strategic plan 2025
mission statement [ 2018 ]
The Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry (CSTM) is an international theological center that serves the Church’s mission in the world as part of a Catholic and Jesuit university. CSTM is committed to the Catholic theological tradition, which encompasses academic inquiry, interdisciplinary study, ecumenical dialogue, interreligious encounter, and the engagement of faith and culture.
CSTM prepares its students for leadership in lay and ordained ministries and for service rooted in faith—in increasingly multicultural contexts. Theological research and reflection, spirituality, and pastoral practice are integral to the School’s life and mission.
CSTM offers graduate programs, including civil and ecclesiastical degrees in theology and ministry, that integrate intellectual, spiritual, pastoral, and personal formation. Drawing on the Ignatian tradition and rich diversity of its students, faculty, and staff, CSTM fosters a community that is contemplative, critical, and collaborative. The CSTM reaches out to larger theological and ecclesial communities through scholarly research, timely publications, ministerial practice, and continuing education programs.
cstm values
Inspired by the vision and practice of Jesus Christ and rooted in its Catholic heritage, CSTM educates theological and ministerial leaders who embody these values:
∙ Forming Christian leaders for a variety of academic and ecclesial contexts and for faith-based service;
∙ Engaging in scholarship, critical thinking, and the practices of prayer and discernment;
∙ Forging collaborative communities of learning and worship;
∙ Making accessible the richness of the Jesuit and Catholic theological and spiritual traditions; and
∙ Fostering a welcoming and respectful attitude for all and seeking interreligious and ecumenical encounters.
Who are we?
The Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry (CSTM) traces its origins to 1922, when the Weston College of the Holy Spirit was founded in suburban Massachusetts to educate Jesuit scholastics. In 1968, in response to the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on ecumenism and lay leadership in the Church, it moved to Cambridge and became the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. With six other theological schools, we formed the Boston Theological Institute (BTI), a consortium of Catholic and Protestant institutions committed to interdenominational learning. Three years later, in 1971, on the campus of Boston College, the Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry (IREPM) was created as a pastoral arm of the University’s Theology Department with the mission of forming leaders (lay, religious, and clergy) for active ministry in the Church. In 2008, Weston Jesuit and the IREPM joined together on the Brighton Campus of Boston College to form a single new School of Theology and Ministry.
The 17 years since our founding as a new school have been years of remarkable growth—in enrollment, diversity of our student body, and academic standing. We have just under 400 students from a wide range of backgrounds. The demographics in fall 2024 point to a highly dynamic context:
∙ 32% international students; 68% students from the U.S.
∙ 56 different countries represented among alumni from last 10 years
∙ 50% male; 50% female
∙ 63% lay students; 37% religious, priests, seminarians
∙ 57 Jesuit students (15% of student body)
∙ 21–81 years old: age range of students
∙ 97% student placement within six months of graduation
Together with the Boston College Theology Department, we form the largest Catholic theology faculty in the United States, with over 70 professors. We consistently rank among the top three Catholic universities worldwide in divinity, theology, and religious studies. Globally, we are the only Jesuit school ranked in the top 25 of all such institutions.
Since 1968, the BTI has grown from seven to 10 schools and is now called the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium (BTIC), which includes Hebrew College and the Boston Islamic Seminary. Access to courses in other schools is a distinctive advantage to BTIC students, and cross registration remains high.
Academic collaboration between the CSTM and BC’s Theology Department is deep, and the department is especially distinguished in areas of particular interest to CSTM students: Theological Ethics, Comparative Theology, History of Christianity, Systematic Theology, and Biblical Studies. No place in the world has as many resources to prepare people for ministry in an increasingly ecumenical, interreligious, and intercultural world.
The capacity of our school to exercise leadership for the future of theological education and for ministry in the Church inspired a married couple to make a transformative gift of $25 million. The Gloria L. and Charles I. Clough School of Theology and Ministry is now named after a lay woman, who served as a hospital chaplain after completing her M.Div. in 1990 at Weston Jesuit, and her husband, a deacon, who has served in prison and parish ministry since his ordination in 1986. Recognizing the unique nature of the school as a vibrant, loving community where Jesuits, lay people, religious, and diocesan priests are formed side-by-side, the Cloughs have made a transformational gift.
Where are we going?
