Nine advanced degrees from Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology and certificates of completion for five Borromeo Seminary students were awarded during the annual commencement exercises on May 10 in the Aula Magna at the Center for Pastoral Leadership in Wickliffe. Saint Mary?s was founded by Bishop Amadeus Rappe in 1848, a year after the diocese was established.
Doctor of ministry degrees were awarded to Marianne Ivany, David S. Kushner and Marie J. Kushner. The Kushners are the first husband and wife to earn the doctor of ministry degree from Saint Mary?s and David Kushner is the first diocesan permanent deacon in the Diocese of Cleveland to earn the degree. He heads the permanent diaconate formation program.
Ivany?s colloquium was ?The Judaic Background of Christianity in the Story of Salvation History: A Study of the Old Testament for Catholics.?
David Kushner?s colloquium was ?The Development of a Field Education Program for the Permanent Diaconate Formation Office of the Diocese of Cleveland? and Marie Kushner?s topic was ?Toward a Theology of Efficiency: Administrative Practices and Procedures in the Parishes of the Diocese of Cleveland.?
Master of divinity degrees were awarded to Deacon Matthew Michael Cortnik, Deacon Michael John Feldtz and Deacon Armando Emmanuel Padilla Contreras. Deacons Cortnik and Feldtz will be ordained to the priesthood on May 19; Deacon Contreras will be ordained at his home parish in Mexico in the fall.
Master of Arts in theology degrees were awarded to Deacon Cortnik, Mary Kathleen O?Neill and Mary P. von Carlowitz.
Deacon Richard Joseph Samide, who also will be ordained on May 19, earned his two master?s degrees last year.
Borromeo seminarians Riley Joseph Arnemann, David Theodore Chojnacki, Dominic Francis Gideon, Christopher Daniel Stein and Michael Scott Viator received certificates of completion for requirements in philosophy and religious studies as set forth in the program of priestly formation and will graduate from John Carroll University on May 20.
Arnemann, Stein and Viator also received a certificate of completion for the requirements of the religious studies major or minor from JCU.
Bishop Nelson Perez, Saint Mary?s chancellor, and Father Mark Latcovich, president-rector, officiated at the ceremony which included a greeting, opening prayer, reading, responsorial psalm and a Gospel reading, with a solemn blessing at the conclusion. Faculty member Father Joseph Koopman, associate professor of moral theology, carried the school mace and led the procession into and out of the aula.
The Rev. Daniel Aleshire gave those attending the ceremony an interesting perspective on dress and ministry during his commencement address. Rev. Aleshire, who retired last year as executive director of The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, spoke on ?Getting Dressed for Ministry.?
He quoted two Scripture pieces, one in which Jesus tells his disciples to proclaim the good news, to ?cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.?
