hopes that his students will gain a sense for the collaboration of lay, religious and clergy that the Church is asking for which is also his objective for the whole school. He hopes his students will get a sense for the uniqueness and identity of each of these voices. Fr. Michael encourages a sense of competency in each of his students. He says that the medium and the message have to coalesce, especially in a theological education and especially in the dignities and possibilities of the lay apostolate. For his clerical students he hopes to instill how governance in the Church must foster the competence and confidence in their contribution to the Church. Fr. Michael enjoys how his students engage things and likes the challenge of tailoring the material to where the engagement actually is. He also likes the way it is necessary to re-think the material itself in light of its encounter with the students as it sharpens distinctions and suggests new places to look.
Fr. Michael engages his students into conversations that are not happening anywhere else.
The course Fr. Michael Sweeney teaches is: Theology of the Laity.
Fr. Michael is currently working on developing two degree programs to be offered at DSPT beginning in the summer 2007. The first would be to confer an academic degree in systematic theology, either an M.A. through the DSPT or an S.T.L. from the Dominican Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum), with an emphasis on the theology of the laity. This would be for priests or laity engaged in lay formation within the Roman Catholic community.
The second program would offer a Master of Theological. Studies (M.T.S.) - a professional degree, similar to an M.Div. or M.B.A., for lay Catholic professionals and business people. This degree would focus on the lay office of Catholics, and their responsibility to renew the temporal order, specifically within the worlds of business and management.
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