The Very Reverend John Kartje, rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary recently announced Father Carlos Rodriguez, director of counseling services, as the recipient of the 2021-2022 Monsignor John Canary Theological Enrichment Fund grant.
Established by generous friends and fellow alumni in honor of former Mundelein rector Monsignor John Canary in 2006, the fund provides financial assistance to seminary faculty and students to attend conferences or complete research which will serve to advance the quality of theological education at Mundelein.
The grant is awarded to seminarians and faculty members in alternating years to allow them to pursue a project outside of their standard formation and teaching responsibilities.
In his application, Father Rodriguez proposed to use the funds to complete his Certified Sexual Addictions Training (CSAT) so that he can use his knowledge and skills to expand his ability to help seminarians with these struggles as well as develop a parish-based intervention program to address issues of sexual addiction among Catholic men.
“The hope is to combine some basic principles of psychology and addiction recovery with some of the more practical spiritual and theological elements found in Theology of the Body and our understanding of fatherhood as experienced through Saint Joseph,” he said.
He said he also hopes such a program could reengage young men who have abandoned their faith and allow fathers in parishes to engage these issues with their sons before more young men fall prey to the pornography industry.
