Sr. Laura Coughlin, Ph.D.
Bio
Sr. Laura joined the Seton Hill faculty as an Assistant Professor of Religious
Studies/Theology in January 2025. She entered the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in
1999 and celebrated twenty-five years of religious life in 2024. After graduating from
the University of Michigan, where she majored in Anthropology she worked in Phoenix,
Arizona as a trainer and product manager of property management systems. Sister
Laura has been previously missioned as a teacher to Seton-LaSalle High School in Mt.
Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and to Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, Arizona. She
completed a Master of Education degree from Duquesne University in 2008, an MDiv
from Boston College in 2016, and a PhD from the University of Dayton in 2024.
Her dissertation, Athanasius in Exile: The Catholic Antifascism of Don Luigi Sturzo,
focused on the Catholic Church’s navigation of fascism between 1919 and 1945 and the
response it provoked in a trailblazing Italian priest, Don Luigi Sturzo, during his exile in
London, Jacksonville, and New York.
Education
Ph.D., University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, 2024
Dissertation: Athanasius in Exile: The Catholic Antifascism of Don Luigi Sturzo
M.Div., Boston College, Boston, MA, 2016
Ms.Ed., Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, 2008
B.A. Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1989
Publications
Anticipated: Respondent to the 2026 Eva Fleischner Lecture, “With a Firm Reliance on Divine Providence: Imago Dei and American Self-Government at 250, Seton Hill University, Oct 6, 2026.
Anticipated: Panelist for Seton Hill University hosted 9/11 Symposium: “How Do We Respond to Evil: Rekindling the Spirit of Unity and Hope,” Seton Hill University, Oct 27, 2026.
“The PPI and the Roman Question: Framing Religious Freedom for Christian Democracy,” American Catholic Historical Association, 104th Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA, 2024.
“Laudato Si’ and the Trinitarian Theology of Pope Francis,” Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, Laudato Si’ Study Days prepared in conjunction with the congregation’s Laudato Si’ Committee and Dr. Lucas Briola of St. Vincent College. Caritas Christi Motherhouse, Greensburg, PA, 2023.
“The visibility of the poor in the work of Don Luigi Sturzo,” College Theology Society (CTS) Annual Meeting; Theology and Media(tion): Rendering the Absent Present. Sacred Heart University, 2023.
“Luigi Sturzo - Anticipating Democracy for the Catholic Church through the Partito Popolare Italiano,” The OH Conference, Theologians of Ohio Annual Gathering. University of Dayton, 2023.
“Luigi Sturzo: Christian Democracy as Anti-Fascist Response,” Catholic Intellectual Tradition Symposium Sponsored by the Office of the University (of Dayton) Professor of Faith and Culture, The Gudorf Chair in Catholic Intellectual Traditions, & The Forum for Catholic Intellectual Tradition Today. University of Dayton, 2023.
Book study coordinator and presenter: Davis, Cyprian. The History of Black Catholics in the United States. New York: Herder & Herder, 1990, Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill’s Venimos con Gusto Conference, online, 2022.
“The Grounding of ‘Creative Peace’ – Luigi Sturzo Confronts the Weakness of League Members” as contribution to panel theme: Whence Comes Peace? Three Catholic Responses to the Second World War, American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA) University of Scranton, 2022.
Book study coordinator and presenter: Rothstein, Richard. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. New York: Liveright, 2017. Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill’s Venimos con Gusto Conference, online, 2022.
“A Response to ‘The First Vatican Council, John Henry Newman, and the Making of a Post-Christendom Church’ by William Portier,” 2020, Religious Studies Department Colloquium Series, University of Dayton, 2020.
“Skillful Preachers, Skillful Worshippers: Returning to the Vibrant Church,” A Conference on the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the PhD in Theology Program; After Culture, After New Evangelization: Where do we go from here? University of Dayton, 2019.
“The Essence of Risk,” Future of Charity, Sisters of Charity Federation (online blog), 2018.
Books Reviewed
Davis, Stephen M. Rise of French Laïcité. Wipf and Stock, 2020, for AAR: Reading Religion (RR) (October 26, 2021), [https://readingreligion.org/9781725264090/rise-of-french-laicite/].