Summer online semester:
Course descriptions for the summer classes are available: http://online.bcs.edu/programs/course-descriptions/. Registration is also available now (http://online.bcs.edu/register/). The summer online semester will begin June 4th, 2018. However, something new this year: this will be an accelerated semester. That means, it will last seven weeks instead of the usual 14, with a lecture on Monday as well as Thursday each week. All work and grades will be finalized by the first week of August.
Revised credit load
The Seminary faculty approved a reduction in the credit load for the M.A.T. degree from the current 54 credits to 37. We have also added a fourth focus area, besides Dogma, Liturgy and Scripture, in Chaplaincy. This revised credit load applies to online as well as in-house students pursuing an M.A.T. degree. The updated 2018 Academic Catalog provides information on this (https://www.byzantinecs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/catalog_2018.pdf).
There is a new fifth focus area as well. However, the Ministerial Leadership focus is limited to men who are already deacons and have completed a deacon formation program. Any such individual who is looking to be admitted to this program must work through their vocation director as this is a formation program and not strictly academic. And, because it is a formation program, it is not an option for online students; it requires a two-year residency at the Seminary in Pittsburgh.
We hope these changes hearten those currently pursuing—as well as those considering–an M.A.T. degree with the Byzantine Catholic Seminary. Please feel free to emailonline@bcs.edu with any questions.