Sister Lisa Marie Belz

lbelz@ursulinesisters.org

Biography

Sister Lisa Marie entered the Ursulines after graduating from Ursuline College with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish. She taught Spanish at Villa Angela, Villa Angela-St Joseph, and Beaumont School, and then went on to pursue graduate studies in Hispanic Ministry at Boston College and the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas. Later, she discerned a call to serve on the diocesan mission team in El Salvador. In the Salvadoran parish of Chirilagua, she developed pastoral leadership programs for catechists, and was editor and co-author of a series of catechetical manuals which became widely used throughout El Salvador.

Upon completing her service in El Salvador, Sister Lisa Marie went on to earn a Master’s in Theological Studies from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in Scripture from Loyola University Chicago. She taught at Ursuline College where she served as department chair of Religious Studies, and later joined the faculty of St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology where she taught courses in Pastoral Spanish, Hebrew, and Scripture. Presently, Sister Lisa Marie is a biblical studies professor at John Carroll University. She is also on the Deutero-Pauline Epistles committee of the Society of Biblical Literature where she served two terms as co-chair. In addition to her ministry of education, Sister Lisa Marie gives talks and conferences, retreats and parish missions, in both English and Spanish, locally, nationally, and internationally, on topics related to Scripture, Christian Spirituality, and Early Christianity.