Saint Paul University will launch next spring a Centre for Anglican Studies, encompassing academic courses including the Anglican studies program the school currently offers plus programs in clergy formation and faith formation.
It’s part of a shift in the school’s focus from professional-oriented degrees to more general inquiry and education on the Anglican faith, says Sarah Kathleen Johnson, the school’s director of Anglican studies. She says the change reflects shifting needs and goals of students seeking theological education at Saint Paul. A Roman Catholic-affiliated school federated with the University of Ottawa, Saint Paul University offers a variety of humanities programs including courses and degrees in Anglican theology. The name of its Anglican studies program has communicated an expectation that students are pursuing an academic degree, often as preparation for a career in ministry, Johnson says.
The new centre will continue to offer that experience, such as an MDiv, she says, but an increasing segment of students are looking for something else. Some are established priests working on PhDs or master’s degrees for professional development; others are neither in nor seeking ministry careers and are taking courses or classes for personal interest and spiritual development, she says.
“Some of them are in their 20s, some are in their 70s,” Johnson says. “They bring a wide range of different backgrounds academically and professionally. And they’re looking for different things from their studies.”
The school is also placing a growing emphasis on collaborations with Anglican dioceses and organizations. It hosted the Anglican Deacons Canada conference in June 2026, and as this story was being written in early October was planning an event later in the fall to encourage collaboration between practising clergy and academics.
“Increasingly we’re finding the way we’re serving the church doesn’t necessarily fit the narrow understanding of what an academic program is,” Johnson says.
The Centre for Anglican Studies will therefore be an umbrella under which to group all these activities, she says. Part of the goal, she adds, is “to make it clear that the student taking one or two courses for personal interest [is] not any less a part of it than the student doing the MDiv preparing for ordained ministry.”
