Columbus seminary put on probation
Organization in danger of losing its accreditation
The Pontifical College Josephinum on Columbus’ far North Side – which trains seminarians to be priests for 15 dioceses and religious orders and also has an undergraduate college of liberal arts – is in danger of losing its accreditation from two higher education oversight agencies if it doesn’t change some of its planning strategies and increase enrollment.
In March, the Association of Theological Schools Commission on Accrediting issued a warning to the institution – the only Roman Catholic seminary and college under the Pope’s purview outside of Rome – and a reduced term of accreditation; meanwhile, the Higher Learning Commission put it on probation in June. Both agencies are allowing the Josephinum to stay accredited while it works to repair the issues they’ve identified.
The Rev. Steven P. Beseau, the rector and president of the Josephinum, which is located on U.S. 23 just north of Worthington, said he expects the school will no longer be on probation by the end of next year, with a scheduled evaluation by the Higher Learning Commission in November 2023.
In a statement, Beseau said that many of the issues raised by accreditors came up through the school’s self-study process, which takes place ahead of accreditation visits, and some have already been addressed.
Current concerns include strategic planning, diocesan relationships and internal operating structures, Beseau said. The strategic plan is expected to be completed soon, he said, and new governing documents have been incorporated at the school. It also adopted a new
constitution in January.
“The new strategic plan will provide the structure and momentum to maintain the Josephinum’s program of formation of future priests and deacons at the highest standard and to help it forge new relationships with sending dioceses and religious orders across the country,” Beseau said. “As we enter this period of probation with the HLC, the Josephinum expects to meet and/or exceed the expectations of our accrediting partners as we renew the seminary’s commitment to serving the universal Church.”
Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus is a vice chancellor and member of the board of trustees at the college. Jason Mays, spokesman for the diocese, said Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio or Pope’s representative in the United States, told Fernandes to pay special attention to the Josephinum.
Fernandes has “full confidence” in Beseau’s handling of issues that need to be addressed, Mays said in an email.
The Higher Learning Commission has accredited the Josephinum since 1976 and acknowledged that it placed the Josephinum on probation in June via an email. The email said probation can last up to two years, during which the institution can fix the issues that led to probation.
The Association of Theological Schools has accredited the Josephinum since 1970, and the longest period of accreditation for schools through the organization is 10 years, according to Stephen Graham, one of its directors of accrediting. The Josephinum has a good record, having always been awarded a 10-year accreditation, he said.
Earlier this year, though, the Association of Theological Schools reaccredited the Josephinum for just seven years. That is due to a warning related to strategic planning, Graham said.
“What the warning signifies is that the school is in some danger of not fulfilling one or more of the standards,” he said. “It’s a fairly serious thing. It’s fairly uncommon.”
The Association of Theological Schools’ Commission on Accrediting issues two to four warnings a year out of 25 to 35 schools visited, he said.
The Josephinum is in danger of not fulfilling the second standard of accreditation, which is planning and evaluation, Graham said.
“One of the issues at Pontifical College Josephinum was a decline in enrollment, so what they need to be doing in their planning process is making plans to address that problem structurally in the way they recruit,” Graham said.
The Association of Theological Schools website shows that enrollment for graduate programs was at 17 in fall 2021, but Carolyn Dinovo, director of communications at the Josephinum, said that isn’t the institution’s entire enrollment. Each of the two accrediting bodies evaluate different programs at the school, she said, not the institution in its totality.
Across the whole seminary – including undergraduate, pre-theology and graduate students – enrollment is at 60 for this school year and was 48 last school year, Dinovo said in an email.
In the 2018-2019 school year, the school had 105 students enrolled, according to Dinovo’s data, with 80 the year after. The Association of Theological Schools’ data shows that 45 of those students were in graduate programs in the 2018-2019 school year, with 41 in them the year after.
“We believe the resources are in place and personnel are in place and processes are in place to do the things they need to do,” Graham said.
Although Graham said the Josephinum needs to figure out how to increase enrollment – and what it will do if it can’t – the issue isn’t unique to the institute, he said.
“A lot of our schools are struggling with enrollment issues,” Graham said. “There’s a whole range of issues causing that.” dking@dispatch.com @Danaeking