May 16, 2025 // Bishop

MDiv Grads Sent Forth Amidst ‘Hunger for the Eternal’

Kasia Balsbaugh

Academic graduation ceremonies often repeat how “commencement” means “sending forth.” The lay students in the Master of Divinity program at the University of Notre Dame have an explicitly spiritual version of being sent forth with their Mass of Blessing and Sending. At this annual Mass, the graduates are formally blessed by the bishop and celebrated by their family, friends, professors, and classmates. Each also receives an icon of Christ the Teacher.

This year’s Mass was held on Monday, May 5, in the chapel of Baumer Hall due to renovations in the usual location of Moreau Seminary. This year, the ministry-focused program graduated seven lay Master of Divinity students (known colloquially around the university as “MDivs”): John Consolie, Allison Magera, Valentina Marquez, Maureen Schweninger, Kathryn Stalter, Elizabeth Tomasek, and Elana Van Arnam.

Each MDiv has their own journey of following the call to serve the Church. Tomasek’s route to the program spanned decades of discernment. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 2002, Tomasek entered the Alliance for Catholic Education program and taught theology at a Catholic school. She transitioned her focus from teaching after she “really felt more pulled into the ministry side of things,” first working in campus ministry at the school and then in parish ministry.

It was then that Tomasek heard about the Master of Divinity program at her alma mater and felt called to pursue it. In 2009, she and her husband, who were told they probably would have no more children after their one daughter, seriously considered moving so Tomasek could apply to the program. However, it wasn’t until 2017 – several years and three sons later – that the pieces fell into place for the Tomaseks to relocate from Chicago to South Bend (where they also had their fifth child).

Tomasek remembered thinking at this point that the Master of Divinity program was for a younger demographic, “not for people with five growing, active children,” as she put it. But after a chance meeting with an MDiv student who seriously encouraged her to apply, and a conversation with Stacey Noem, director of the lay graduates of the program, Tomasek applied, was accepted, and began her studies.

The Master of Divinity is a three-year program involving both academic theology classes and one ministry placement per year. The first year, students are put into a placement role primarily of “accompaniment,” or presence with others, as Tomasek put it. The second involves more explicit catechesis and evangelization, and the third involves more leadership on the part of the MDiv.

Another unique aspect to the program is the fact that classes are composed of both lay students and Congregation of Holy Cross seminarians. Tomasek described the friendships between herself, the other lay students, and those in formation with the congregation as “life-giving” for herself and her family. In fact, one of her sons chose one of her Holy Cross classmates as his confirmation sponsor.

Reflecting on her journey to and through the MDiv program, Tomasek told Today’s Catholic that one of her primary feelings is gratitude.

“I do have so much more life experience that I think did enhance how I could enter into the ministerial and academic side of things,” said Tomasek, who, Bishop Rhoades announced, will serve the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend as the director of the diocesan Office of Marriage and Family Life, a position she will begin in July.

At the Mass, Bishop Rhoades quoted John 6:27, from the Gospel reading: “Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” He added, “I cannot think of better advice for our seven lay students.”

In his homily, Bishop Rhoades reflected on the metaphor of eternal food and hunger in relation to the work of ministry.

“Every person carries within himself or herself a hunger for truth, justice, goodness, love, purity, light, peace, and joy,” Bishop Rhoades said. “This is a hunger for the eternal – a hunger that nothing in the world can satisfy. … Jesus offers Himself as the one who alone can satisfy that hunger. I’m sure that’s why you pursued the MDiv degree, because of your own hunger for the Bread of Life, but also because of your desire to help satisfy the hunger of others for the food that endures for eternal life.”

Bishop Rhoades also reflected on what the MDivs would need in their service to the Church.

“Ministry in the Church must include letting ourselves be totally involved by Jesus and His Gospel,” Bishop Rhoades said. “So, prayer is a necessary part of our ministry.”

Bishop Rhoades acknowledged that while the MDivs are now graduated from their roles as academic students, he encouraged them to stay students “in the school of Mary.” He pointed them to Our Lady’s example and the examples of the saints, including the first martyr, St. Stephen, as featured in the Mass reading of the day.

Bishop Rhoades said, “I pray that you will be filled with the grace and power, wisdom, courage, and love that the Lord gave to St. Stephen.”