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Dr. Deborah Ross has served on the JST-SCU faculty since 2013. She teaches field education and ministry courses and directs the M.Div. field education program. Students engage in supervised ministry in San Francisco Bay Area parishes, universities, schools, prisons, hospitals, and non-profit organizations through the program.
Deborah received her B.A. in Theology and Religious Studies with English from St. Mary's University, London. Her M.Th. in Pastoral Theology and Ph.D. in Theology are from Heythrop College, University of London. Deborah’s Ph.D. focused on the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) faith-formation process. Her S.T.L. degree in Pastoral and Liturgical Theology is from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University.
Deborah’s academic interests include catechesis, Christian initiation, contextual theology, ecclesiology, practical theology, sacramental and liturgical theology, and theological anthropology. She is writing a book on practical theology and articles on the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, or OCIA (formerly RCIA).
Deborah served as president of the Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry (AGPIM) from February 2023 to February 2024. She co-founded “Action Research Church and Society” (ARCS), a Heythrop College project that facilitated theological reflection on pastoral practice through its partnerships with a diverse set of church groups and non-profit agencies in London and the UK. Deborah explored evangelization and mission in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and worked in parish, university, and sixth-form college ministry.
Deborah previously taught theology and religious studies courses as an adjunct lecturer in the Santa Clara University (SCU) Religious Studies Department and the SCU Graduate Program in Pastoral Ministries (GPPM). She also previously taught courses as an adjunct professor in the St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco.
- Theology of Ministry and Practice
- M.Div. Field Education Practicum
- M.Div. I Orientation Seminar
- “Ignatian Spirituality and Action Research: Exploring Lay Ecclesial Ministerial Formation,” The Way, 61/2, April 2022, 98-110
- Doing Theology as If People Mattered: Encounters in Contextual Theology, with Eduardo Fernández, SJ, and Stephen Bevans, SVD, editors (New York: Herder and Herder, 2019)
- “Introduction,” (with Eduardo Fernández), and book chapter, “Field Education at a Shared Parish: Navigating Contextual and Pastoral Opportunities,” in Doing Theology as If People Mattered: Encounters in Contextual Theology (New York: Herder and Herder, 2019)
- Introduction, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, by Victor and Edith Turner (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011)
- Talking About God in Practice: Theological Action Research and Practical Theology, co-author (London: SCM, 2010)