For over 100 years, the institution that has become the CSTM has adapted to changing times, new environments, and increasingly diverse populations of students. Its graduates serve the global Church in more geographical places and more complex situations than ever before. Some will work in places where Christianity is growing, others where religious affiliation is declining, and still others where the Church faces persecution. As always, the dynamic quality of faith and the evolving conditions where faith is lived out call us to deepen our commitment to the contextual nature of theology and to make appropriate adaptations as an institution.
What will not change, however, is our dedication to the Catholic theological tradition—understood as a long search for God—that forms persons and communities. We maintain our conviction that this tradition—understood as the ongoing engagement with the mystery of God—still speaks to and
engages our world, with its unique challenges, questions, and hopes. Bold new voices that have been steeped in this tradition are in high demand. We remain firm in our commitment to a pedagogical excellence that always seeks to create the best learning environment for our students. What will not change is our commitment to a theological excellence rooted in a particular ecclesial context (the Catholic Church) and with a direct institutional affiliation with a specific religious community (the Society of Jesus). Our rootedness enables our openness to new frontiers.
As a Jesuit, Catholic school, our values are explicitly inspired by the person, life, and vision of Jesus, whose call to “follow me” shapes our understanding of both theology and ministry. We are especially blessed by the resources of Ignatian spirituality to deepen that understanding, and we regard spirituality, the living practice of faith, as central to everything we do.
In 2018, a strategic plan was formulated that would guide the school’s activity for the next decade. The general direction of that plan has not changed, nor has the Mission Statement, the School’s Core Values, nor the twofold purpose of the school:
1. The formation of priests for the Society of Jesus and other orders;
2. The preparation of lay students, as well as religious men and women, for leadership in the Church, and academy.
Since 2018, however, much in the world and in the Church has changed. In these years, Pope Francis has encouraged continued discernment of where the Holy Spirit is now leading the Church. His call for a Synodal Church both inspires and challenges global ecclesial communities to listen and respond to each other with openness. Yet the capacity to listen—much less form a culture of dialogue—cannot be presumed. So many social, cultural, political, and economic realities have elicited new joys and hopes, new griefs and sources of anguish among the People of God.
The strength of the CSTM is that, in many ways, we are a microcosm of a global Church that finds itself in the midst of so many dynamic tensions. From this place, it is our challenge and our privilege to create a community where vocations are nurtured, where the call to priesthood is encouraged,
where leadership by lay and religious women and men is supported and empowered, where responsibility for the future of the Church is shared, and where all people find belonging and purpose in the service of faith and the promotion of justice.
The distinctive contribution of the CSTM lies in its capacity to integrate tradition and innovation in the pursuit of academic excellence. It provides a formative theological education that empowers people of diverse backgrounds and identities to engage and address the contemporary needs both of the global Church and of local communities. As a Jesuit school, we are especially committed to growing in our accompaniment of the poor and to forming people in the ministry of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, with special attention to developing the next generation of leaders in Christian (and particularly Ignatian) spirituality.
To advance in our mission, we have updated our strategic plan to guide us toward 2030. What follows is the fruit of discernment from August 2023 to December 2024, organized around four strategic directions:
I. advance theological education that connects tradition with innovation and roots academic excellence in the most pressing needs of the Church and world.
II. form leaders to be spiritually deep and learned humans who will build up, educate, and minister to communities in a wide range of places and cultures.
III. deepen commitments to local church communities that present specific opportunities for solidarity, learning, and promise for growth.
IV. elevate global vision of the church as central both to the Clough School of Theology and Ministry and to our mission, culture, and heritage as a Jesuit, Catholic international theological center.
STRATEGIC DIRECTION I
advance theological education that connects tradition with innovation and roots academic excellence in the most pressing needs of the Church and world.
As part of a Jesuit, Catholic university, the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry (CSTM) is committed to academic excellence in theological studies that serve the current and future needs of the global Church. Our efforts in teaching and scholarship aim at bringing Christian theology into conversation with contemporary issues, because an essential aspect of our mission is to educate both lay and ordained leaders for learned ministry in the Church. While maintaining our commitment to an intellectual tradition infused with principles of Ignatian spirituality, we will advance in a spirit of innovation and sensitivity to the needs of our times.
Between the CSTM and the Theology Department, Boston College has the largest Catholic theology faculty in the United States, with over 70 professors. It is consistently ranked among the top three Catholic universities in the world for theology, divinity, and religious studies. With partners such as the affiliate members of the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium, the Theology and Ministry Library, the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies (IAJS), and other vital centers and institutes, we are in a strong position to move forward in this strategic direction.
