The Franciscan University of Steubenville is known internationally for its fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church and is home to one of the largest catechetics faculty in the world.

The Catechetical Institute (CI) has partnered with the Blessed Stanley Rother Institute to offer online workshops leading toward Archdiocesan Basic Certification and ministry focused Archdiocesan Intermediate and Advanced Certification for Catholic catechists, youth ministers, catechetical leaders, and school teachers.
Participants can complete workshops from the Catechetical Institute either individually or in group settings. For the 2020-2021 fiscal year, grant funding is available in the archdiocese for parish and Catholic school subscriptions.

Catechetical Institute workshops are taught by professors of the University and other experts in their field. Each workshop is designed to be interactive with an assigned local mentor here in the Archdiocese, who will communicate regularly with participants pursuing certification.

Learn more about a parish or school subscription grant

Your access to the Catechetical Institute is free through your parish's subscription to the online formation platform. Please use the first video tutorial below to register as a user on the Catechetical Institute under your subscribing parish or school. The second video tutorial below demonstrates how to begin workshops in various learning tracks and courses. 

Previous certification programs, e.g. Echoes of Faith, will be given content equivalency recognition for the new Basic Certification Track and additional workshops depending on prior study and formation. Further explanation of this process can be found here.

This certification equivalency is being tracked on the Catechetical Institute platform, and so all catechists, youth ministers, catechetical leaders, and religion or theology teachers will need to register an individual account with the CI and begin respective certification tracks for which they are seeking equivalency for prior formation. Please visit: www.FranciscanAtHome.com/ArchOKC to register an individual account associated with your parish or Catholic school.

Links to equivalency request forms for parish catechists including youth ministers, and other catechetical leaders and Catholic school teachers can be found under the Certification Links on this page. If you are requesting equivalency substitutions, you will still need to enroll in the corresponding courses on the Catechetical Institute and request a mentor. This will allow your substitutions to be appropriately tracked on the learning platform.