Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Valerie SchultzMay 29, 2008
So I’m thinking of applying to a university for my Master’s degree. Part of me is excited about the opportunity. Part of me feels a little ridiculous. I have children who are old enough to think about getting a Master’s degree. I worry that my time for being a student has long passed. It will take three years to earn a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministries, at the end of which time I will be 54. It’s an age that sounds pretty old to be walking to "Pomp and Circumstance". My ever-supportive husband has pointed out that I will be 54 whether I go back to school or not, so why not do it? I understand that, and I am grateful for his encouragement, but still. Is the whole idea misguided? Will I work or live long enough to justify the expense? Am I, instead of aging gracefully, clutching at straws? I hope to be able to put my degree to good use in the future as a prison chaplain. I have been volunteering with the Catholic chaplain at the nearby state prison for four years, and feel very much called to commit more deeply to this work. The prison has become like a second parish to me, the Catholic (and non-Catholic) inmates comprising a truly, and surprisingly, spiritual faith community. I believe this particular Master’s program will make me more professionally suitable to this ministry. I also believe that, although I may feel silly, I am in reality sending the message to my children that a person is never too old to learn, to expand, to challenge oneself, to take a chance; that it matters to follow a dream, however unlikely it may seem. I have worked out all the reasons to proceed. I just have to get over my own misgivings, my secret fear that maybe a person can be too old to do a lot of things. I’ll have to see what I’m made of, and risk being disappointed at what I see. Valerie Schultz
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
15 years 10 months ago
Since you're already experienced in prison ministry, I suspect the degree will be a breeze. With your experience you could practically teach the course, no? As for justifying the expense -- do you have a heart problem? Surely modern medicine can keep you alive long enough to make use of your degree. Good luck.
15 years 10 months ago
Go for it, Valerie. Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. G.K. Chesterton

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024