With the opening of its Institute for Missionary Activity last month, Benedictine has become the first college in the United States to offer undergraduates a kind of Catholic missionary training that goes beyond theology.

This new undertaking of the Atchison, Kan., school seeks to fill voids in preparation some Catholic missionaries don’t realize they have until entering the mission field and facing practical challenges such as raising financial support and managing a budget.

“For Catholics, when they want to go into full-time ministry, there are two options: Religious life, which is great, or a theology degree, which is also great, but it only provides intellectual formation,” notes David Trotter, the director of the Institute. “... Professionals in the ministry field are asking for additional training and preparation beyond what knowledge of theology can provide.”

He adds that, having grown up Protestant, he knows such training opportunities are much more available in Evangelical circles. And to an extent, Benedictine has in fact been offering training in personal formation and field experience for missionaries-to-be — the difference now, with the formation of the institute, being that these along with theology training will be overseen by one entity, and students who meet the institute’s coursework requirements will receive certification. Thus, in addition to being better prepared for a career in missions, they’ll also be more marketable.

“I think students will benefit from the Institute for Missionary Activity because they will receive multifaceted training and intentional formation to make them desirable to a multitude of employers both domestically and internationally,” Joe Wurtz, Benedictine’s dean of students, says, adding that Mr. Trotter “has already developed relationships with a host of constituents who are eager to hire the graduates of the IMA. I believe the Catholic Church and our country will abundantly reap the benefits of this missionary generation.”

One of the institute’s main focuses is a concept called New Evangelization, an expression used by Pope John Paul II to describe the Catholic Church’s approach to missionary work in modern culture. In accordance with this, its first big event will be one called the Symposium on Advancing New Evangelization, which will take place March 23 and 24 and address topics such as media, literature, international mission work, social justice, post-modernism and more.

One keynote speaker at the symposium — which is directed toward professors and other professionals but is open to students, as well — will be Barbara Nicolosi, founder and chair emeritus of Act One Inc. of Hollywood. The other will be Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City. (For more information, contact Mr. Trotter at dtrotter@benedictine.edu.)

Then, next fall, the institute’s certification program will open to freshmen. Students will declare a three-year track of participation and register for a semester-long service learning seminar — and after completing all this, out into the world they’ll go.

“The goal of the institute is to send out the most dynamic Catholic missionaries our country has to offer,” Mr. Trotter says.

Erin Wisdom can be reached at erin.wisdom@newspressnow.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SJNPWisdom.