Bachelor of Arts Program

About this programme

The normal academic requirement for admission to the Faculty of Arts is graduation from Grade 12 on a university entrance program. A student who does not have this standing and who, after being out of school for a number of years, wishes to become a priest, may apply as a mature student. Each application will be considered on its own merits. Lower-division courses are numbered in the 100s and 200s and provide a foundation in the humanities during the first and second year. Upper-division courses are numbered in the 300s and above and lead to the Bachelor of Arts degree. Courses are evaluated for credit in terms of semester hours. The number of semester hours is indicated immediately after the course number: thus PHIL 200 (3) INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY is a 3-semester-hour course. This is equivalent to 3 lectures per week during one semester. The academic year consists of a fall semester (September-December) and a spring semester (January-April). The Seminary’s four-year BA program focuses on subjects within the Humanities which have special relevance for the study of Theology. The Code of Canon Law (Canon 250) requires two full years devoted to philosophical disciplines, while the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in its Program of Priestly Formation specifies metaphysics, epistemology, anthropology, natural theology, ethics, logic, the history of philosophy and a thorough treatment of the philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas. Furthermore, Vatican II’s Optatam Totius (n. 13) presupposes that seminarians have a “literary and scientific education”, including the study of