GOAL 1: Strengthen faculty’s capacity for advancing CSTM’s distinctive mission.
Faculty Chairs and Research Fellowships
∙ Focus fundraising efforts to increase the number of faculty chairs and research fellowships in order to attract and support the best scholars who bring the Catholic theological tradition to contemporary questions.
Development of Faculty as Formatores
∙ Support faculty members in identifying a clear vision and strategy to facilitate their success from the time of hire through to retirement.
∙ Communally reflect on the faculty’s role as formatores, with emphasis on Jesuit pedagogy, excellence in teaching, and facilitating student career discernment.
Intercultural Teaching and Learning
∙ Provide faculty with training in intercultural pedagogy and formative teaching evaluations to empower them to skillfully create and maintain global communities of learning.
∙ Pilot courses in Spanish.
∙ Strengthen programming for CSTM students interested in Hispanic ministry.
Interdisciplinary Theological Scholarship
∙ Develop a shared vision of theology that integrates distinctive concerns of the Catholic Theological Tradition with the signs of the times.
∙ Encourage collaboration with Theology Department, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, School of Social Work, and other Boston College academic units on matters of theological and ecclesial concern.
GOAL 2: Establish a center for Christian spirituality that draws deeply on Christian thought and practice, the Ignatian spiritual tradition, and our academic resources and expertise.
Spiritual Direction and Retreat Training
∙ Collaborate with IAJS and Center for Ignatian Spirituality to provide opportunities for training, incorporating these into pastoral formation requirements in degree programs.
Curriculum Integration
∙ Review each degree program for appropriate Spirituality Studies requirements as it comes up in the cycle of program reviews and assessments.
∙ Renew Certificates in Spirituality Studies, with a focus on how Ignatian spirituality can contribute to the professions.
GOAL 3: Promote a culture of innovation that understands/ responds to the current needs of the Church and our students.
Data at the Service of Mission
∙ Research current and emerging needs of the global Church and utilize this data in reviewing and developing academic programs.
Agile Academic Programs
∙ Develop and incentivize faculty to propose new courses that respond to changing realities of ministry and scholarship in the Church.
GOAL 4: Determine the appropriate scope of online learning/new modalities and build capacities in alignment with our mission, culture, and identity.
Online Education
∙ Strategically position CSTM within the landscape of online theological education, with a goal of 20–25% of seats being online by 2030 to better serve potential students far from Boston.
Collaboration among Jesuit Theological Centers
∙ Participate and provide leadership within the Collaborative Theology Initiative of the Society of Jesus, collaborating on academic programs, pedagogy, faculty and staff development, and capacity development.
STRATEGIC DIRECTION II
form leaders to be spiritually deep and learned humans who will build up, educate, and minister to communities in a wide range of places and cultures.
Commitment to integrated student formation is one of the most distinguishing features of the Clough School of Theology and Ministry (CSTM). By renewing and deepening that commitment, we will serve a worldwide Church in a time of dynamic change. Grounded in our Jesuit charism, the riches of Ignatian spirituality, and the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, we will foster new opportunities for intellectual, spiritual, and human growth and a deepening of pastoral sensitivity. Through these formative encounters, which acknowledge that our students come with many different experiences, identities, and hopes, CSTM will prepare graduates to lead communities in increasingly intercultural contexts.
Boston College has explicitly championed formative education as part of its vision, and its own strategic plan names formation as central to its institutional culture. In 2023, members of the CSTM faculty published a book on FormativeTheologicalEducation , which traces various aspects of this vision in a theological context. Given such institutional and intellectual resources, we are in a strong position to move forward in this strategic direction.
GOAL 1: Build capacity for collaboration among lay, religious, and ordained ministers that elicits and strengthens the distinctive gifts of each for the Church.
Culture of Synodal Leadership and Co-responsible Ministry
∙ Promote a model of ministry rooted in Jesus’ call to discipleship and humble service.
∙ Foster a vision of priesthood, Christian ministry, and faith-based service that reflects a spirit of communion, participation, and mission.
∙ Strengthen and expand existing collaborative formation opportunities for laity, religious, and clergy to hone skills for co-responsible leadership in a global, synodal Church.
Leadership and Management for Ministry
∙ Develop interdisciplinary offerings in collaboration with University schools and partners that better prepare ministers for leadership and organizational management.
∙ In academic and other formational contexts, promote the development of intercultural competency and other skills necessary for effective organizational leadership.
