Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a private Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was formed in Hyde Park as a union of schools from three Catholic religious institutes and has since been sponsored by 24 institutes and Catholic faith communities. It is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English-speaking world, training men and women for both lay and ordained ministry within the Catholic Church. It gained renewed attention in 2025 with reporting that the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV was an alumnus, who had earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1982.
History
The Union was founded in 1968, when three religious institutes—the Franciscans, Passionists, and Servites—united their separate theology programs to form one school. As such, it was influenced a bit by the feeling of 1960s radicalism, but more directly was inspired by the changes of the Second Vatican Council. The Union has since gained the sponsorship of twenty-three religious communities.
During the 1970s and 1980s, there was a movement among some Union students and faculty in support of the ordination of women within the Catholic Church; this included organizing a meeting on the CTU campus in 1976 of the Women’s Ordination Conference and staging a protest at a 1981 ordination event at the nearby St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, with the latter being one of the events that led the Vatican to order an investigation of American Catholic seminaries.
The school granted its first Master of Divinity degree to a woman in 1981.
The Catholic Theological Union building is at 5416 South Cornell Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. In 2023, the campus of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago relocated to the 4th floor of the James and Catherine Denny Center at the Catholic Theological Union. Construction of new facilities on the floor of the Catholic Theological Union had begun earlier: the space includes four classrooms; two zoom rooms, thirty office spaces; a prayer and meditation room, a café, a chapel, and a grand hallway meeting space. With it came the McCormick Theological Seminary, with which it had already been sharing facilities.
Academics CTU is staffed by religious and lay men and women. International students constitute nearly one-third of the student body.
The main library of CTU is the Paul Bechtold Library, named after CTU's founding president. Distinctive collections in the library include Catholic religious communities, dialogue across ecumenical and inter-religious lines, and pastoral theology.
Publications New Theology Review (NTR) Theophilus: The Student Journal of Catholic Theological Union
Presidents
Paul Bechtold, Founder Mark Francis, 2013–2020 Barbara Reid, 2020–2025 Enzo Del Brocco, 2025–
Notable theologians and faculty
Claude Marie Barbour, scholar of world mission Stephen B. Bevans, scholar of mission and culture John Dominic Crossan, scholar of the New Testament Edward Foley, scholar of spirituality, liturgy, and music John Jefferson Gros, scholar of Christian ecumenical studies (adjunct faculty member) Leslie J. Hoppe, scholar of the Old Testament Daniel P. Horan, scholar of systematic theology and spirituality Kevin J. Madigan, scholar of church history Steven P. Millies, professor of public theology John T. Pawlikowski, scholar of social ethics Robert J. Schreiter, scholar of theology and culture Wayne Robert Teasdale, scholar and practitioner of interreligious dialogue (adjunct faculty member) Zachary Hayes, professor of systematic theology
Notable alumni
Pope Leo XIV (MDiv 1982 as Robert Francis Prevost) – 267th pope. Saleha Jabeen (MA 2014, MDiv 2020] – first female Muslim chaplain in the United States Department of Defense.
References
External links Official website