20 Years and Counting! GMU continues to expand in educational offerings, expertise and excellence! Scroll down to learn about new additions and initiatives.

We invite you to share your thoughts and reflections about Global Ministries University in the "Leave a Comment" box on our special 20th Anniversary Celebration page on the GMU website.

Photo by Yoav Hornung on Unsplash

Consistent with its commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and to honoring the human rights and dignity of all people, GMU decries the Vatican’s recent negation of the love and sacrifice exemplified in the committed relationships of same-sex couples. By misrepresenting such sacred relationships as sinful and “not worthy of blessing,” the Vatican moves institutional Catholicism toward fundamentalism and away from its own rich intellectual tradition, exemplified in the Second Vatican Council’s embrace of God’s revelation in science as an interpreter of creation. More importantly – and more tragically – it further dashes the hopes of its faithful LGBTQ+ members, and exposes itself as an institution that increasingly values judgment and exclusion over the infinite Love and compassion that it was founded to incarnate and promulgate.

To LGBTQ+ members of the GMU community: Know that your university stands with you, reveres your integrity…and yes, blesses your love.

All courses can now be found at gmuclass.org. GMU no longer uses globalministriesclassroom.org.

Please email if you have any trouble accessing the new platform.

"...In the near future we will see the rise of “community chaplaincy,” where chaplains develop and lead small groups of people who gather to share poetry and sacred texts. If this seems familiar, it might be because it sounds a whole lot like the best part of what our parents and grandparents used to call church." Read more from the Boston Globe

The Community Chaplaincy Program is accepting applications for classes in the spring and summer of 2021. We recommend that you enroll now. Click here for a detailed description of the program with bios of the instructors.

Our wedding ceremony and funeral service training program can be completed entirely online. There are no start-up dates or assignment due dates and the program is self-directed, which means you have the flexibility to complete the program at your own pace.

People's Catholic Seminary offers courses in contemporary theology and programs for spiritual enrichment. Click here to find out more about Global Ministries University & People’s Catholic Seminary's Master of Pastoral Ministry Degree.

La Universidad Global de Ministerios (GMU), tiene ahora la capacidad de ofrecer un Programa de certificación en español sobre Historia del Cristianismo, desde sus inicios hasta nuestros días.

Hector Quiroz, impartirá una serie de cursos con la finalidad de obtener un certificado en Historia del Cristianismo.

Estos cursos incluirán material extenso sobre el desarrollo de la fe cristiana en Latinoamérica y entre los hispanoparlantes de los Estados Unidos de America, incluirá también la importancia de movimientos, como la Teologia de la Liberación (uno de sus iniciadores es el Padre Gustavo Gutiérrez), y el crecimiento de las Pequeñas Comunidades Cristianas (Comunidades Eclesiales de Base) popularizadas por primera vez en Brasil.

GMU is now offering a Spanish language certificate program in the History of Christianity from the origins of the Christian faith to the present time.

Hector Quiroz will nstruct students in a series of courses leading to the certificate in the History of Christianity.

These courses will include extensive material on the development of the Christian faith in Latin America and the US among Spanish-speaking people and the importance of movements such as the Theology of Liberation (led by Father Gustavo Guttierrez) and the growth of Small Christian Communities (Comunidades de Base) first popularized in Brazil.

A certificate program in Sufi spirituality and its role in personal spiritual and psychological growth is being developed with Shahinaz El Hennawi.

Ms. El Hennawi resides in Alexandria, Egypt where she has worked in the field of peace education and gender studies at the world famous Library of Alexandria. She is also a GMU faculty member in the field of peace education.

GMU is collaborating with the Shogaku Zen Institute led by a female Zen priest psychologist, Grace Shireson, and recommends the following course:

Shogaku Zen Institute

Living with Equanimity in Chaotic times

Psychological First Aid 2021

In this ten-week course students will examine the responses needed to survive and thrive during the past year when COVID-19, quarantine, racial justice crises and activism and an unprecedented economic downturn deeply impacted every individual and family. The Buddha taught us to dwell happily in things just as they are. The past year required us to respond in the moment to a lot of chaos and suffering.

Importantly, the skills we identified, enhanced and sometimes created got us through some very difficult experiences. We needed to be safe in the moment so that we could be resilient in meeting our needs and those of our families and communities in the long run.

This course will identify tools of psychological first aid, creating safety, which we can use in our lives, in our work as pastoral counselors and in our teaching to assist those with whom we live and practice to meet both the challenges and the joys of living life fully.

Topics will include: assessment of psychological health and wellness, creating options for short term resilience and longer-term healing, building connections that promote respect for the individuals' experience and partnerships in healing and strategies for caring for yourself while also caring for others. Learn more.

The future of our planet rests largely with our youth and the care with which we help them to develop and flourish.

President Grudzen is offering a free course for young people who wish to participate in the conference below to develop their own priority issues and submit a vision statement from their perspective.

The meetings will take place the first Wednesday of each month from February through June 2021. They will begin at 7 pm (Pacific Time) and last for 90 minutes. Shahinaz El Hennawi will be presenting on April 7.

This is a FREE course but registration in advance is required.

The Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, based in Washington, DC, has agreed to collaborate with GMU on the upcoming international conference, "Building Bridges for Human Solidarity in the Light of Pope Francis' Encyclical Letter, Fratelli Tutti." GMU is one of four sponsors of this conference along with Tangaza University in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Muslim affiliated organizations, Umma University and Harmony Institute. The conference will take place from August 19 to 21, 2021 via Zoom and Youtube.  The central hub of the conference will be located at Tangaza University in Nairobi, Kenya with other hubs in Rome, Indonesia, and California.

One of the major programs for the North American hub will be on racial justice with presentations by noted authors in this area of concern as well as participation by activists in social justice movements. A second area of focus for the conference will be the growth of new forms of faith communities including those that have an interfaith character and membership. GMU has pioneered the development of such interfaith communities in the USA and Kenya. Other areas of concern are still being developed.  Read the description of the concept of the interfaith conference here.

This scholarship is offered by the Women's Ordination Conference. Applications are open to women and non-binary persons enrolled or accepted into an undergraduate or graduate studies programs, or taking relevant coursework. To be eligible the candidate must be enrolled or participate in at least one class or significant volunteer ministry of comparable scope that they believe would forward the discernment of their call to a life in ordained ministry.

This scholarship is primarily directed to women and non-binary people who wish to be ordained Catholic priests (such as Ecumenical Catholic and Roman Catholic Women Priests). Secondarily it is open to those who are seeking priestly ordination in other denominations. Learn more.

Global Ministries University embraces inclusivity, the equality of persons and cultures, and openness toward diverse theological perspectives. Please consider supporting GMU's interfaith initiatives throughout the world. Thank you for your generosity!