The students in Brian Grisin's sophomore Sacraments classes are typical 15-year-olds. They question, sometimes challenge, sometimes with humor.

"They want to know why," says Grisin, who has taught religion at Villanova Prep in Ojai for the last nine years. "And I really believe that God has put me here to have this opportunity to teach these kids. I see the blessing every day."

With the knowledge that comes from having to meet challenges head on, Grisin says, "These kids see right through you if you are not genuine. They want to know all the 'whys' about life, religion, history - everything."

To help him in his teaching, Grisin began to look for a master's program --- but living in Ojai, finding a campus with a suitable graduate program became another sort of challenge. Especially with a full teaching schedule and coaching tennis and golf. He started to take an online course, but it was not what he wanted.

Then one day he visited St. John's Seminary in Camarillo and saw a brochure on the Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry program. Vincentian Father Richard Benson, academic dean at the seminary, described the program and noted that the seminary offered lay persons courses with great flexibility, designed for those already involved in ministry.

Back in 1992 Grisin had entered St. John's Seminary from the Monterey Diocese. He earned his college degree and studied for two years in the theologate program before leaving the seminary. Now, he discovered the seminary from his college days had changed considerably. In one of his Pastoral Ministry classes he sat next to a woman who was a Lutheran minister.

"What an advantage," he says, "to have good quality teachers, to be able to attend an institution that I was familiar with. I sat down with Father Benson and we made it work." The seminary even allowed him to transfer classes from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Others in St. John's Pastoral Ministry program received similar one-on-one attention and assistance.

For Grisin, who teaches four first semester classes in New Testament, four second semester classes in sacraments, one semester class of morality and one semester class of social justice, his studies in pastoral ministry helped to prepare him "with the practical side of ministry." His studies also gave him "a solid grounding in theology. I feel I have received a very good understanding of it, for whatever ministry I want to pursue in the church."

Courses in homilectics, ethics, spiritual direction, Canon Law, Christology, Scripture and parish organization - and the level of faculty instruction and assistance - all have helped Grisin in his pastoral ministry studies and how he shared what he learned in his own classes at Villanova.

"Students are not satisfied anymore with memorizing the catechism like they did years ago," he notes. "They need to know why the church teaches certain things. The theological component of the degree helped to prepare me for answering those questions. The ministry side has helped me to prepare for something I wasn't expecting to find in Ojai, which is a multicultural school. It has given me confidence to teach students from different backgrounds."

Holy Faith Sister Angela Hallahan, coordinator of Religious Formation/Instruction for archdiocesan secondary schools, calls this opportunity "an exciting new approach for all of our teachers in the archdiocese, who wish to bring a theological, spiritual or pastoral dimension to their classrooms and schools. The courses offered at St. John's Seminary not only prepare beginning teachers, but also offer personal and professional enrichment to more experienced and veteran teachers."

Sister Hallahan notes that within the more immediate Los Angeles area, both Mount St. Mary's College and Loyola Marymount University offer subsidized tuition rates for Catholic school teachers to further such studies. These institutions, she believes, are making "a major contribution to strengthening the Catholic identity of our secondary schools."

"I firmly believe that the future of our Catholic schools will be ensured only by educators who see that Catholicity and faith formation are addressed across all subject areas and in all activities. Only in this way do our students come to realize that all learning in our schools is at the service of bringing life to faith and faith to life."

When Grisin began his pastoral ministry studies, he "was more interested in my students knowing the academic information of religion. But now I am more focused on their understanding of who Christ is - and helping students grow on the spiritual side as well. Earning this degree has helped me to see the importance of the holistic student, not just the academic side. That's made me very excited as a teacher.

"I am starting to see these students grow in their faith. They are starting to love, to live their faith."