Catholic theology (English)

The Tilburg School of Catholic Theology (TST) has been a Tilburg University Faculty since 2007. As a vocational program recognized by the Church and the only ecclesiastically recognized theological faculty in the Netherlands, it has a separate status within the University. The current TST is the upshot of a number of drastic developments in theology and the Church that took place in the second half of the previous century. Traditionally, each diocese had its own major seminary to prepare candidates for the Roman Catholic priesthood, as did religious orders and congregations. By the end of the sixties, all these institutes were merged into four Catholic Institutions for Scientific Theological Education (called Kiwtos) in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Heerlen. Just like the Faculty of Theology at Radboud University, founded in 1923, these were government-funded institutions.

Secularization

When, by the end of the previous century, advancing secularization made it untenable to maintain five Catholic theological institutions, a new merger took place in 1991, causing the Kiwtos of Amsterdam and Utrecht to merge and the Nijmegen Faculty of Theology with the Heerlen Kiwto. The Tilburg Faculty of Theology was not involved in the merger. In 2004, in response to dwindling student numbers, the national government insisted on further concentration. The Bishop’s Conference, supported by Rome, intended to use these circumstances to establish a single Faculty, recognized by the Church and to be located in Utrecht. The programs themselves were much in favor of being formally incorporated into a Catholic university. The negotiations were highly complex. To be recognized by the Church, the study programs and the statutes were to be revised, and all teaching staff of the prospective Faculty were to be screened for their orthodoxy, a process that was experienced as painful by many. The entire administrative, technical and financial management of both these institutions was also to be transferred to the University.

Merger processes

The Faculty of Theology at Radboud University then decided to pull out of the merger process as they had no faith in the scientific independence of the prospective Faculty, and their recognition as an ecclesiastical vocational program was then suspended. Two years after that, in 2006, the theological institutions of Tilburg and Utrecht were integrated into Tilburg University, giving rise to the TST as a Faculty recognized by the Church, in charge of ecclesiastical vocational programs and of theological studies, and the Department of Religious Studies and Theology, which was in charge of non-ecclesiastical study programs and research in theology and religious studies. Due to its very low student intake, this Department was dissolved a few years later. Since its establishment, the TST has had a stable intake of 40-50 students and an output of five PhD graduates a year. The TST Faculty has two locations: one in the Utrecht city center and one on the Tilburg campus. It offers a three-year Bachelor’s program in Theology (in Dutch and English), followed by a three-year Master’s program preparing students for professions in pastoral care (in parishes but also in hospitals, care homes, the army and the prison system) or for teaching professions (a two-year program). The TST, finally, also offers a one-year Master’s program in Christianity and Society.

Two programs

The TST’s theological research has been grouped into two programs, one with a historical perspective and the other exploring the current position of religion and the Church. Several research institutes, allied to the TST, examine the early Church, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, Jewish-Christian relations, ecumenism, Franciscan spirituality and judicial pastoral care. The TST also accommodates a center for post-initial education, offering courses to wider audiences.