Graduates for the Church and World

In Service of the Church and World

This past December, the School of Theology and Seminary graduated the next group of co-workers in the vineyard.  

 

RICHARD MIGODELA

Master of Theological Studies—Monastic Studies

What brought you to Saint John’s Graduate School of Theology and Seminary?

There is a Swahili poem which literary I would translate as “Education is an Ocean”, meaning education has no end. This is because when you look at the ocean, you do not see its end. Being in pastoral work for twelve years after my ordination, I found that I needed further knowledge on Theology and especially in monastic life. I knew Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary would be a best place for me to seek more understanding.

 

How will you be spending your time once your coursework is complete?

After my completion of my coursework here at the School of Theology and Seminary, I expect to spend my time imparting the knowledge I have acquired here to my monastic community and especially to the new comers in monastic life. I will first be traveling to Oregon to spend several months working with a monastery there, then returning home to Tanzania to celebrate my 25^th Jubilee of service to the church in summer 2020.

 

What are your future goals/plans?

My future plan is to go further in monastic studies with the plan of reshaping monastic life in my community with the experience I’ve gained here at the SOT/Sem.

 

One hope for how you will use your degree and SOT/Sem experience.

I hope to use the experience I acquired here at SOT/Sem to impart the Benedictine spirituality to the local people around my monastery and other places. The people who live near the monastery have not been much influenced by Benedictine spirituality, with even less impact on those who are farther away. My goal can be met by sharing this knowledge with the students at different schools which are run by our Monastery.

 

 

JANICE KRISTANTI

Master of Divinity

What brought you to Saint John’s Graduate School of Theology and Seminary?

I always start with the fact that the SOT/Sem found me. After I graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with B.A. psychology, I spent one year working with children with autism in Minneapolis. Throughout that year, the questions around God, Christian faith, and the understanding of the human person kept coming back to me. I was a student minister throughout my senior year at the U of MN, so I had assumed that those questions occurred because of my ministry - nothing more. As I went down the path of a psychology career, I found that psychology did not provide me with deeper answers to those questions. Consequently, I began seeking answers in theology. It was a beginning step towards faith seeking understanding.

I found that I received so much joy in learning about faith from books and lectures. The knowledge I gained was so liberating, and I wanted to study more. My spiritual director at the Newman Center Minneapolis eventually asked me a question, “What is your dream for the next year?” I explicitly said that I wanted to go to theology school, but worried about the finances and the fact that I did not have any theology background. He told me, “Just let God open and close the door for you.” I learned later that ten minutes after I had left, a recruiter from Saint John’s Graduate School of Theology and Seminary visited my spiritual director and gave him a brochure about the SOT/Sem, explaining the school was looking for a student/parishioner to apply to the program, which also offered a good scholarship. My spiritual director gave it to me and indicated, “This is the answer.” I applied, got accepted, and am now graduating with an M.Div. degree.

 

How will you be spending your time once your coursework is complete?

I’ll be spending my time studying and writing because I am continuing a second Masters program in Theology Studies here at the SOT/Sem. My research interests include Christian anthropology and inculturation, particularly in the context of Asia. I am excited to see where my research and learning will take me.

 

What are your future goals/plans?

I aspire to be a theologian who also is a college instructor. I am preparing my future doctorate applications as I venture on the road of the Th.M. graduate courses.

 

One hope for how you will use your degree and SOT/Sem experience.

“Ora et labora” (translates to “pray and labor”) is always at the heart of my theology. There is no theology without prayer. I hope to keep contributing to the SOT/Sem community of learners through my presence and academic works.