Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, Ph.D. appointed as Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Director of Sustained Encuentro

Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary announces the appointment of the Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Director of Sustained Encuentro, Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, Ph.D.

Collegeville, MN, May 5, 2023 – Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary (SOT/Sem) announced today that it has expanded its faculty by appointing Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, Ph.D. as an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology. In addition to serving the SOT/Sem as a faculty member, Zsupan-Jerome will also direct the $5 million grant, Sustained Encuentro, funded through the competitive third phase of Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative.

Zsupan-Jerome has been a leader in the classroom for more than a decade teaching and forming lay, ordained, seminarians, diaconal candidates, and religious at the Loyola University of New Orleans, Notre Dame Seminary Graduate School of Theology, and most recently as the Director of Ministerial Formation and Field Education at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary. She brings a wealth of pastoral and classroom insight to SOT/Sem students.

Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary Associate Professor of Theology and Dean, Shawn Colberg said, "Dr. Zsupan-Jerome brings tremendous gifts and experience around ministry and catechesis. She is a consummate teacher and administrator. We are excited for her to join the faculty and to lead our Sustained Encuentro initiative. Daniella is well-suited to helping us establish access to ministry degrees for women and men from rural and mission dioceses across the United States."

Dr. Zsupan-Jerome, Ph.D. earned a Ph.D. from Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, a M.A.R. from Yale Divinity School, a M.A. in Liturgical Studies from Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary, and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. She actively contributes to academic and professional circles at the intersection of pastoral theology and social communication. She has served as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Communications, and as a tutor for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication’s Faith Communication in the Digital World program. She is the author of Evangelization and Catechesis (Twenty-Third Publications) and Connected Toward Communion: The Church and Social Communication in the Digital Age (Liturgical Press). In addition to her monographs, Daniella has contributed to major peer-reviewed journals, such as Worship, Religious Education, and New Theology Review.

Zsupan-Jerome said: “Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary is home to me and my family in many ways. I am grateful for this opportunity to serve the SOT/Sem in this new way, and to envision how the values inherent to our Benedictine heritage can give shape to pastoral and ministerial education. In our often hybrid classrooms and through distance learning opportunities, we are invited to learn to be community, and to broaden community through hospitality, especially to those who are on the margins. I am both excited and humbled to be given the opportunity to develop pedagogy and scholarship along these lines.”