Master of Arts in Ministry for a Multicultural Church (MAMC)
The Master of Arts in Ministry for a Multicultural Church (MAMC) is a two-year professional degree that integrates theological reflection, congregational studies, supervised field education, spiritual formation, and academic theological education for effective ministerial leadership in a culturally diverse environment.
It is designed for lay women and men, religious and clergy who intend to work professionally in the Roman Catholic Church, and for those already engaged in ministry who wish to build upon their ministerial competencies.
The MAMC program is designed to meet the certification guidelines formulated by the National Association for Lay Ministry, the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership, and the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.
The Ministry Seminar. MAMC students participate in a series of four ministry seminars, one each semester. The seminars are collaborative teaching and learning environments where students integrate theological, ministerial, and educational insights and understandings. The seminars draw from theology, sociology and psychology of religion, cultural and ethnic studies, and religious education.
In the final semester of the ministry seminar, students prepare a synthesis project under the direction of a faculty advisor in which they address theological questions of critical relevance to a multicultural church and society, and apply them to a particular ministerial context and practice. Upon completion of written material, students give oral presentations incorporating multiple learning styles and multicultural sensitivity.
Supervised Field Education. Under the guidance of the Field Education Program Director, MAMC students are assigned to ministry placements made according to their professional goals in areas such as parish work, health care or prison chaplaincy, community organizing, justice and advocacy, retreats, catechetics, campus or university ministry, Christian initiation, and educational leadership.
Goals of the MAMC Program
The goals of the MAMC program are to prepare students to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic teachings and heritage of the Roman Catholic Church and the ability to apply them to theological reflection
- Apply intercultural competencies and effective leadership skills
- Articulate a theology of ministry and to apply it to specific pastoral concerns
- Integrate personal spiritual formation in a Rule of Life
Requirements of the MAMC Program
MAMC students are required to:
- Complete 48 semester units as described in the curriculum below, six (6) of which must be taken from a non-Catholic member school of the GTU
- Engage in all field education and spiritual formation requirements
- Maintain an overall 3.0 grade point average in all required and elective courses
- Be enrolled in the school for two years (residency)
- Complete all work within 4 years of the first semester of enrollment
Curriculum of the MAMC Program
| Course area | Units |
| Introduction to Old Testament | 3 |
| Introduction to New Testament | 3 |
| Introduction to Theology | 3 |
| Advanced Course in Systematic Theology | 3 |
| (Choose 1) | |
| Christology | |
| Ecclesiology | |
| Liturgical Theology | 3 |
| (Choose 1) | |
| Liturgy and Spirituality | |
| Sacraments | |
| Ministry Seminar I | 3 |
| Ministry Seminar II | 3 |
| Ministry Seminar III | 3 |
| Ministry Seminar IV | 3 |
| Fundamental Moral Theology | 3 |
| Pastoral Care | 1.5 |
| Professional Ethics | 1.5 |
| Contextual Theology | 6 |
| (Choose 2) | |
| History | |
| Multicultural Theology | |
| Missiology/Evangelization | |
| Electives | 9 |