The Lasting Impact of an Alumna’s Studies

It’s been eight years since Teresa Hartnett, the Director of the Family Ministry Office at the Diocese of Hamilton, obtained her Master of Religious Education from St. Augustine’s, but she says she still regularly draws on what she learned at the Seminary.  

“While working for the Diocese of Hamilton, I feel it is important to have a Master’s Degree for the work I undertake,” she says. “I give a lot of retreats, a lot of talks, in my work. I use the information I learned at St. Augustine’s all the time. I still have my books and my notes. I still sometimes pull them out!”

 She uses a course she took on globalization as an example.

 “I’m doing some work in the Diocese on Pope Francis’ recent Encyclical Fratelli tutti (on Fraternity and Social Friendship). The course I took on globalization many years ago opened my eyes to everything that Pope Francis writes about in the Encyclical today.”

 Hartnett is a self-professed life-long learner. Despite that, she says it was still a bit of a daunting decision to return to school while holding a full-time job and raising a family.

 She liked the fact that St. Augustine’s made it so easy for her to pursue her degree on a part-time basis – not just logistically but from an emotionally supportive basis as well. It’s a point that is not lost on her in recommending St. Augustine’s to others who ask her about deepening their knowledge of the faith in an orthodox environment.

 “I refer a lot of people who call and ask me about furthering their studies,” she says. “I find sometimes people are afraid to study at the level that St. Augustine’s offers. But when you get there, you realize how wrong you were to be afraid because the professors work with you. The courses are designed to help people who are working full-time so you don’t feel overburdened.”

 Hartnett says her degree from St. Augustine’s has helped her in numerous facets in working within the Church. She credits her degree with helping her earn a part-time professor position at St. Peter’s Seminary in London, ON. She is also Director at the Hamilton chapter of Birthright.

 As a lay disciple working within the Church, Hartnett says her education at the Seminary broadened her understanding that “we live in a reality, but we have an ideal that we are trying to help people toward.”

 “The reality of life for people is messy and the courses I took at the Seminary allowed me to understand the ideal. Because if we’re not drawing people toward the ideal, are we really helping them on their faith journey?”