Leonard DeLorenzo, PhD

Director of Undergraduate Studies; Academic Director, Vision

Leonard J. DeLorenzo, Ph.D., is the director of undergraduate studies at the McGrath Institute for Church Life where he also serves as academic director for Notre Dame Vision. He holds a concurrent teaching appointment in the Department of Theology.

He is the author of three books: What Matters Most: Empowering Young Catholics for Life’s Big Decisions (Ave Maria, 2018), Work of Love: A Theological Reconstruction of the Communion of Saints (UND Press, 2017), and Witness: Learning to Tell the Stories of Grace that Illumine Our Lives (Ave Maria, 2016). He is also co-editor, with Vittorio Montemaggi, of Dante, Mercy, and the Beauty of the Human Person (Wipf & Stock, 2017) for which he also contributed a chapter on the movement of grace in Dante’s Comedy.

Leonard earned his doctorate in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame, where he also earned his M.A. in systematic theology and B.A. in theology and philosophy. A member of the McGrath Institute for Church Life since 2003, he has served on the leadership teams for Notre Dame Vision, Notre Dame Catechist Academy, Notre Dame Character Project, Echo, and the Church Life Internship, which he founded in 2016. In addition to writing books, articles, and essays, he speaks regularly in academic and pastoral settings on the saints, biblical catechesis, vocation and discernment, and the theological imagination, among other topics.

Originally from Nutley, New Jersey but raised in Southern California, Leonard now lives with his wife, Lisa, and their six children in South Bend, Indiana.