The Reverend Brendan Lupton, S.T.D., President of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, presided over the solemn public defenses of a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology. Father Lupton was joined on the doctoral jury by the Reverend Scott Hebden, S.T.D., the Reverend Emery de Gaal, Ph.D., and the Reverend Lawrence Hennessey, S.T.L., Ph.D.
The Reverend Brian Carpenter, PSS presented a dissertation titled: “Implications of René Girard’s Mimetic Theory Applied to the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist.”
Father Carpenter successfully defended and was declared doctor of theology probatus. He will formally receive the degree following the publication of his dissertation.
Fr. Brian Carpenter is a Sulpician priest incardinated in the Diocese of Rochester, New York. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1998 with a B.S. in Science-Business. He later studied at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake where he received the S.T.B., M.Div., and S.T.L. degrees. He is assistant professor of systematic theology at Saint Mary Seminary and University in Baltimore, MD.
The Pontifical Faculty was grateful to have the participation of a number of faculty members: The Very Reverend Thomas A. Baima, Dr. Melanie Barrett, the Reverend Marek Duran, and Thomas Dougherty.
The Pontifical Faculty of Theology of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake is among only seven schools in the United States of America accredited by the Holy See to grant the international academic degrees of the Catholic Church. In September 1929, Cardinal Mundelein obtained from the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities in Rome a five-year grant for the theological faculty to confer the baccalaureate, the licentiate and doctorate in theology. In September 1934, this temporary grant was made permanent. The Pontifical Faculty is devoted to advancing post-graduate studies in Catholic theology. Its licentiate program follows a rigorous survey of the history of Christian thought as the basis for research work. The members of the faculty are especially interested in considering licentiate and doctoral proposals in the areas of the doctrine of God, Christology, theological anthropology, theological method, spiritual theology, and sacramental/liturgical theology.
