Rev. Eric Wood Completes Doctorate, Ready for Next Phase of Ministry
The story below was originally published in The Athenaeum, MTSM’s bi-annual magazine. The Athenaeum is published twice a year for alumni, patrons and friends of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology. To be added to the mailing list, contact: Heidi Walsh at 513.233.6159 or hwalsh@athenaeum.edu.
Anyone who has interacted with Rev. Eric M. Wood in the last fives years may not have known that in the time since he joined the priest faculty at MTSM, he has also been working on his Doctorate in Moral Theology at the Pontificia Accademia Alfonsiana in Rome. That work all came to fruition in recent months, with Fr. Wood defending his dissertation in October entitled Newman’s Law of Providence and Christian Morality: The Human Capacity for Relationality as the Primary Foundation for the Development of Moral Character. With completion of his degree, Fr. Wood also rose to the rank of Assistant Professor of Moral Theology at MTSM.
“There were many challenges,” Fr. Wood said. “It was obviously early on that I realized balancing my responsibilities here vs. writing the doctorate and reading for it takes more than your normal sitting down and writing a paper.”
A son of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (Versailles) and graduate of MTSM, Fr. Wood’s seven-year process from originally being assigned to studies in Rome culminated this past October. This was one of the final tasks that Fr. Wood had complete, having quite the workload balancing his own research and writing along with his duties as a teacher at the seminary.
“In some ways, it was a big relief, but in other ways I was very nervous,” Fr. Wood recalled. “It was happening right in the middle of the semester and I wanted to make sure my teaching schedule was not affected too much. There was a lot of work going to Rome, as you are trying to present a three-year project to three professors who all want to test you on the work and the research you have done.”
While October 25, 2024 is marked as the day that Fr. Wood successfully defended his dissertation, it was a process that was not over that day, with many months ahead before his dissertation was officially “finished”.
“Once you have defended, there is you have a lot to do around Rome getting documents signed and other odds and ends you have to complete,” Fr. Wood said. “Then, once you get back home, there are still corrections and edits to make before it can be printed. I have to give credit to Connie (Song) in the library, I was over there quite a bit working with her on getting everything right before I could get it printed and delivered.”
When Fr. Wood was assigned to Rome for studies, he knew that teaching moral theology would be his future work in the Archdiocese. Upon entering the Alfonsiana in Rome, he needed a topic to focus his studies, and he found that in 19th century English Cardinal and theologian St. John Henry Cardinal Newman.
“When I was in college, I took a class on Newman, and his word perked my interest,” Fr. Wood recalled. “We got just enough to scratch the surface, but I thought he was an interesting theologian. When working on my tesina (thesis), I found it interesting to learn that Newman had based a lot of his work on the doctrine of Divine Providence. I thought it would be interesting to use that to see how he used this in the formulation of some of his thoughts on moral theology.”
The plan was for Fr. Wood to take two years to complete his License in Sacred Theology and then three more for the Doctorate. However, multiple situations were on the horizon that would change the trajectory of his priestly ministry.
“After my first year in Rome, there was some talk about the possibility of writing my dissertation from home,” Fr. Wood said. “That was a conversation even prior to Covid.
While the life-altering pandemic was beginning to cause big changes around the world, Fr. Wood did not plan on leaving the Eternal City until he knew his work would result in the competition of his license degree.
“I had no intention of leaving without my degree,” Fr. Wood recalled. “More people were leaving every day, classes were starting to go online and here I was around an empty Rome trying to finish my tesina. Eventually kit became clear I would be able to finish my work online. So I reached out to the University president, and he confirmed that it was safe to go home at this point. I went home, finished my license at the seminary and began planning for my doctorate.
Celebrating his 10th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood this May, Fr. Wood reflected on his time spent at his first parish assignment, St. Philip the Apostle in Morrow and St. Francis de Sales in Lebanon, as an experience that has continued to influence him and the work at the seminary.
“I think a lot of us go into seminary thinking we would live out our priesthood in the parish,” Fr. Wood said. “I very much enjoyed my time there and made good relationships with people that I still know and still talk to. When I think of them, I do think of my work here as a continuation of my time in parish ministry. We are preparing the young men here for ministry in the parish, and you want to help them be the best parish priest they can be and feel that they are ready to serve the Church well.”