History of the Loyola Institute for Ministry
The Loyola Institute for Ministry is a department in the College of Social Sciences of Loyola University New Orleans. The University is one of 28 Jesuit institutions of higher learning in the United States. The university's rich history and its Jesuit influence date back to the early 18th century when the Jesuits first arrived among the earliest settlers in New Orleans and Louisiana. Loyola is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Loyola University New Orleans is located in the university section, a residential area of uptown New Orleans where Loyola and Tulane universities are next-door neighbors. Fronting on tree-lined St. Charles Avenue, where streetcars are the traditional mode of public transportation, Loyola's main campus faces Audubon Park directly across the avenue.
The Loyola Institute for Ministry began in 1968 as the Catechetical Institute of New Orleans at Notre Dame Seminary under the auspices of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. In 1978, the institute moved to nearby Loyola University and became a part of the university's program of graduate studies.
As the Catechetical and Pastoral Institute of Loyola (CPIL), the institute was widely recognized as an important ministry education center, one that was responding directly to the call by the Second Vatican Council for expanded participation by the laity in the church's ministry. Of the religious educators and pastoral ministers enrolled in CPIL's summer courses, some sought master's degrees in religious education or pastoral studies, while others pursued continuing education credit. In addition to its regularly scheduled summer offerings, the institute soon began to offer courses in the fall and spring semesters primarily for students who lived near enough to the university to attend classes at night or on weekends.
In 1981, in response to requests from other dioceses in the south, an initial Loyola ministry extension program model was designed. As a symbol of the widening scope of its mission and its educational outreach, in January of 1983 Loyola University’s Board of Trustees officially changed the institute’s name to the Loyola Institute for Ministry (LIM). That same year, the Loyola Institute for Ministry formally inaugurated its ministry education by extension model, calling it LIMEX - the Loyola Institute for Ministry Extension Program. Today, the extension program has fifty sponsoring agencies in the United States, Belize, Canada, England, and Scotland.
In May 1992, the Institute for Ministry inherited the ownership and mission of the Institute for Pastoral Life in Kansas City, Missouri (IPL). In 1993, these resources gave root to the Loyola Pastoral Life Center (LPLC), the continuing education entity of LIM. LPLC provides various continuing education opportunities, ministry studies programs, and spiritual enrichment for women and men involved in various aspects of the church's life and ministries. LPLC offers two certificate programs: its flagship certificate called the Specialized Certificate in Parish Life and Administration (which is offered in on-campus and extension formats), and a second, the Specialized Certificate in Christian Spirituality (which is currently offered only as an extension program).
In 1996, the Loyola Institute for Ministry Outreach Program (LIMO) was begun. Potential LIM students in the outlying regions of the greater New Orleans area have the opportunity to pursue an education for ministry through a new learning model. The LIM Outreach model is a dynamic blend of the rich offerings of the LIM on-campus courses with extension-style course work that can be completed in the student's local area.
In 2000, two new credential programs were developed at LIM – a Post Masters Certificate in Pastoral Studies and an Advanced Continuing Education Certificate -- thus enabling graduates of the Institute’s on-campus and extension programs to take additional focus area courses, after graduation, while at the same time earning another professional ministry credential. At the same time, LIM began to make many of its focus area courses regularly available as internet (online) course offerings. In 2002, a new Joint Degree Program -- the Master of Pastoral Studies plus a Master of Science in Counseling -- was begun in cooperation with the Department of Education and Counseling at Loyola.
In this new millennium, the church community is presented with many new opportunities and challenges. To persons who wish to address these demanding challenges, the Loyola Institute for Ministry continues its extensive efforts to offer a rigorous program of education for ministry. As has been the case since the beginnings of the institute in the 1960s, we invite collaborators to partake in the exciting venture of ministry education for today and tomorrow.