Alumni Spotlight: Timothy McCormick

Foundation for a Future of Ministry
by Darci Smith
MOSAIC, Winter 2010

  
Timothy McCormick knows the difference a year can make. In the spring of 2009, he graduated from Sacred Heart with a Bachelor in Sacred Theology (STB) degree. In August, he began teaching freshman Scripture and serving as the campus minister at Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights, Michigan. Just a month later, he entered into the sacrament of marriage and moved into a new home with his wife, Rakhi.

"I appreciate the accomplishment of being done," Timothy says. "I’m very happy with my degree, and I’m looking forward to the future."

Timothy began his work on the STB as a part-time student in 2005. His flexible schedule as then-campus minister at Macomb Community College for the Archdiocese of Detroit allowed him to enroll in day classes. This made Timothy an atypical commuter student as he studied side-by-side with seminarians.

"In one of my last core classes, taught by Fr. Richard Cassidy, there were only two or three non-seminarians," he notes. "It was very interesting and a lot of fun to see the camaraderie of the seminarians, to see who they are before becoming priests."

The STB offered by Sacred Heart is a graduate-level ecclesiastical degree conferred by the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum) through Sacred Heart’s faculty. At the end of the course of study, students must successfully pass written and oral examinations.

Looking back, Timothy says his two favorite parts about attending the seminary were the teachers and simply being present in "such a holy place." He found he loved being in the building because he could pray, study or just sit and talk to someone in the cafeteria. In the course of only a couple of weeks, he felt at home at Sacred Heart.

Timothy found his professors rigorous academically but also very pastoral, equally "concerned about your academic well-being and your spiritual well-being." Professors were especially gifted at relaying scholarly information while relating it to students’ lives, emphasizing how they could evangelize through the Scriptures and teach others. Now, he strives to emulate those mentors each day at Bishop Foley.

One of his favorite courses, Trinitarian and Christological Foundations of Christian Faith, examined the Judeo-Christian tradition as found in Scripture and Christian history concerning the self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ. One point that adjunct faculty member Dr. Edward Hogan focused on was how the course’s subject matter is relevant to today’s Christians everyday. Class began with prayer and meditation over the Scriptures, and Dr. Hogan never neglected to focus in on all persons of the Trinity. Recognizing the importance of this approach, Timothy endeavors to bring Trinitarian prayer into his ministry in the classroom and as a campus minister, as well.

Spending half of his time in the seminary’s Cardinal Szoka Library doing research for classes provided Timothy with the necessary foundation for dealing with questions from high school students, who he says are likely to "throw any question at you."

"I feel comfortable giving answers and finding answers," he explains. "I can give good answers-intelligent answers-that can make them think." And when he does not know an answer off the top of his head, "I know the answer is out there. I just have to look for it."

Although Timothy has completed his five years at Sacred Heart and has successfully obtained his STB degree, the McCormicks remain connected to the seminary. Rakhi is working on her prerequisites for a master’s degree in theology at Sacred Heart while serving as associate director for the archdiocesan Office for Youth, Young Adults, and Campus Ministries, which is where she and Timothy met.

Perhaps returning to Sacred Heart to pursue a Licentiate in Theology (STL) is in his future, he says. "I still have a little bit of an itch to do some more."