GOAL 2: Establish CSTM as a foremost Catholic theological center for comprehensive lay student formation, enabling its alumni to live out their call to leadership in multiple arenas.
Lay Formation Plan
∙ Build on existing lay spiritual and human programs to create a new CSTM Comprehensive Plan for Lay Formation.
∙ Promote the distinctive spiritual practices, dispositions, and spiritualities that nurture, support, and sustain lay ministry and other forms of faith-based service.
∙ Support and empower women in ecclesial ministry, incorporating insights from recent synods.
Residential Formation Communities
∙ Pilot and assess CSTM Formation House.
∙ Explore possibilities for future communities to facilitate integration of theological study with prayer, community, and discipleship, including around the theme of Latino/Hispanic Church in the United States.
Ongoing Alumni Formation
∙ In collaboration with Continuing Education, develop ongoing formation offerings geared toward alumni and practicing ministers and people engaged in faith-based service.
GOAL 3: Establish CSTM as a center for the training of formation personnel for seminaries, religious communities (including Jesuits), and other institutes of consecrated life.
Discernment of Needs
∙ Meet the leaders of select communities to explore what kinds of skills, dispositions, and capacities they seek in those entrusted with formation, given their context and distinctive mission.
Program Development
∙ Adapt academic and spiritual programming that aligns to the particular goals of communities.
∙ Create degree, certificate, or non-degree pathways, in person and online, for present and future formation personnel for various communities.
GOAL 4: Deepen communal worship, increase opportunities for experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, and foster key practices of Christian spirituality.
Liturgical Life
∙ Root community formation in the liturgical life of the school.
Access to Retreats and Spiritual Direction
∙ Identify and secure additional funding to ensure M.Div. and M.A.T.M. students have more access to eight-day retreats, spiritual direction, and other spirituality resources.
STRATEGIC DIRECTION III
deepen commitments to local church communities that present specific opportunities for solidarity, learning, and promise for growth.
As a school that prepares people for various forms of ministry, the Clough School of Theology and Ministry (CSTM) regards experience with local parishes/communities (whether in the Archdiocese of Boston or in other parts of the world) and theological reflection in context as vitally important to our educational model. In the United States, a significant increase in the proportion of Hispanic Catholics, especially among younger cohorts, presents crucial opportunities for learning how to be Church in the twenty-first century. Given such a context, we will deepen partnerships with communities that offer specific possibilities for mutually beneficial progress toward the fulfillment of our missions.
In the last few years, CSTM has achieved significant growth in a number of key areas. With a $15 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, we have established Nuevo Momento, a capacity-building program for leaders of U.S. Hispanic Catholic organizations. Our programs in Continuing Education have reached out to tens of thousands of people eager for ongoing growth. We are in a strong position, therefore, to move in this strategic direction.
GOAL 1: Build on the work of Nuevo Momento in order to identify ways to support ministerial leaders in their own contexts.
Pathways to Degree Programs
∙ Through resources such as Continuing Education, create non-credit programs as a pathway for participants to engage in CSTM degree programs, moving participants from catechesis to theology.
∙ Pilot credit course on Ignatian spirituality offered in Spanish that would be attractive to those interested in exploring CSTM academic programs.
Master of Arts in Ministerial Leadership (M.A.M.L.)
∙ Expand enrollment for M.A.M.L. beyond members in Nuevo Momento partner organizations.
GOAL 2: Explore models for development of a center for Hispanic ministry in partnership with the 11 dioceses of Region 1 of the U.S. Catholic Church.
Region 1: Identification of Needs
∙ Coordinate meetings with members of CSTM community and Region 1 bishops to identify needs of Hispanic communities in each diocese.
Adaptive Design
∙ Develop in-person, online, and hybrid offerings to engage Hispanic communities.
∙ Partner with institutions to utilize a mobile team to provide programming in dioceses across the region.
∙ Develop retreat programming for Hispanic communities and those who aspire to work with them, including preached retreats that pair CSTM faculty members with preachers, to provide formation and discernment.
GOAL 3: Extend CSTM’s non-credit online outreach to individuals who minister in under-resourced communities across the nation and around the globe.
Partnerships with Select Local Churches
∙ Engage local churches in online and hybrid programming.
∙ Build capacity for collaborative leadership in parishes.
Multilingual Formation Program
∙ Create a multilingual formation program in Spanish, English, and Portuguese to engage pastoral leaders and members of the faithful.
∙ Collaborate with alumni to develop programs for other communities around the world.
