IN RESPONSE to the Church’s worldwide call for evangelization, the Institute of Religion (IR) continues to promulgate the Catholic faith in remote places through its Certificate on Religious Education Distance-learning Online (CREDO) and the Certificate in Religious Education (CReEd).
Instituted in 2008 by then Assistant to the Rector for Administration Pilar Romero, the 21-unit online program, CREDO, aims to give training to Theology instructors on Catholic doctrines, but only through the use of UST's eLearning Access Program (eLEAP).
CREDO was implemented during the Quadricentennial celebration in 2011. Its first beneficiaries were from Aklan.
However, difficulties arose with the first batch due to problems in accessing the internet. Thus, the CReEd was established.
The CReEd is a 52-hour certificate course wherein faculty members from the IR hold a face-to-face instruction with the beneficiaries.
Last summer, a total of 289 teacher-catechists from 30 schools in the Municipalities of Kalibo and Batan graduated from the program. Another 86 from seven mission schools at the Diocese of Cabanatuan also finished it in the same year.
Currently, there are 25 enrollees for the program from the St. Anthony and St. Vincent Parish in Guam.
According to Allan Basas, faculty secretary of IR, these programs aim to fulfill their mission to professionalize Theology teachings beyond the University.
“What’s positive about this is that we are trying to go out of the University. We are faculty members, we teach here in the University, but we realize that we cannot limit ourselves in terms of mission to our students. We have to see the farthest that we can go,” he said.
The Institute of Religion, which celebrated its 80th anniversary last June, was founded in 1933 by Fr. Francisco del Rio, O.P. to centralize and reorganize Theology in the University. John Joseph G. Basijan
