Learning Commons | Archives

Education and Pastoral Ministry Program Records Finding Aid: Collection Overview

Title: Education and Pastoral Ministry Program Records

Date(s): unknown date, 1965-1998

Repository I.D.: US: MBEmm: EPM-2010-10

Collection Call No.: EPM-2010-10

Creator: Education and Pastoral Ministry. Emmanuel College (Boston, MA)

Location: Emmanuel Archives—Cardinal Cushing Library, 202

Extent: 4.29 linear feet ( 110 folders/ 10 boxes)

Language(s): Material is in English.

Abstract: This collection contains the records for the Education and Pastoral Ministry Program from 1968 through 1998, the year the Department closed.  

Access Restrictions: 1) The collection is not restricted. 2) Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the College Archivist.

Preferred Citation: [Item Title]. [Box Number]. Education and Pastoral Ministry Program Records. Cardinal Cushing Library and Learning Commons, Emmanuel College, Boston, MA.

Provenance: Records were created and stored by the Education and Pastoral Ministry Program until its closure in 1998. After that the records were held by the Office of the President until their transfer to the Archives in 2010.

Processed By: Processed by John P. Healey Jr. in October and November 2019.

Biography/History: The Training Center for Educational and Pastoral Ministry (TCEPM) opened in October 1968 with twenty-two (22) lay and religious women and men with the goal to develop their professional competency and enliven their faith commitment through the integration of different disciplines and of theoretical concepts with practical  skills. The resulting Educational and Pastoral  Ministry (EPM) Program was committed to education in keeping with the mission of the Catholic Church to promote human dignity.

The degrees offered by EPM included, Education and Pastoral Ministry, Clinical Pastoral Counseling  and Pastoral Counseling prepared candidates for a variety of church-related ministries that included coordinating parish religious education, teaching religion to various age groups, planning and implementing liturgical and sacramental programs, pastoral and clinical care on the college campus, in parishes, hospitals and correctional institutions. The degree programs were supplemented by several certificate programs that ranged from Spirituality and Aging, Religious Education and Social Justice and Urban Ministry.

The coursework in the Program was supported by events, such as, “Springtime Sharings” Lecture Series, PRAXIS: Liberation Theology and the United States (1976), an Urban Ministry Colloquium (1985) and a panel on “The Changing Roles of Women in the Church” (1986). These studies were further augment by EPM’s relationships with the Andover Newton Theological School and the Kantor Family Institute, a postgraduate training center for therapists.

In 1993, EPM was renamed the Graduate Programs in Ministry. It was during this time that the Program faced increasing difficulties that ranged from declining enrollment, increase in directed and independent studies that replaced the curriculum of the program at Emmanuel College, and finally, the development of similar programs through the Archdiocese of Boston.

It was this combination of factors that led to the closure of Education and Pastoral Ministry Program on June 30, 1998.  

Program Head	Dates
Sr. Helen Wright, SND	1968(?)-1974
Sr. Claudia Blanchette, SND	1975-1993
Sr. Mary E. Hines, SND	1993-1995

Scope and Content: The collection contains the Annual Reports, accreditation materials, program memos, correspondences, program descriptions and newspaper clippings for the Education and Pastoral Ministry Program. In addition, the collection contains student theses on religious and sociological topics. While some material has unknown dates, most documents range between 1965 and 1998.

Collection Arrangement: The collection is arranged into three (3) series that cover the administrative and academic characteristics of the Education and Pastoral Ministry Program. These series are 1) Administrative Records, 2) Theses, and 3) Outreach Records and Material