Requirements Disclaimer:
This is an online program and international students cannot maintain or obtain F-1 student visa or status or I-20 form through this program.
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“I'm happy to endorse this Institute for the study of Saint John Paul II, at a time when his message concerning the dignity of the person, rooted in the redemption of Christ, is more needed than ever. Throughout his work we find a depth of faith and the vigor of reason in a perfect combination for a full and authentic education. The Saint John Paul II Institute at the University of St Thomas in Houston, Texas, promises a great opportunity for such an education.”
Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
Archbishop of Philadelphia
“The thought of Pope St. John Paul II is a great gift to the Church throughout the world. So is the St. John Paul II Institute at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. The Institute's work will help ensure that John Paul II's penetrating insights into the human condition reach the broad audience they deserve.”
George Weigel
Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Saint John Paul II developed a profound vision of the dignity of the human person in relation to others and ultimately to God. He brought this vision to the world stage where he inspired and guided the Catholic Church. He traveled around the globe to influence political leaders and lead social movements promoting the dignity of the human person and to respect freedom of conscience and religion. His signature phrases, such as “Be not afraid,” and “Love is stronger than death”, changed the hearts and minds of believers and non‐believers.
Learn about the different qualities that made Saint John Paul II special:
"I send you greetings in the name of beauty, which is the profile of God, the cause of Christ, and the cause of Poland.” (John Paul II, 1941.)
A collection of poetry by Pope John Paul II’s work from 1939 – 1978 can be read in The Place Within: The Poetry of Pope John Paul II.
In his poetry, one can discover symbolic images and objects that appear constantly and carry on the central ideas of his worldview. Examples of such central themes, which organize deep human experience into the material of linguistic signs, include:
"When I think of the Eucharist, and look at my life as a priest, as a bishop, and as the successor of Peter, I naturally recall the many times and places in which I was able to celebrate it."
"This gives me a powerful experience of its universal and cosmic character. Yes, cosmic! when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world."
Poland is home to:
While there are a million things that make Poland such an amazing country, here are four categories that highlight what separates Poland from anywhere else in the world:
Polish saints include:
Two great Polish writers who were influential in the life of St. John Paul II: Adam Mickiewicz, 1798-1855 and Cyprian Norwid, 1821-1883
Two great Polish musicians
Frédéric Chopin, 1810-1849 and Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1860-1945, President of Free Poland
Poland is known for its amazing landscapes and beautiful cities.
Professor of Philosophy and Director of John Paul Studies at the University of St Thomas, Houston; teaches JPII 5300 Redemptor Hominis and the Witness of St John Paul II, and he conducts the pilgrimage to Poland.
Father Ryan Connors is a priest of the Diocese of Providence. He holds a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and currently serves as Professor of Moral Theology at St. John's Seminary in Boston and adjunct Professor at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, MA. His essays and reviews have appeared in Nova et Vetera, Angelicum, Studia Moralia, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly and, most recently, he is the author of Virtue’s Wisdom: A Remedy for Cooperation with Evil (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, forthcoming).
Professor of Theology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, Michigan; teaches JPII 5308 Sources of Renewal and Vatican II. Dr. Fastiggi received his A.B. from Dartmouth College, and his M.A. (Theology) and Ph.D. (Historical Theology) from Fordham University.
F. Russell Hittinger is the Professor Emeritus of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa. He has been a full time faculty at Fordham University and at the Catholic University of America. He is a Visiting Professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley), and has served on two pontifical academies: St. Thomas Aquinas and Social Sciences. He designed and implemented the course JPII 5330: The Social/political teaching of John Paul II.
Philosophy Professor at Holy Cross College, Notre Dame, Indiana; will teach JPII 5310 Thomistic Personalism.
Sr. Mary Veronica Sabelli, R.S.M., Ph.D. has taught at St. John’s Seminary (Boston) and St. Vincent Seminary (Latrobe, PA) as Associate Professor of Philosophy. She teaches JPII 5335 Mission, Culture, and Evangelization and JPII 5345 Final Project.
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA, Program of Liberal Studies, ’83) and the Catholic University of America (MA, Philosophy, ’86; PhD, Philosophy, ’92), Susan Selner-Wright has been teaching philosophy to undergraduates and Catholic seminarians since 1986. Her most important academic work is a translation of Q. 3 of St. Thomas Aquinas’ De Potentia Dei, published by CUA Press under the title On Creation and she has published articles in journals including Logos, International Philosophical Quarterly, and the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. Since 2001, she has been a member of the faculty of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. She is the author of the Endow study guides Aquinas for Beginners (Parts 1 and 2) and the co-founder (with Mary Hasson and Theresa Farnan) of the Person and Identity Project personandidentity.com at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which aims to articulate a Catholic response to gender ideology.
Dr. Richard H. Bulzacchelli is Lecturer in Theology at Catholic Studies Academy and Senior Fellow with the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He holds the M.A. in Philosophy from Marquette, University; the M.A. in Religious Studies from Providence College; the S.T.L. in Systematic Theology from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.; and the S.T.D. with a concentration in Marian Theology from the International Marian Research Institute in Dayton, OH, where he wrote his dissertation on the relationship between Pope John Paul II’s Mariology and his understanding of the human person in act: Mary and the Acting Person: An Anthropology of Participatory Redemption in the Personalism if Karol Wojtyla/Pope John Paul II. Dr. Bulzacchelli taught philosophy at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, from 2002–2004, and theology at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee, from 2004–2018, where he held the rank of Associate Professor. He is author of “Elohim Created”: A New Look at the First Creation Narrative (Aggiornamento, 2012).
Instructor of Polish Language and Culture at the Loyola University Chicago. She teaches Contemporary Poland at JPII Institute. She is a lecturer of Polish Language at the Summer Language Institute at Pittsburgh University. Dr. Oskiera received her M.A. (Polish Philology) and Ph.D. (Polish Linguistics) from the University of Lodz, Poland. She is a principal of the General Casimir Pulaski Polish School in Harwood Heights, IL.
John Radzilowski, Ph.D., is director of Polish Institute of Culture and Research at Orchard Lake (Michigan), and a Professor of History at the University of Alaska. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Polish and American history with a special emphasis on immigration from Poland and east-central Europe to the USA.
Malgorzata Bujak, MA is a graduate of English Philology at John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland with a specialty in English-Polish contrastive linguistics. She is an experienced and creative classroom instructor, who has been teaching Polish as a foreign and second language for over a decade. She incorporates a variety of teaching methods with a special focus on communication to make her class dynamic and effective. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading and travelling.
Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz - Professor, Regents Fellow, and Leadership Program Director, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication, Texas A&M University.