Monica Marcelli-Chu joined the Jesuit School of Theology as Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics in 2023. She completed her Ph.D. in Theological Studies at Regis College, the Jesuit school at the University of Toronto, in 2022. She also holds an S.T.L. and M.Div. from Regis College, and a B.A. in English and History from York University. She was previously Lecturer in Religious Studies at King’s University College at Western University in London, Ontario (2019-20).
Her research focuses on the foundations of moral theology, especially the thought of Thomas Aquinas, and ecological ethics. She previously studied the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Aquinas and the role of receptivity in human action. She continues to explore how this broadens conceptions of human agency and its implications for moral formation, action, and contemporary questions in Catholic social thought and ecology. In ecological ethics, she is particularly interested in the concept of the common good in relation to integral ecology, and the relationship between human, divine, and non-human agency. Her publications have appeared in The Thomist, The Journal of Catholic Social Thought, and Horizons (forthcoming).
Monica teaches both foundational and applied topics in theological ethics, and invites students into critical conversation around texts and issues. Her teaching is informed by her ministry experience in diverse settings, and Ignatian pedagogy and formation.
- Fundamental Moral Theology
- Christian Ethics: Major Figures
- Healthcare Ethics
- Common Good and Human Rights
- Ecological Ethics
- “Human and Created: Expanding the Common Good with Integral Ecology,” forthcoming in Horizons.
- “From Dominion and Development to Integral Ecology: The Trajectory of Catholic Social Teaching on Human and Environmental Good,” forthcoming in Globalization and the New World Order, ed. Léocadie Lushombo and Joseph Ogbonnaya. Marquette University Press, 2025.
- “Local and Global: An Analogical Approach to God, Neighbor, and Indigenous Reconciliation in Pope Francis.” The Journal of Catholic Social Thought 21, 1 (Winter 2024): 5-22.
- “Moved by the Spirit: Patterning the Gifts on the Passions in Aquinas.” The Thomist 86, no. 2 (2022): 273–97.