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JReducation
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It is not required in the USA. That is up to each diocesan seminary. Secular seminarians in the USA have been exempt from this requirement since the 1970s. This was an exemption granted by Pope John Paul II. There was a reason for this. At the time, many religious orders were sending their men to diocesan seminaries for their degrees, because it was less expensive. The seminaries were requiring Latin. The Major Superiors wanted to use those credits for courses related to their religious charism. They asked the seminary administration to wave the Latin requirements for graduation for the religious who were enrolled. The administrators did.
Many of our seminaries in the USA are regional, not diocesan, they train men from more than one diocese and sometimes religious orders and religious congregations as well. Since the exeption was being made for the religious, some bishops began to ask for the same accommodation for their respective students. Eventually, the seminaries applied for the exemption for all of their students and it was granted. This made it easier for the seminaries, because they did not have to create two programs of study, one for the religious and one for the secular. It also reduced the cost by consolidating, instead of having multiple courses runing simultaneously.
Another concern that the bishops presented to the Holy See was the issue of bilingualism in the USA. There was a growing need to teach Spanish to our secular seminarians, due to the large number of Spanish-speaking Catholics. The Vatican saw that this was a priority for the USA. Pope John Paul agreed that the pastoral benefit of Spanish outweighed the benefit of Latin. Latin may be offered and is offered in some seminaries. But it is rarely a graduation requirement.
There was another consideration and that was the degree track. In the USA very few priests and deacons get theology degrees. Most get Divnity Degrees. An M.Div can best be described as a pastoral degree in applied theology, whereas the M.A. in Theology is not pastoral at all. It is a research degree or what we call an academic degree. Those students who are going for the MA do have to study ancient languages, because of the research involved.
When I went through, from 1969 to 1980, I went for the MA, STL and STD. We had to study ancient languages. But those degrees are research degrees, not pastoral. For example, my area was Mystical and Ascetical Theology. You do a great deal of reading of ancient texts that are written in Latin and Greek, as well as European languages. My particular area was Franciscan and Carmelite theology. Therefore, we had to study Latin, Greek, Spanish and Italian. But my peers who were going for the M.Div were not majoring in such a field. They were taking general knowledge courses in theology, with a major in a pastoral area: moral theology, pastoral counseling, spirituality, scripture, catechesis, ministry, or religious education. They did not need the ancient languages for these majors. This material has all been translated into European languages. They could study it in English. Latin is not forbidden. It simply is not a universal requirement in the USA, South America or Italy. I don’t know about other countries. I went to school in the USA, then South America and finally Rome. I know that the diocese of Rome did not require it in the 1970s. I have no idea if it does today.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
