The St. Charles of Brazil Institute
A Quick Look at CACINA’s In-House Learning Center
The St. Charles of Brazil Institute is an educational project whose principal purpose is the academic training of women and men for effective sacramental and pastoral service in the ordained ministry of The Catholic Apostolic Church in North America (CACINA).
The majority of CACINA clergy are comprised of two demographic groups: 1) former Roman Catholic clerics, religious, and seminarians who voluntarily separated from that communion and subsequently associated with CACINA; and 2) ministry professionals from other Christian communions who discerned a vocation to sacramental ministry in the Catholic faith tradition. Accordingly, many CACINA clergy have exposure to graduate theological study, while others hold one or more advanced degrees in a theological discipline.
Persons with little or no exposure to formal theological inquiry may avail themselves of the St. Charles of Brazil Institute as their primary source of theological formation.
The Institute, in partnership with Notre Dame University’s McGrath Institute for Church Life, utilizes a distance learning format in its educational style, and administers a curriculum that addresses core competencies for aspiring ministry professionals who seek to ground their practice of intentional spiritual care in the Catholic intellectual tradition.
https://mcgrath.nd.edu/online-courses/
The curriculum is comprised of fifteen (15) courses and one (1) symposium:
Old Testament *
New Testament *
Foundations of Catholic Belief *
Sacramental Theology *
Moral Theology/Christian Ethics *
The Mass *
Liturgy *
Homiletics *
Pastoral Care *
Church History I
Church History II
Christology
Ecclesiology
Liberation Theology **
History Of Independent Catholicism: Costa & CACINA *,**
Symposium on CACINA's Canons and Constitution (single session)*,**
(* denotes courses suggested before ordination to the transitional diaconate)
(** denotes courses reserved to the St. Charles of Brazil Institute)
For seminarians with no prior exposure to theological study, the entire fifteen course curriculum can reasonably be completed within two years of continuous part-time enrollment. Seminarians may also elect to supplement their required ordination curriculum with additional courses in pursuit of Notre Dame’s “Certificate in Catholic Theology”. In such cases, the seminarian should inform the director of the St. Charles of Brazil Institute of their intention to enter the certificate track at the outset of their theological study. The director will work with the seminarian to tailor and schedule their studies to fulfill the requirements for both the certificate and ordination within CACINA.
Courses offered through Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life carry a registration fee of $99 per course, all of which is paid to Notre Dame. Certificate track study entails an additional one-time expense of $299, paid to Notre Dame. Courses reserved to the St. Charles of Brazil Institute are offered without cost.
Although The Institute exists principally to address the educational needs of aspiring ministry professionals who may have had little or no exposure to formal theological inquiry, it also functions to review and evaluate the academic credentials of aspirants who already hold one or more degrees in a theological discipline, with a view towards addressing any deficiencies in core areas through the assignment of an amended course of study drawn from select courses identified in the curriculum.
The Institute also administers and evaluates the CACINA General Ordination Examination.
For those persons who have discerned a vocation to the permanent diaconate, an amended course of study will be determined by the director of the St. Charles of Brazil Institute, in concert with CACINA’s vocations director and the local bishop.
The Institute is overseen by a director who reports to the Church’s College of Bishops.