Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
Prerequisites
Nil
Incompatible
THMM508 - Theology as Leadership for Mission, THCP521 Theology as Leadership for Mission, THMM509 Theology for Mission and Ministry ,
Teaching organisation
This unit involves 150 hours of study time. The total includes formally structured learning activities such as scheduled online sessions, face-to-face learning opportunities, and asynchronous online learning. The remaining hours involve reading, research, and other preparatory tasks for assessment such as consultations with the lecturer-in-charge.
Unit rationale, description and aim
Leadership for mission requires a critical understanding of contemporary Catholic theology and practice in relation to mission in and for the world. Leaders of mission require a sophisticated grasp of mission concepts and Catholic social teaching together with familiarity with approaches to practical theology.
This unit provides foundational knowledge of Catholic theology in relation to mission and a framework for the four units that make up the Leadership for Mission specialisation within the Graduate Certificate in Theological Studies. The focus is on outward movement answering God’s “call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel” (EG n 20).
In this unit participants will explore contemporary mission theology and Catholic Social Teaching, which addresses the social dimension of mission together with their implications for women’s leadership in the Church and society..
Participants will reflect on mission concepts such as witness and proclamation, encounter and dialogue, inculturation, and reconciliation as well as the sources, and key concepts of Catholic social teaching.
The aim of this unit is to introduce and model the Pastoral Spiral method as an approach to practical theology and a tool for leading participation in God’s mission for the transformation of the world.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description |
|---|---|
| LO1 | Articulate an understanding of mission in contemporary Catholic theology, including the social dimension of mission expressed in Catholic Social Teaching |
| LO2 | Apply the Pastoral Spiral method to addressing a challenge for the exercise of leadership for mission in contemporary times drawing on key sources, concepts, and themes of Catholic Social Teaching. |
| LO3 | Demonstrate the capacity to engage in encounter and dialogue as dimensions of leadership for mission in the participant’s context. |
Content
Topics will include:
- Our baptismal invitation to participate in the mission of God
- The mission of the Church in and for the world as the People of God
- Defining and understanding Catholic Social Teaching and Catholic social thought and practice
- Sources and key concepts of modern Catholic Social Teaching
- The Pastoral Spiral method as practical theology, reading the ‘signs of the times’, and social discernment, in leadership for mission
- Women modelling encounter and dialogue
- Witness and proclamation by women
- First Nations women, inculturation and reconciliation
- Women interpreting integral ecology as a new dimension of mission
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit involves 150 hours of study time. The purpose of the teaching approaches used in this unit is to scaffold a progressive sequence of learning activity which progressively supports students’ learning. This is achieved by combining together activities such as scheduled online sessions, face to face learning opportunities, and asynchronous online learning. The remaining hours involve reading, research, and other preparatory tasks for assessment such as consultations with the lecturer-in-charge.the unit is offered in multi-mode. Participants will form a learning community that will reflect critically on experience in dialogue with scholarship, faith sources, and one another through interactive sessions that support the achievement of the learning outcomes.
The unit utilises this strategy because it specifically offers a model of adult-learning that recognises, supports and respects the experience and knowledge that participants bring to this unit. This strategy aims at facilitating participants' appropriation of unit content in relation to their own learning needs and personal growth. As a result, this strategy generates readiness for personal engagement and meaningful impact in leadership for the social dimension of mission.
Assessment strategy and rationale
In order to pass this unit, students are required to attempt all assessment tasks and to achieve an overall grade of Pass (50% or higher) including a grade of Pass in assessment task 3.
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to allow participants to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome.
The assessment tasks for this unit have been selected and sequenced to support a progressive development of knowledge, understanding and skill aligned with achievement of the unit's learning outcomes - which are also logically ordered to match the learning progression. In addition, the tasks themselves have been selected to take account of the prevailing context of the students most likely to be studying this unit. Thus, Assessment Task 1 requires participants to pass a quiz on key concepts from contemporary mission theology and Catholic Social Teaching. The task demonstrates the achievement of Learning Outcome 1 and helps to establish evidence of acquisition of the knowledge to be applied and critically engaged in Learning Outcome 2
Task 2 requires participants to write an essay on a contemporary challenge to the exercise of missionary leadership in the Church and in the world applying the Pastoral Spiral method. The task requires the use of research, critical thinking, and writing skills to demonstrate achievement of Learning Outcome 2
Task 3 requires participants to creatively present their learning about leadership for mission gained from encounter and dialogue with other participants during the unit while also integrating relevant material from the unit. The task will establish evidence of achievement of Learning Outcome 3.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Quiz For example: Multiple choice questions that provide an opportunity to demonstrate acquisition of the knowledge to be applied in the written and creative tasks. | 20% | LO1, LO2 |
Written Task (1500 words) For example: Essay engaging a challenge for the exercise of leadership in contemporary times using the Pastoral Spiral as well as key sources and themes of CST. | 40% | LO2 |
Creative Task (10 minutes) Video, PowerPoint Presentation, or series of forum posts demonstrating learning about leadership for mission gained from encounter and dialogue with other participants and integrating relevant content from the unit itself. | 40% | LO1, LO3 |
Representative texts and references
Bevans, Stephen B. “Unraveling a ‘Complex Reality’: Six Elements of Mission.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 27, no. 2 (2003): 50–53. doi:10.1177/239693930302700201.
Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane and the Office for Justice, Ecology and Peace of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Signs of Our Times project www.signstimes.net
Cimperman, Maria. Social Analysis for the 21st Century (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 2015).
Sandie Cornish, Kathleen Rushton, Elissa Roper, Donato Kivi, Clement Papa. Formation for Mission (Theological reflection for the Assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania, Suva, 2023) https://youtu.be/PgQ-7Xk1NCk
Becoming a More Synodal Church (Theological reflection for the Assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania, Suva, 2023) https://youtu.be/ZOyf700yJko
Care for the Oceans (Theological reflection for the Assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania, Suva, 2023) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiFECb0f_B0
Gregory, William P. “Pope Francis’ Theology of Mission.” International review of mission 111, no. 2 (2022): 322–351.
Massaro, Thomas. Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015).
Pope Francis. Evangelii Gaudium: Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World. Available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html
Wijsen, Frans, Peter Henriot and Rodrigo Mejia, eds. The Pastoral Circle Revisited: A Critical Quest for Truth and Transformation (New York: Orbis Books, 2005).