How are you called to serve?

Whether you are retooling for a career you already have, are working toward a future desired position, or are trying to put theological language and understanding to your life experiences, looking toward what God is calling you to next, we can help you reach your goals. Our job is to educate and prepare men and women like you, to be an effective leader through our formation and theological education.

Meet three of our current students --

Darius Villalobos, Darcy Hidek, and Dr. Roger Klauer. Perhaps their journey will help you as you discern graduate-level theological education.

Darius Villalobos felt called to ministry as a vocation and as a career. Having graduated from DePaul University’s Catholic Studies Program, Darius was encouraged by his professors and friends to pursue a graduate-level degree at Catholic Theological Union while also working as the Vicariate II Coordinator of Youth Ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago.

In his role as a Coordinator of Youth Ministry, Darius works with youth ministers and campus ministers at Catholic High Schools. He has discovered that his studies at CTU have provided the ability for his ministry to be in dialogue with his studies.  He is able to “translate the bigger ideas practically.”

“CTU is one of the best and unique experiences. The diversity of the students and professors is incredible. You are able to learn theology while at the same time gaining practical experience of doing ministry.”

Darius is about half-way through his studies toward his a Master of Divinity degree. He notes that the only way he is able to do both is because of the full scholarship he receives as an Oscar Romero Scholar – a program that provides full-tuition scholarships to Hispanic Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Darcy Hidek feels called to serve as a Director of Religious Education in a parish one day. In college Darcy studied Elementary Education and Theology. Having taught Sunday school since she was in high school, she realized that the best practices and methods of education are not always used in religious education. She felt called to grow in her knowledge and experiences to help pass on to children a faith that is grounded in Scripture and Tradition while also being experiential, life-giving, and justice-oriented.

Darcy who is from Pennsylvania and a 2009 graduate of Carlow University decided to pursue a graduate degree at CTU after having participated in a Catholics on Call Summer Conference. For Darcy, CTU offers a place where the classes seamlessly blend the pastoral with the academic, always keeping in mind that the two need to inform each other. A full-time student, Darcy has felt that the classes and community have both nourished and challenged her. In fact, last year, Darcy was stretched even more. She had the opportunity to participate in CTU’s Fall Biblical Studies Program, studying for ten weeks in the Holy Land. The experience opened new ways of understanding the Bible, Middle Eastern culture, God, and herself.

Darcy who loves teaching, continues to do so at St. Ambrose Parish.

Roger Klauer, M.D., has been practicing medicine for 32 years and continues to practice in South Bend, Indiana. Since 2008, he has been commuting twice a week to Hyde Park to pursue a graduate degree in theology at CTU.

As a physiatrist, Dr. Klauer works with patients with physical disabilities due to cancer, stroke, chronic pain, or other illnesses. Through physical therapy and rehabilitation services, his work is to help patients redefine and discover a new “normalcy."  Over the years, he has found himself talking to his patients about where God is in their illness and their healing. He has come to see his medical practice as a ministry.

In these conversations, several patients recognized his deep respect for theology, but it was one soft-spoken, kind, yet relentless patient who challenged him to seriously consider pursuit of graduate studies. She suggested Catholic Theological Union.

Dr. Klauer has found that he is able to apply what he learns at CTU almost immediately. Much of what he is learning validates what he has been doing over the years, but he now has the theological understanding and language to go with his life experience.

“Many people ask me ‘What are you going to do with this?’ And I don’t have a clear handle on God's answer. God is calling and this is what I am supposed to be doing right Now.  "Fear of the Lord" is what I experience by letting God be the driver.  You never quite get comfortable giving up the reigns or the reins.”