Pope John Paul II included a visit to Detroit during his papal trip to the United States, September 18–19, 1987. The Holy Father's first stop: Sacred Heart Seminary. He arrived by helicopter, no less, touching down on an improvised heliport on the seminary grounds, after flying into Detroit Metropolitan Airport from Rome. The pope emerged from the helicopter and greeted each seminarian individually after being welcomed by then-Fr. Allen Vigneron, who was filling in for Sacred Heart's ailing rector, Msgr. Gerald Martin. The Holy Father's visit to Sacred Heart was followed by an address to deacons at Ford Auditorium, an address on social justice at Hart Plaza, a visit to Hamtramck, and Mass before 100,000 worshipers at the Pontiac Silverdome. In 1969, the seminary instituted the formation program for permanent deacons. Sacred Heart's charter was expanded in 1980 so to offer associate, bachelor and graduate-level degrees. The Association of Theological Schools accredited the seminary's graduate degree programs in 1991: the Master of Divinity (MDiv), Master of Arts in Theology, and Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS). A significant Lilly Endowment grant allowed the Institute for Ministry's leadership, faculty members Dean Patricia Rennie, Sr. Mary Lou Putrow, and Dr. Patricia Cooney Hathaway, to revamp the MAPS curriculum to include pastoral and spiritual formation for the program's lay ministry students. The endowment also provided financial aid for students. In April 2000, the first three students graduated with the revised MAPS degree. With the closing of the archdiocese's graduate-level St. John Provincial Seminary in 1988, Sacred Heart was re-founded under Cardinal Edmund Szoka, archbishop of Detroit. The seminary added a Graduate School of Theology to its College of Liberal Arts and was renamed Sacred Heart Major Seminary. Cardinal Szoka commissioned extensive rehabilitation and renovation to the seminary building that included replacing 2,400 windows, replacing the electrical wiring, sandblasting the exterior, carpeting and plastering the classrooms, and expanding the parking lot to accommodate 250 vehicles. This same year, 1988, saw the establishment of the Institute for Ministry (IFM). Under the guidance of rector Msgr. John Nienstedt, the IFM's mission is to recruit, educate, and train lay pastoral ministers for the archdiocese. Programs offered to lay students are basic and intermediate diplomas in pastoral ministry, Associate in Ministry, MA in Theology, MA in Pastoral Ministry, and the diaconal academic program.