Graduate Certificate in the Sanctity of Life

Graduate Certificate in the Sanctity of Life (GCSL)

“Thus the deepest element of God's commandment to protect human life is the requirement to show reverence and love for every person and the life of every person” – Pope St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 41

“Loving another person involves the joy of contemplating and appreciating their innate beauty and sacredness” – Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitiae, 127

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Gospel of life. Through his ministry and his redemptive sacrifice, Jesus reveals the great truth that our lives have an unimaginable and inestimable dignity. This tremendous act of love is an invitation into the eternal life of Trinitarian communion; it expresses the desire in the heart of the Father to be with us forever, so that we might “have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

This Graduate Certificate in the Sanctity of Life offers an integrated approach to the gift of human life, with a focus on:

1. The origin of human life in the sanctity of God, as well as the high calling of human life to eternal communion with God
2. The moral demands and challenges that accompany “the primacy of the human person and the defense of his or her dignity beyond every circumstance” (Pope Francis, Laudate Deum, 39)

This program strives to provide its students with an introduction to the Catholic Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. As an integrated course of study, it offers an interdisciplinary overview of issues across the spectrum of human life and death, providing a competency in engagement that will serve the person in a variety of contexts.

The GCSL is well-designed to play a crucial role in the context of advocacy, schools and universities, as well as faith communities. School teachers, campus ministers, lawyers, employees of advocacy organizations, catechists, as well as parish and diocesan employees/leaders, are well served by this Graduate Certificate.

The GCSL is comprised of five courses (15 credit hours) and can be attended live from anywhere in the country or the world, or can also be attended asynchronously (for those in difficult time zones or who have conflicting work schedules).

The 3 required courses are:

• C217 – Fundamental Moral Theology
• C/D329 – The Gospel of Life: Life Issues and Contemporary Challenges
• B/C310 – Catholic Social Teaching

There is flexibility concerning the 2 approved elective requirement; any of the following courses could serve as the electives, though other courses may full the requirement as well (subject to the approval of the Program Director):

• C/D331 – Contemplation and Cultivation: Towards an Integral Ecology
• C/D365 – Theology of the Body: Sexuality and the Sacred
• CP661 – Philosophical Ethics
• C/D333 – Catholic Bioethics at the Beginning of Life
  • C/D334 – Catholic Bioethics at the End of Life