∙ Design distinct tracks for practical and pastoral areas (e.g., Spirituality Studies, Parish Formation, Annulments, Bible Study Facilitation).
∙ Focus a track on developing leadership skills within distinct communities around the world.
GOAL 4: Collaborate with ecclesial communities in Boston and elsewhere on projects related to spirituality, religious education, immigration, and environmental justice.
Community-Engaged Learning
∙ Partner with local churches and other community organizations to develop opportunities for community-engaged learning.
Supervised Ministry Opportunities
∙ Create supervised ministry placements for both Jesuit and lay students who desire pastoral experience with Hispanic communities.
STRATEGIC DIRECTION IV
elevate global vision of the church as central both to the Clough School of Theology and Ministry and to our mission, culture, and heritage as a Jesuit, Catholic international theological center.
As the mission statement of the Clough School of Theology and Ministry (CSTM) makes clear, “We are an international theological center that serves the Church’s mission in the world.” A large part of both the student and faculty population comes from countries outside North America; students return to positions of significant leadership in their communities at home. As a result, the CSTM has a high impact on the global Church. Just as important, however, the international makeup of students, faculty, and alumni greatly benefits the formation of the whole school community. It makes for a rich learning environment, where we have a taste of what it means to be a People of God.
At this moment, the Society of Jesus itself is launching a new Collaborative Theology Initiative (CTI) that intends to form and sustain more robust working relationships among the Jesuit schools of theology throughout the world. It will better prepare students to contribute to theology as a work of the Society of Jesus and minister to the global Church of the twenty-first century. We are in a particularly strong position, therefore, to move forward in this strategic direction.
GOAL 1: Deepen CSTMʼs self-understanding as an international community in service to the global Church.
Global and Synodal Church
∙ Leverage the final document of the 2024 Synod, as well as other sources, to deepen understanding of the Church’s evangelizing mission in different parts of the world.
∙ Raise consciousness of the CSTM as a global community through encounters that increase awareness of ecclesial realities outside one’s own experience.
Immersive Encounters
∙ Develop courses that include opportunities for immersion to provide students with firsthand encounters with the global Church.
∙ Provide opportunities for faculty/staff to experience the realities of the global Church, especially in those countries from which international students come.
GOAL 2: Advance the Collaborative Theology Initiative of the Society of Jesus.
Mission and Vision of CTI
∙ Foster ongoing, sustainable, and deepening relationships with Jesuit theologates around the world in order to better prepare students to serve a global Church.
∙ Promote a way of doing theology that is more global in vision, even as it respects the particularity of individual contexts.
CTI Faculty and Curricular Development
∙ Support CTI’s efforts related to projects such as shared modules, syllabus exchanges, research collaboration and mentorship, and the development of courses co-taught by members of different faculties.
∙ Share and mutually support best practices in pedagogy in intercultural contexts, including the exploration of online platforms across the CTI as well as faculty seminars on global, contextual, and transdisciplinary theology.
GOAL 3: Leverage networks to enhance CSTM’s capacity for global collaboration in select mission-driven initiatives.
International Student Recruitment
∙ Recruit international students who are both well equipped for graduate studies and committed to serving the global Church through their local contexts.
∙ Increase financial resources for international students to ensure that access to CSTM education is available to clerical, religious, and lay applicants.
Alumni Network
∙ Develop a global alumni advisory group to provide input to CSTM leadership regarding recruitment and collaboration in service to the global Church.
∙ Partner with alumni on international immersion opportunities for both students and faculty/administrators.
Collaboration with Jesuit Organizations
∙ Partner with Jesuit apostolates such as the Jesuit Refugee Service in promotion of the Universal Apostolic Preferences.
∙ Work with Boston College units, such as the Ricci Institute and the Office of Global Engagement, to develop and implement strategies for greater global cooperation and experiences.
GOAL 4: Ensure CSTM academic and administrative structures are equipped to promote and integrate global connections and awareness as essential to the school’s mission.
International Student Accompaniment
∙ Increase support structures (such as student orientation, access to technology, academic and pastoral resources) for international students in ways that are attentive to cultural backgrounds and contexts.
∙ Equip academic advisors with best practices for advising students, especially international students, toward an integrated program of study.
Curricular and Pedagogical Renewal
∙ Ensure awareness of global realities are intrinsic to how CSTM understands diversity efforts, including environment, course approval and planning, and faculty development.
∙ Develop resources for pedagogical and interpersonal approaches that respond to the needs of a national and increasingly international student body.
