Fr. Rob Johansen is a priest who has, up until recently, been based out of Dorr, Michigan, and we have shown his reform of the reform pursuits on the NLM before. Since June, Fr. Johansen has been on something of a "hiatus" both from blogging life and parish life and I thought some of you might be interested to know that Fr. Johansen is now back to blogging, and further, what he is now up to:
As I mentioned in my previous post, this summer I stepped down as pastor of St. Stanislaus Parish in Dorr, Michigan, where I had served for almost 5 years. I spent much of the summer in residence at SS. John and Bernard parish in Benton Harbor, and much of my time preparing for the next phase of my priestly ministry.
I am happy to say, that after prayer, discernment, and much consultation with my bishop(s), I am now at The Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois. The University of St. Mary of the Lake is most widely known for Mundelein Seminary, the seminary of the Archdiocese of Chicago. I am pursuing the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL), with a concentration in Sacramental Theology and Liturgy. The program will take me two years to complete, and consists in foundational coursework in theology, as well as specialized courses in Sacramental and Liturgical Theology. The Licentiate is an advanced ecclesiastical degree, granted by a pontifical ecclesiastical faculty chartered by the Holy See. In effect, the Licentiate is more than a Master's degree, but less than the Doctorate, to which the Licentiate leads. Among other things, the Licentiate is the minimum degree required to teach theology at a Catholic seminary.
I am very grateful to be here...
To read the rest of Fr. Johansen's post on the beginnings of his liturgical studies at Mundelein, see his blog, Thrown Back.
